
Abdul Hafeedh bin Abdullah • CommUnity Healing through Activism and Strategic Mobilization (CHASM)

Elaine Kiriakopoulos • Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College

Dr. Lisa Sackett • Clinical psychologist, certified cognitive coach, and staff member of the HOBSCOTCH Institute for Cognitive Health and Well-Being at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Dr. Marcella Nunez Smith MD, MHS • Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, White House COVID Response Team, and Equity Research and Innovation Center, Yale School of Medicine

Mike Young • Center for Community Health Alignment and PASOs at the University of South Carolina
Abdul Hafeedh bin Abdullah, CommUnity Healing through Activism and Strategic Mobilization (CHASM)
Abdul Hafeedh bin Abdullah was born in San Bernardino California and raised within the controversial and historically pivotal era of crack cocaine and during the pinnacle of Americas’ war on drugs (late 1980’s throughout the 1990’s). Abdullah was first incarcerated at the early age of 9 after several years of intense exposure to California’s gang and street culture. He was arrested at 17 for attempted murder and sentenced as an adult to 8 years within California’s Department of Corrections maximum security prison. Four years into his prison term Abdullah was inspired to shift his world view and began to tenaciously pursue a journey of self and community restoration and healing.
Upon his release from prison in January of 2003, Abdullah faced the difficult challenge of reintegration back into society. He was gifted with the opportunity to move to Eugene, Oregon and enroll into Lane Community College where he immersed himself into the life of a student. During that time, he also worked as a Case Manager for a transitional housing program for ex-offenders. Abdullah ascertained his Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from Portland State University after moving to Portland in 2007. While in Portland, he became President of the historical Muslim Community Center of Portland (MCCP, 2009-2016). It was through intimate community outreach and violence prevention focused programming on behalf of MCCP’s internationally diverse populations that he was introduced to the CDC funded Multnomah County Health Department (MCHD), Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE) initiative (2011).
Abdullah was employed with MCHD STRYVE and became 1 of 2 principal CHWs who were instrumental in the program’s success. STRYVE had the national mandate to advance violence as a public health priority. While employed with MCHD’s Community Capacitation Center, Abdullah co-facilitated hundreds of hours of the Oregon Health Authorities (OHA) CHW 90 hour certification training. He co-developed an African-African American centered adaptation of the curriculum, and subsequently co-authored a peer-reviewed research of the training’s implementation. Abdullah spearheaded the development of a 20 hour training titled Understanding Violence Through a Public Health Lens and co-led a team of colleagues in a comprehensive adaptation and implementation of OHA’s CHW curriculum with a focus on violence prevention (2016).
Abdullah was requested by the Principal Investigator of the STRYVE program to join the research team to write the final report for the CDC in 2017 while living in Wilmington, North Carolina. Upon completion of the CDC report, Abdullah began to implement a community-centered and community-driven version of the MCHD STRYVE 2011-2016 program in the North Carolina Cape Fear Region. Abdullah is the Executive Director of Quality Life Blueprint and Founding Executive Director of Sokoto House (Community Center and Cultural Hub) where his program is being implemented.
Currently, Abdullah works closely with key Executive staff within the CDC’s Injury Prevention Department and several other violence prevention, public health, and CHW professionals across the country to advance the CHW Violence Prevention model. He also serves as the Co-Chair for the American Public Health Association (APHA) CHW Section Policy Committee and is co-leading with Rumana Shams Rabbani on the APHA policy proposal for CHWs as Racial Equity Advocates and Pathways for Training. Abdullah is the Lead CHW and Co-Chair for the APHA CHW Section Racial Equity workshop that will be hosted at the APHA 2022 annual conference in Boston focusing on violence prevention practices and racial equity tools. He is the Co-PI of the research collaborative with Rumana and CBO-based CHWs which aim is to address CHW sustainable and equitable payment models during Covid and Emerging pathogens with a focus on racial equity interventions. Locally, in North Carolina Abdullah is on the Executive team with the NC CHW Advisory Board and is on the workgroup to co-design the NC CHW certification / training program with a focus on racial equity and violence.
