Ellen Harrison Saunders has joined the board of directors of the Western Tidewater Free Clinic.

Saunders previously served as a board member on the clinic’s founding steering committee prior to its 2007 opening. She joins current clinic board members representing the Western Tidewater service area from varied backgrounds and professions.

Saunders received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Sweet Briar College and was the director of public relations and development at Obici Hospital for four years. Currently, she is the chairman of the board of directors of her family-owned healthcare company, Harrison Senior Living.

Saunders has served on the board of directors at Sweet Briar College and was a member of the administrative board of Main Street United Methodist Church. She has also served on the boards of the United Way and the Foundation for the Preservation of Virginia’s Executive Mansion.

Saunders has been a board member of the Suffolk Council of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, the Mental Health Association of Franklin County, Pa., and the Nansemond River Garden Club and Garden Club of Virginia.

In addition, she has been a writer and host of “This Week in Suffolk,” a weekly television program cablecast on the local municipal access channel.

As a career healthcare marketing and development professional and business owner, Saunders brings experience and knowledge of fundraising, marketing and communications that will directly benefit the clinic and its patients.

She and her husband, Whitney, live in Suffolk and have three grown children, and two grandchildren.