Ms. Hadden has extensive experience in the development of primary health care systems, community and economic development programs and Asset Based Community Development approaches to community building. She holds an undergraduate degree in Secondary Education with emphasis in English and Spanish, and a master’s degree in English Composition in Creative Non-Fiction, both from Central Michigan University. She is a life long writer with combined experiences in teaching, community development and health care administration.

After holding directorship positions with Federally Qualified Health Centers and non-profit organizations, she left the executive suite at age 48 to work with a small non-profit, as a branch of a large inner-city hospital working on the streets of Saginaw, Michigan. For the next ten years she worked in partnership with city neighborhood residents in recreating their community through ABCD approaches. During that time, Ms. Hadden was awarded a “Creating Healthier Communities” Fellowship from the Health Forum, an International Leadership program affiliated with the American Hospital Association. Her project entitled “Community Defined Health™” is recognized nationally for its innovative combination of Asset Based Community Development, with education of health professions students as a means to support local community building. Twenty years ago John McKnight, Director of the ABCD Institute, invited her to become adjunct faculty of the Institute at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Ms. Hadden has also served as adjunct Instructor for the College of Human Medicine, Department of Family Practice, at Michigan State University and as an Instructor in the College of Nursing at Saginaw Valley State University. She has published articles detailing her work in Saginaw’s neighborhoods. These include, “The Community as Co-Producer of Health” in the Jan/Feb 2000 issue of the Health Forum Journal and “Community Defined Health™: Thinking From the Inside Out” in the Fall 2000 issue of Metropolitan Journal. In 2008 she was awarded the Saginaw Zonta Club, “Woman of The year Award,” for working with young women in Saginaw;s neighborhoods, and in 2015, she was awarded Honorable Mention from Central Michigan University, “Woman of the Year Award” for her work in the College of Medicine with medical students in utilizing ABCD approaches to community engagement and in rural clinical rotations. Her book "Community Defined Health: How to Discover Local Assets, Build Community and Create Health" published by GracePoint Publishing will be out in spring of 2027. i