Abdullah is the co-founder of CommUnity Healing through Activism and Strategic Mobilization (CHASM) .
Abigail Ivancicts, Illinois Public Health Association
Abigail Ivancicts has a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is employed at the Illinois Public Health Association as the Lead Health Educator. She has utilized her experience and knowledge of community health work with her skills in curriculum development to create trainings focused on health equity and outreach. She is currently working on trainings for the state wide Pandemic Health Navigator program, an External Wellness Program, and a pipeline program to train new Community Health Workers in Illinois.
For the past several years, Abigail has worked extensively with Recovery Courts and in various programs to decrease the stigma around addiction recovery. She has a passion for using Motivational Interviewing to help clients seek change and using harm reduction principles to keep clients safe. As a person in long-term recovery herself, she offers a unique perspective that many of her colleagues cannot. She has also worked to create trauma informed safe spaces for people who are LGBTQ+ to engage in healthcare services. As a queer individual herself, she has been able to connect with clients and help advocate for their needs, that have often otherwise gone overlooked. Abigail’s passion is for working with clients that do not fit into the standard medical model. She appreciates learning from clients and community members and is always eager to start conversations around Trauma Informed Care and improving client care.
Alaine Ziegler,Cocopah Indian Tribe
Alaine Ziegler was originally from Denver, Colorado and now lives in Yuma Arizona. Ms. Ziegler graduated from the Colorado School of Public Health with a Master’s degree in Public Health. She currently serves as the Community Health Representative for Health Promotion for the Cocopah Indian Tribe. As the CHR for Health Promotion, Ms. Ziegler has focused on COVID-19 disease prevention, education, and vaccination. She has also worked on health and nutrition education, departmental policies and procedures, and supporting others with their health-based initiatives. In her free time, she enjoys reading and playing with her cat.
Alex Fajardo
No Bio Provided
Alma Dausinger, Interpreter
Alma L. Dausinger is a Southern Arizona Interpreter with over 20 years experience, She has interpreted from English to Spanish/Spanish to English in a variety of settings ranging from Court to Medical to Conference interpreting. Alma has lived in the greater Tucson area since 1976 when her parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico when she was 8 years old. She is a 1995 graduate of the University of Arizona with a BA in Spanish Literature and Mexican
American Studies. Alma also obtained a Master’s in Counseling degree in 2001 in Marriage, Family and Child Therapy. Alma began her interpreting career in 1999 when she was hired as a staff interpreter for Pima County Juvenile Court. She later transferred to Tucson City Court in 2010 as a Supervisor/Staff
Interpreter and remained in that capacity until 2016 when she decided to become an independent contractor. Since 2016, Alma has enjoyed the various opportunities offered by independent contracting work and looks forward to many more years of growth and experiences in the field of interpreting.
America Davis, Immunize Nevada
America Davis is a Community Health Worker with Immunize Nevada, the state’s only immunization-focused nonprofit. She has over ten years of experience in communications and advertising, but her true passion is connecting with people across Nevada and empowering them to make informed health decisions. America excels at relationship building and strives to ensure compassionate, equitable care for her communities.
She received her education at the University of Nevada, Reno with a Bachelor’s in Neuroscience. In her free time, America enjoys cooking new dishes, knitting, and watching San Francisco Giants baseball with her husband and two cats.
Amy Mincer, Community Health Workers Association of Rochester
Amy is a graduate of CHWAR’s first HPOG CHW Training Program Cohort in 2019. Currently Amy works at MC Collaborative as a community health worker; she has spent most of the last few months working directly with the homeless population in Rochester. Prior to completing her CHW training, Amy volunteered at Health Reach and was a member of the consumer council. Amy’s goal is to one day open a re-entry shelter for women coming out of prison. Amy is very active in community outreach and can be seen all around Rochester connecting individuals to services. Amy is our newest Board Member.
