About Us

Karen Huyck

MD, PhD, MPH, FACOEM

Dr. Karen Huyck is the co-founder and Medical Director of Work Health CoLab. Dr. Huyck is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth in the Section of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Before launching Work Health CoLab, she served as the Medical Director of Vermont RETAIN (Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network), a statewide work disability prevention program. Dr. Huyck completed her MD and PhD at the University of Vermont and her MPH and Residency in Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a former American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Occupational Physician Scholar and Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow. She has held diverse roles in occupational medicine, including as an on-site company physician, in orthopedic clinics, and as an expert medical examiner performing impairment ratings and utilization review. Her work focuses on functional recovery and complex return-to-work. Her current clinical and research interests include access to evidence-based work-health services, prevention of work disability, and improving the physical and mental health of workers in their communities. She has won numerous teaching awards and is frequently invited to talk about the clinician role in return-to-work.

Joyce Soublet

COO & Co-Founder

Joyce Soublet is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Work Health CoLab, bringing more than 27 years of experience as a Licensed Practical Nurse and a deep-rooted commitment to advancing community health and workforce well-being. Her clinical background spans hospice and end-of-life care, obstetrics, correctional health, and research in liver disease, oncology, and rehabilitation—experiences that shaped her systems-based perspective on care coordination and recovery at work. Before launching Work Health CoLab, Joyce led the clinical research coordinator team and later served as Program Director for the Vermont RETAIN (Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network), a statewide work disability prevention initiative. In this role, she guided multidisciplinary teams to support workers in returning to and staying at work after illness or injury, integrating medical, vocational, and community-based strategies to reduce the human and economic costs of work disability. Joyce earned both her Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration with a concentration in Community Health and her Master of Healthcare Administration from ECPI University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Her journey began with a vocational diploma in practical nursing, which laid the foundation for her clinical and leadership success.

Michela Capobianco

CEO & Co-Founder

Michela Capobianco, MBA is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Work Health CoLab. Michela also serves as the Executive Director of the New England College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (NECOEM), a nonprofit dedicated to improving the health and safety of workers, workplaces, and environments, and as the Program Director for Workers Comp Care, which provides education and collaboration opportunities for professionals in the workers’ compensation field. Together, these organizations reach and support thousands of occupational health and workers’ compensation professionals annually across New England. Through these roles, Michela has developed a deep passion for supporting the care teams that work to help injured workers recover and re-engage in their work life and as active members of their communities. Before her transition into healthcare and nonprofit space, Michela spent more than 13 years in the high-tech enterprise sector at EMC Corporation (now Dell Technologies), where she advanced business operations, fostered interdisciplinary collaboration, and built strategic partner-based programs—critical skills as she seeks to drive organizational growth and innovation in all her work. Michela earned her Bachelor of Arts from Providence College and then continued for her Master of Business Administration from Northeastern University.

Tucker O'Day

Sarah Probst

Carrie Freitag

Financial Strategist

Carrie Freitag, MPS, CRA, serves as a Financial and Planning Strategist for the Work Health CoLab. She runs a private consulting business specializing in planning, project management, financial strategy, and grant and contract administration. Prior to joining the Work health CoLab team, she served as a project manager for the Vermont RETAIN (Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network) demonstration program, a statewide work disability prevention initiative. In this role, she provided integrative project management, budget development, contracting, and sustainability planning support. Carrie earned her Master of Professional Studies from Cornell University’s Sloan Program in Healthcare Administration and is a Certified Research Administrator. She draws from ~25 years of experience leading the financial and administrative operations of research, health, and human service programs in academic and health care organizations such as Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and Johns Hopkins University. As a consultant, she has focused on large grant funded multi-center multi-institution projects and public-private initiatives.