Joshua Leslie is the founder of Ascend Healthcare having dedicated his 17-year career to patients with behavioral health and substance use disorders. Joshua draws on his
clinical background having received both the Top Physician Assistant in Arizona award and Top Physician Assistant in America award within the last 4 years (2018 & 2021). He combines his clinical experience with his background in Six Sigma to create optimal workflow designs for operational success.

Prior to founding Ascend Healthcare, Joshua served as the top operations executive for the largest psychiatric crisis center in Arizona. He oversaw operations for over 250 employees, operating a 50-chair observation center, 16 bed inpatient unit, community walk-in center, and a fully integrated Opioid Treatment Program (OTP). Under his leadership the organization was able to capture over $2.5 million in pay-for-performance measures (96% success rate) along with becoming the first crisis center in Arizona to receive the Exemplary Practice Award from the Practice Innovation Institute.

Ascend Healthcare Inc was founded in February of 2020 and launched services in April 2020 with a strategic mission of creating and integrating behavioral health and substance use disorder programs into pre-existing Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), large group practices and Affordable Care Organizations. This virtual care program has expanded at a rapid pace unprecedented to traditional in-person behavioral health models. Within the first 20 months of operations Ascend Healthcare was able to provide over 100,000 patient encounters across Arizona alone.

Joshua’s dedication to success means a hands-on approach to leadership. In addition to organizational oversight he also provides psychiatric consultation services to over 30 clinics across Arizona and Utah while also serving as the program consultant for the Arizona Alliance of Community Health Centers (AACHC), working under the Opioid Action Grant, building substance use disorder and behavioral health treatment programs for Federally Qualified Health Centers across the state.

Melissa Jandt comes with more than 26 years of behavioral health experience working with General Mental Health, Substance Use Disorders, and Seriously Mentally Ill children, adolescents, and adults. Melissa started her career in Illinois working for the DuPage County Health Department for over 15 years; working in crisis, residential, and outpatient service lines.

After relocating to Arizona in 2016, Melissa assisted with the implementation and opening of an Opioid Treatment Program in Phoenix during 2018 as the Clinical Director of Operations. Melissa and her team completed an audit to became accredited with Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) in 2018. In 2019, Melissa transitioned to the VP of Operations to manage one of the largest psychiatric crisis centers in Arizona.

Melissa transitioned to the Implementation team and clinically revised a short-term (30-90 day) program providing services to patients upon discharge from inpatient care with a focus on social determinants of health. Melissa implemented evidence-based treatment and screening tools to be utilized by the clinical team, as well as robust reporting to assist with providing deliverables to community partners.

In October 2020, Melissa facilitated the launch of Ascend Healthcare’s virtual Outpatient Services Program, which now serves over 1,000 patients and is the direct behavioral health referral for more than 2,000 physicians and specialty care practices. Melissa also manages the clinical operations of several virtual behavioral health programs partnered with FQHC practices in the Phoenix area where over 100,000 patient lives have been provided behavioral health treatment services.

Cody Randel serves as Vice President of Ascend Health Care Inc. and as Director of Provider Development. Other current corporate interests include serving as partnership investor/shareholder to real estate investments in Delaware and Virginia as well as sole member of real estate property in Maryland. With Ascend Healthcare Cody is devoted to ensuring oversight and execution of required elements for onboarding and continued education of BHMP staff, educational training on fiscally and clinically responsible practices, as well as appropriate billing documentation. Cody is dedicated to ensure that new and current staff provide excellent standard of care for mental health and substance
use treatment patients. He is directly responsible for the provision of direct patient care within the FQHC model, including care coordination between behavioral health, psychiatric, substance use treatment and medical integration. Cody completed his Masters in Medical Science in Physician Assistant Studies in 2015 at which time he began his career as a psychiatric Physician Assistant. 

Cody brings significant prior experience working in the fields of medical and behavioral health research and education, with previous work at Northwestern University as well as Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago, Illinois. It was in the field of medical and behavioral health research where Cody worked directly with entities including National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Chicago, UCLA and others. Cody’s passion for providing mental health services began when he obtained his undergraduate degree in Cultural Anthropology and served as a field researcher for DePaul University of Chicago, working in collaboration with the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan in Yucatan state in Mexico. While conducting research among the indigenous Mayan peoples, he discovered his drive for providing basic fundamental needs to those with low access to resources. Cody’s passion to provide services to at-risk and low-income communities continues to this day and is demonstrated through the success of Ascend Healthcare Inc.