Angela Eastlund, Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
In 2017, Community Memorial Foundation (CMF) and Healthy Communities Foundation (HCF) collaborated to fund models of healthcare delivery that utilize CHWs, thus improving access to care and growing the healthcare workforce. Following an RFP process, CMF and HCF funded five organizations with diverse missions and target populations to address the Regional Health and Human Services Agenda priority to create communities with accessible, high quality health and human services for all. Specifically, this CHW pilot seeks to address the ongoing local need to increase awareness of health and human service resources and connect people to needed services.
As part of this initiative, CHWs and supervisors participated in a learning collaborative to engage with one another and content experts to strengthen their skills, referral networks and knowledge. Health & Medicine Policy Research Group (HMPRG), a policy think tank with a long standing commitment to the intrinsic value of the CHW skill set, and recognition of and reimbursement of their services, is the Project Coordinator for this program, serving as the backbone of the work and a key convener throughout the process. HMPRG engaged Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI), the unique, nationally-recognized community research center of Sinai Chicago to train CHWs, provide support to CHW supervisors, and lead the process of conducting a formative and implementation evaluation of the effort.
Participating Organizations: Aging Care Connections; Alivio Medical Center; BEDS Plus; Mujeres Latinas En Accion; Healthcare Alternative Systems (HAS)
Angela Kuzma, Oregon Community Health Workers Association
My objective is to develop, analyze, and advocate for policies that strengthen and build upon the resilience inherent within Oregonians and their communities.
Anna Murray
No Bio Provided
Antonia Roman, Immunize Nevada
Antonia was born and raised in a small town in rural Nevada that consisted largely of Mexican immigrants, one of whom she is the proud daughter of. The experience of seeing lack of services and engagement with Communities of Color led her to seek her Bachelor of Social Work Degree from the University of Nevada Reno making her the first person in her family to receive a college degree. Ms. Roman then went on to receive her Master of Social Work degree from Our Lady of the Lake University. Antonia has worked at macro and micro levels to engage various underserved communities in her career including individuals who have developmental delays, those who are undocumented, people experiencing domestic violence and numerous Indigenous communities throughout Nevada. Some of this work has included improved legislation for domestic violence regulations in Nevada as well as the first blanket Memorandum of Understanding between an Indigenous American Tribe and the Division of Child and Family Services in Nevada. Antonia has been active with several non-profits which led to her current position for Immunize Nevada. A Nevada non-profit that offers education, support and outreach to communities, healthcare professionals and partners. She currently works as the COVID-19 Coordinator, a hybrid position that includes advocacy, outreach, engagement, coordination, and partnership across rural, frontier and remote areas of Nevada. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, spoiling her dachshund/pitbull mix “Kitkat”, painting and cosplaying with her children who are avid Marvel and Harry Potter fans.
Ashley Rodriguez, Baylor Scott & White Health System
Ashley Rodriguez is an experiential CHW & CHW Instructor with over 13 years’ experience in community & public health. Ashley is currently the Community Health Worker System Manager at Baylor Scott & White Health System. In her current role, Ashley is responsible for promoting and driving underserved and community health focused projects, as well as develop new and innovative program applications for CHWs. Ashley serves as the APHA CHW Section Chair. She currently serves as the president of the board of directors for the Texas Association for Promotores and CHWs. Ashley peviously served as the DFW-CHW Association’s Vice President of the Board of Directors from 2016-2020. Ashley previously chaired the CHW section of the Texas Public Health Association, in 2018. Ashley’s passion is to build partnerships that support, promote, and elevate CHWs, as well as teach continuing education to CHWs across Texas and nationally.
