FRAN LESSANS, President & CEO As founder, president and CEO of Passport Health, Fran brings over 30 years of medical and management experience to Passport Health. Before founding Passport Health, Fran worked in a variety of clinical settings as a registered nurse, educator and health care administrator. Fran’s business acumen is known in the community, as she has successfully turned multiple troubled organizations into profitable ventures.

In 2005 she was awarded the Innovator of the Year award by the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development and in 2006 won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Maryland region.

It was during her tenure as director of a university based health service where Fran first came up with the idea for a comprehensive, client focused, full-service medical travel service.

Fran often referred students to large area hospitals for immunizations prior to an international trip. Students returned from their hospital visit complaining about the cost and knowing little about the immunizations they had received or steps necessary to stay healthy. It was not easy finding the answers to their questions, as the CDC offered only prerecorded messages via long distance phone service, which is often six or more months behind, and few physicians know much about travel medicine. Local health departments offered limited, misleading and often wrong information. Fran began developing educational materials to help students understand how diseases were transmitted and discussed problems that students might encounter while traveling. Fran’s reputation quickly grew, as students and faculty referred family and friends for travel counseling and immunizations.

In 1994 Fran took her service to a hospital affiliated ambulatory care practice in Baltimore. Satellite locations were added to circle the Baltimore beltway. Since that time, over 60 franchise territories have been added with multiple sites in each territory bringing the total number of offices over 160. Today Passport Health^® delivers a quality, comprehensive service to corporate and leisure travelers across the country.

The business has continued to flourish with new affiliates, added capabilities and expanded services. A new area of business emerged after 9/11--Passport Health was called upon to deliver antibiotics and Anthrax vaccine to postal and tabloid workers on the east coast from New Jersey to Florida. Passport Health now provides immunizations for travel, school, wellness, immigration and naturalization, bio-defense, disaster response, military readiness and clinical trials. Fran’s reputation as an expert in immunizations grew to the point where both U.S. and foreign governments have called upon her to develop training programs and provide a call center for expert advice on all aspects of immunizations.

Fran has published and lectured extensively throughout the country to health departments, foreign governments and public and private institutions and organizations about immunizations for travel and bio-terrorism. She is a member of the International Society of Travel Medicine, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and has completed postgraduate course work in adventure and tropical travel medicine. Fran is GCP (Good Clinical Practice) certified and is currently conducting travel related research. She also is working with the Department of Defense and has done clinical research on behalf of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. She has served on pharmaceutical Advisory Boards including Merck’s Vaccine Division, Sanofi Pasteur, Glaxo SmithKline and iJET, the first travel intelligence Internet Company.

Fran holds a B.S.N. degree from the University of Maryland, School of Nursing and a master’s degree from the same institution where she majored in public health and administration. She lives in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, with her husband who is the senior partner in a county law firm and corporate council for Passport Health. Their two grown children include an Urologist son practicing in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and an Architect daughter practicing in New Orleans, Louisiana.

MARTIN B. LESSANS, General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer Martin B. Lessans has been General Counsel, Chief Financial Officer and the Board Secretary/Treasurer of Passport Health since it’s founding. As a member of the Maryland Bar, he has been an attorney since 1970 and has been a partner with the same law firm, Lessans, Praley & McCormick, P.A. (formerly known as Lessans & Tate), since 1978, where he is a senior partner.

Since 1980, Lessans has been active in the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland, the disciplinary system handling complaints against attorneys and governed by the Maryland Rules of Procedure adopted by the Court of Appeals (Maryland’s highest court). He has served on numerous Inquiry and Peer Review Panels, chairing most panels. Lessans has served on the Review Board of the AGC from 1988-1990 and was appointed by the Court of Appeals to serve on the AGC Governing Commission from 1990 to 1997 where he was Vice Chair from 1992 to 1997.

Lessans’ bar association activities have included the presidency of the Anne Arundel Bar Association as well as the Paca/Brent Inn/American Inns of Court where he was also Master of the Bench. He has also sat on the Board of Governors for the Maryland State Bar Association and is a member of the Business Law Section and Forum on Franchising of the American Bar Association.

Lessans has retained an attorney rating of “AV” (highest rating) from Martindale-Hubbell and holds a J.D. from the University of Baltimore Law School. 

PETER V. SAVAGE, Vice President With over thirty years experience as an international security consultant, Peter Savage designed crisis management plans for corporations and executives who travel abroad. He is the author of The Safe Travel Book, Lexington, 1996, that is considered the standard reference for corporate security officers and travel managers and has sold over 200,000 copies in 14 printings.

CAROL L. DEROSA, Senior V.P.,  Operations Trained in New York City, Carol DeRosa worked in emergency room medicine before moving to Philadelphia and working with the University of Pennsylvania and the Department of Health. A subsequent move to Massachusetts gave her the opportunity to complete a degree in Human Resource Management and begin a Masters in Public Health. She became active in the State Legislature during that time working for Child Advocacy issues while raising three boys.

LAURA RADKE, Corporate Medical Director Laura L. Radke, M.D. is Corporate Medical Director for Passport Health. Dr. Radke is also currently the medical director of Corporate Health Services for ProHealth in Waukesha, Wisconsin. She is also a practicing infectious disease physician at SynergyHealth St. Joseph Hospital in West Bend, Wisconsin. Dr. Radke is a native of Wisconsin who received her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin.

MARTIN TAFFE, Director, Sales & Marketing Born in West Germany of a military father and German mother, Martin traveled Europe widely as a youngster. Later, while stationed aboard the Coast Guard Ice Breaker, Polar Star, he spent 6 months in Antarctica and made 2 trips north of Point Barrow near the North Pole. After the Coast Guard, he was a crewman on board American vessels carrying cars from Japan as a merchant seaman. So far, Martin has traveled to 34 countries.

JORGE EDUARDO CASTILLO, National Marketing Coordinator Mr. Castillo was recruited by Passport Health to assist in organizing, implementing, and controlling Passport Health's National Marketing Strategy initiative. Mr. Castillo works very closely with the executive team and he is involved in all facets of marketing design and development.