Ashley Winterstorm, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans
Ashley Wennerstrom is an Associate Professor at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. She has been a proud ally of the community health worker (CHW) workforce for over a dozen years. She focuses on CHW workforce development and policy, and she conducts community-academic partnered research focused on promoting health equity. Her work has been funded by CDC, NIH, HRSA, and PCORI. Ashley is a Robert Wood Johnson Interdisciplinary Research Leaders fellow. She currently co-leads the Louisiana CHW Workforce Coalition, along with fellow NACHW board member, Catherine Haywood. Ashley is a co-founder of the Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network (LACHON) and serves as co-chair of NACHW’s policy committee. She previously served as chair of the American Public Health Association Community Health Planning and Policy Development Section as well as chair of the CHW Section Policy Committee
Azucena Lopez-de-Nava, Chula Vista Community Collaborative
Azucena Lopez de Nava is an Outreach and Promotora Coordinator at the Chula Vista Community Collaborative, a nonprofit organization in south bay area of Chula Vista. Azucena leads, implements, and supervises volunteer and staff promotoras in support of the 5 family resource centers. The centers have outreach, workshops, and presentations. They plan and develop strategies for the health educational trainings such as the Patient Centered Outcomes (PCORI) research training for promotores, healthy for life by The American Heart (AHA), Poison Control prevention and the Resident Leadership Academy.
For the last 4 years, Azucena has been involved in projects that create awareness in depression and emotional behavior, she has been certified by the Inst. of Psychiatry of Mexico City as a facilitator for the Bilingual workshop “It’s hard to be a woman?” for Hispanic/Latina women. Azucena attended mental health first aid workshops and trainings from the Mental Health of America in San Diego.
Azucena coordinates and supervises a group of Promotoras volunteers “Promotoras Active for Community” (PAC), planning monthly activities to make the difference and impact the lives of the undeserved community in the Chula Vista area.
She has collaborated with nonprofit organizations and serves as a Community Based Organization representative of San Diego Association of governments (SANDAG) attending monthly meetings, planning, and leading presentations for community input in Chula vista.
Azucena holds a bachelor’s degree in Administrative Systems from the Universidad of Baja California and has involved in different trainings and certifications to highlight her career and pursue her goals and objectives to serve and advocate for her community.
Banita McCarn, Sinai Urban Health Institute
I am passionate about health equity, disparities and evidence-based research, framed within the context of social justice.
Barbara Baumgardner, CHI Saint Joseph Health
Barbara Baumgardner is coordinator for Total Health Roadmap special projects at CHI Saint Joseph Health in Lexington, KY. She retired in April, 2021 after 3 years of coordinating the Total Health Roadmap grant in Kentucky for Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI)/CommonSpirit Health. The grant is funded by CHI Mission and Ministry.
Barbara previously worked at KentuckyOne Health as a dietitian/diabetes educator with the Community Outreach Program for 18 years. She received both a BS and MS from the University of Kentucky in Home Economics with a concentration in biochemistry and is a Registered Dietitian and a Certified Diabetes Educator. Barbara currently serves on the board of the Community Health Worker Advisory Workgroup for the state of Kentucky.
Ben Tiensvold, Community Health Workers Association of Rochester
Ben Tiensvold has served as the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Community Health Worker Collaborative (CHWSD) of South Dakota since January of 2020. Ben is a member of the National Association of Community Health Workers and the American Public Health Association. In 2015 and 2016, Ben assisted the South Dakota Departments of Health and Social Services in exploring and developing key recommendations for the development of a CHW workforce in South Dakota which later led to South Dakota Medicaid reimbursement for CHW services and the creation of the CHWSD. Ben holds a Bachelors of Communication Studies and Public Relations from Southwest Minnesota State University and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health degree from New Mexico State University.
Bev Ching, Inland Empire Health Plan
Experienced Strategic Project Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the health care industry. Skilled in Nonprofit Organizations, Healthcare Management, Managed Care, Healthcare, Collaboration and Program Development. Strong program and project management professional graduated from Loma Linda University.
Brendaly Rodríguez, MA, CPH, Chula Vista Community Collaborative, Director; San Diego Border Area Health Education Center, Advisory Committee Member; Patient & Family Centered Care Partners, Advisory Board Member
Ms. Rodríguez currently leads the Chula Vista Community Collaborative near San Diego, CA, operating 5 family resource centers in the area. Before that, she managed the Community and Stakeholder Engagement (CaSE) for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) in charge of a portfolio of research support for clinical interventions of Promotoras/CHWs at University of Miami. In summary, Ms. Rodriguez has over 25 years of experience in developing and administering community-based interventions to address health disparities. As Co-President of the FL CHW Coalition, she led their mobilization and engagement efforts to create the FL CHW Certification credential. She has worked with local CHW stakeholder groups to develop, translate and implement a structured educational program training around 600 Community Health Workers (CHWs) in patient centered outcomes research (PCOR) across 3 states (CA, TX and FL). Ms. Rodríguez is Co-Lead of the PCOR-funded engagement award “Partnership for Training Community Health Workers in PCOR in the Context of COVID-19” at University of Miami and is Engagement Lead of the PCORI-funded engagement award “Building Research Capacity on Hearing Loss Interventions in Hispanic/Latinx Communities” at University of Arizona. She routinely provides technical assistance and volunteers at several regional, state and national committees. Recipient of 2017 Community Advocate Award by the Latino Center on Aging (LCA) and the 2012 Sunshine Health Education Champion Award from the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (SFLHCC), she is certified public health (NBPHE #15119), and a Recognized Education Provider by the FL Certification Board.
Carmen Noriega • United States Courts Certified Interpreter
Carmen A. Noriega, a native border-lander born in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region of Ambos Nogales, thus bilingual in Spanish and English from childhood. She attended K12 schooling on both sides of the border. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.
Her love of words, prompted Carmen to pursue a professional career in the field of languages becoming a bicultural interpreter with now more than twenty-five years of experience in simultaneous interpretation, as well as written translation. She is fully accredited and certified by the United States Court to provide interpretation in the mastered languages of English and Spanish in multilevel jurisdictions of courts, and as conference interpreter in the United States and Mexico for clients in the private and public sectors covering a broad range of fields and topics. She, as well, has experience as guide interpreter having provided assistance to newspapers and journalists during their investigative reporting from the U.S.-Mexico border. And for executives and professionals of different nationalities conducting business in Northern Sonora and Baja California.
Carmen is also a translator with extensive experience translating both ways in the mastered languages [English to Spanish & Spanish to English] in subjects that range from straightforward no research needed to more complicated technical to nuanced copy/literary translations. She further provides her expertise as a transcriber of official recordings for agencies in the public sector and for private companies in need of transcribing certain recorded materials.
Additionally, Carmen is an author as she was published as an opinion columnist for her two border hometowns local newspapers for little over two years. She also wrote articles related to manufacturing for the Twin Plant News Magazine of El Paso, Texas. One of her more gratifying accomplishments in this area is the self-publication of a bilingual collection of her family’s home cooking recipes in La Cocina de Mi Nana back in 2015. She is currently working on Elvis and Tall Tales, an assortment of short stories.
Carolyn Carver, Carolyn Carver Consulting & Training
Carolyn’s passion is helping Managers and Supervisors view themselves as Leaders and inspiring them to provide effective Leadership to their team members. For more than a decade she has traveled the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, England and Scotland entertaining and influencing thousands of attendees. She specializes in Results-Driven Leadership, Communicating to Influence and Building Your Emotional Intelligence.
Catherine Gray Haywood, BSW, Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network, Executive Director
Catherine Gray Haywood is the Executive Director for Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network. She received her BSW from Southern University @ New Orleans and has been a champion for the last 30 years advocating for individuals living below the poverty levels, and working to educate communities around health disparities such as HIV/AIDS, breast and cervical cancers, and other cancers, and obesity and active living. She has also worked for Tulane Prevention Research Center for the past 20 years, providing structured mentoring process for community members with the Center. She also implements training programs and webinars for community residents, barbers, stylists and health care providers around various health issues and CBPR. Additionally, Catherine works with LSU on the Resilience Baton Rouge project and C-Learn project. She has partnered with LSU Community Health Worker Institute to train CHWs across the state, and is the chair of Xavier’s Louisiana Clinical & Translational Science (LaCATs) and Making Connection New Orleans, a project focused on prioritizing the mental health and overall well-being of Black men and boys in New Orleans. Catherine has worked with ex-offenders in the pre-release program through the Community Service Center. Nationally, she is a board member of the National Association of Community Health Workers, serves as a Community Health Worker Common Core (C3) fellow, was the Co-Regional Director for the South region for the National Community Committee (NCC), and served on the Executive Board of the Louisiana Cancer Control Partnership.
Catherine Knox, RN, MSN, Clinical Director Point of Service Care Management Inland Empire Health Plan
No Bio Provided
CHW Core Skills Team
In 2017, Community Memorial Foundation (CMF) and Healthy Communities Foundation (HCF) collaborated to fund models of healthcare delivery that utilize CHWs, thus improving access to care and growing the healthcare workforce. Following an RFP process, CMF and HCF funded five organizations with diverse missions and target populations to address the Regional Health and Human Services Agenda priority to create communities with accessible, high quality health and human services for all. Specifically, this CHW pilot seeks to address the ongoing local need to increase awareness of health and human service resources and connect people to needed services.
As part of this initiative, CHWs and supervisors participated in a learning collaborative to engage with one another and content experts to strengthen their skills, referral networks and knowledge. Health & Medicine Policy Research Group (HMPRG), a policy think tank with a long standing commitment to the intrinsic value of the CHW skill set, and recognition of and reimbursement of their services, is the Project Coordinator for this program, serving as the backbone of the work and a key convener throughout the process. HMPRG engaged Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI), the unique, nationally-recognized community research center of Sinai Chicago to train CHWs, provide support to CHW supervisors, and lead the process of conducting a formative and implementation evaluation of the effort.
Participating Organizations: Aging Care Connections; Alivio Medical Center; BEDS Plus; Mujeres Latinas En Accion; Healthcare Alternative Systems (HAS)
Christina Romero, United States Courts Certified Interpreter
Born in northeastern Mexico 75 miles from the Texas border, Cristina grew up in a community made up of Mexican and American families.
As a child in Mexico, she attended a full English immersion American school from kindergarten through the eighth grade. This period of her education afforded her a native command of the English language. Following elementary and middle school, she transferred to a Mexican secondary and high school while continuing her relationships with her Mexican and American childhood friends and families.
While employed at the United States Consulate General Monterrey, Nuevo Leon and as an ESL instructor, a significant portion of her professional environment and social interactions were in English. This experience prepared her with a solid foundation in obtaining her Associate Degree in Spanish/English translating and interpreting.
Thirty years ago Cristina relocated to Tucson, Arizona. Since her arrival, her bilingual skills served her well while employed at American Airlines and concurrently translating and interpreting in various fields: legal, medical, conferences, as well as city, county and immigration courts, to name a few.
Cristina went on to become a United States Courts Certified Interpreter which allows her to provide translating, transcribing and interpreting services to the Court and the federal agencies affiliated with it.
Cynthia O'Connor, Association for Utah Community Health
Cynthia (Cyndi) O’Connor is the Community Health Services Division Manager and AmeriCorps Program Director at the Association for Utah Community Health (AUCH). She oversees AUCH’s direct service projects throughout Utah. Cyndi was born and raised in New Jersey but relocated to Utah from the Washington D.C. area and joined AUCH in December 2017. Cyndi has several years of experience in federal and state program and project management and has overseen and implemented local and international projects for several federal and local government agencies.Cyndi has a BA and MA in International Politics and International Affairs, respectively, and specialized in the Middle East and North Africa region. Cyndi is passionate about community-based and culturally sensitive approaches to health education and promotion and enjoys working with community stakeholders to serve Utah’s diverse population. Cyndi is also a certified health coach and fitness instructor, and enjoys bridging her interest in culture, health, and wellness with her skills in management at AUCH through her work with the CHS Division.
Denise Hernandez, UT Arlington/ DFW-CHW Association
Dr. Hernandez received her PhD from the College of Architecture, Planning, and Public Affairs (CAPPA) in Public and Urban Administration at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). She earned her Master of Public Health from the Texas A&M School of Public Health, and a Bachelor of Science in Allied Health from Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on the incorporation of Community Health Workers (CHWs) to bridge the gap between the patient and health care system, as well as CHW workforce development. Her passion for addressing the needs of under-resourced communities has led her to focus on the impact of CHWs in vulnerable populations. As such, Denise is the founder of the DFW Community Health Worker Association for which she now serves as the as the Executive Director; as well as a member of the founding Board of Directors for the Texas Association of CHWs/Promotores. She has also worked as a CHW instructor and CHW ally for 10 years. Dr. Hernandez currently teaches in the graduate and undergraduate Public Health program at UTA and continues working to strengthen the support for the CHW workforce through research and policy.
Diane Smith • Centene Corporation
Diane L. Smith is the Director of Member Connections and Community Health Services at Centene Corporation. Diane has been instrumental in expanding the Community Health Services/Community Health Worker Coaching Model to be more aligned with care management, SDOH, and clinical programs. She has created and implemented evidenced based programs such as diabetes, readmission, and asthma coaching, perinatal and ED diversion using an agile methodology.
Durrell Fox, JSI Research and Training Institute
Durrell J. Fox is a Community Health Worker (CHW) with over 30 years of experience providing community/street outreach, direct services, case management support and advocacy for HIV+ adolescents/young adults, their families and communities. He joined JSI Research and Training in 2015 serving as a Technical Advisor for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund (PWTF) Project that employed over seventy CHWs across the state addressing diabetes, hypertension, asthma and senior falls prevention in nine communities. He is currently a CHW-Health Equity Consultant at JSI providing technical assistance and support for several projects including CHW, HIV, youth gun violence prevention and youth E-cigarette/vaping prevention projects across several states. He is a proud member of the CHW workforce continuing to serve in a volunteer CHW role for several communities and for the national CHW workforce community. Since 1991 Durrell has been involved in local, state, regional and national CHW workforce development efforts including serving as one of the founding members of the CHW Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA), the American Association of CHWs, the Massachusetts Association of CHWs, the New England CHW Coalition, and the Advisory Workgroup for the Massachusetts CHW Board of Certification as well as serving on the American Diabetes Association National Health Disparities Council and the MHP Salud Board of Directors. He moved to Georgia in 2018 and became an active member in the Atlanta Regional Collaborative for Health Improvement, the GA CHW Advocacy Coalition and GA Alliance for Health Literacy. He serves as a member of the National CHW Core Consensus (C3) Project Team and as a founding board of directors member for the National Association of CHWs. Durrell has served as adjunct faculty for the Holyoke Community College Foundations of Health CHW certificate program, the Center For Health Impact Outreach Worker Training Institute CHW Core Training Program and for UMASS Amherst’s New England Public Health Training Center CHW Core Training Course.
Durrell is involved in many community-based initiatives related to HIV/AIDS, CHWs, adolescents/young adults and health equity. In 2011, he was appointed to the US Office of Minority Health Region I Health Equity Council (New England RHEC) where he served as a member and co-chair of the CHW committee through 2018. He has served in many roles within APHA including as a member of the APHA Executive Board (2009-2015). Durrell is currently a member of the APHA Nominating Committee, Governing Council and a leadership member of the APHA CHW and HIV/AIDS sections.
Durrell is the son of retired Massachusetts State Rep. Gloria Fox. He has six children (Darnell, Shey, Carley, Dallas, Andrea, and Daysia), and two grandchildren (Aja and Taya Marie). For over 25 years, he has volunteered for the Paul Robeson Institute for Positive Self Development (PRI), a Saturday program for boys and young men in the 3rd – 12th grade operated by the Concerned Black Men of MA and he served as PRI co-director for over 4 years before moving to Georgia in 2018.
Elaine Kiriakopoulos • Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College
Dr. Elaine Kiriakopoulos is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, and the Director of the HOBSCOTCH Institute for Cognitive Health and Well-Being at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Epilepsy Center. She is a graduate of McMaster University Medical School in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She completed her neurology residency and an Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Post training, she remained in Boston and served as a Harvard Medical Faculty Physician, combining a clinical epilepsy practice with research focused on improving diagnosis, treatment and patient outcomes in epilepsy. At Dartmouth’s HOBSCOTCH Institute for Cognitive Health and Well-Being she leads efforts aiming to; expand epilepsy education for patients, community health workers and primary care providers; broaden epilepsy self-management program dissemination and implementation; and extend clinical research focused on epilepsy and self-management in diverse patient populations. She Directs the Epilepsy and Self-Management Community Training Center at the Institute which provides virtual epilepsy training for community health workers in both clinical and community settings.
Dr. Kiriakopoulos has held numerous non-profit leadership roles including the Epilepsy Foundation’s National Director of Health Communications and Engagement, where she led public health efforts focused on accessible health education and improving systems of care for people living with epilepsy.
Emilia Brown, Certified integrative health coach and medical interpreter
Emilia was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States in 1996 when she was 29. Pregnant and unable to speak English, she experienced the barriers and inequities that impacted her community firsthand. Emilia quickly became a resource for her network and began helping pregnant women with scheduling and attending prenatal visits, all while learning English and how to navigate the healthcare system. In 2010, she moved to Saint George, UT where she primarily supported the Hispanic community with advocacy, community education, and resource sharing. This included participating in radio segments to promote information about health and social services, and healthy lifestyle practices. In 2016, she started volunteering at her local Community Health Center and later became its first CHW through AmeriCorps, where she helped to enroll families in Medicaid and the Marketplace. Emilia has worked with AUCH as a Community Health Worker since 2019, helping families access healthcare and social services by addressing social determinant of health barriers. She has a passion for strengthening communities through understanding and compassion. She serves her clients through a lens of equity and capacity building. Emilia is also a certified integrative health coach and medical interpreter. She enjoys spending time with her family and dog, and loves visiting new places.
Dr. Kiriakopoulos has held numerous non-profit leadership roles including the Epilepsy Foundation’s National Director of Health Communications and Engagement, where she led public health efforts focused on accessible health education and improving systems of care for people living with epilepsy.
Erica Marroquin, El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center
Erika Marroquin, program coordinator of COVID-19 outreach and education efforts for El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center. Erika conducted and coordinated community outreach to provide resources and education on COVID-19 and encourage community members to get vaccinated against COVID. Erika partnered with local community centers, agencies, and food banks to be able to meet community members where they are at.
Erica Torres, DFW-CHW Association
Erica Torres is a Master of Public Health Student at the University of Texas at Arlington and she is currently interning with the Dallas Fort Worth Community Health Worker (DFW CHW) Association. As a intern with the DFW CHW association she is actively working on researching the current mental health resources and support to CHWs and partnering with CHWs to create culturally appropriate COVID-19 resources for the community for the Texas CEAL program.
Evelyn Thompson-Hilbert, Mindful Alliances, LLC
Evelyn graduated from the UNLV with an MA in Urban Leadership and USC with a BS in Public Policy and Development and is working on her doctorate at UNLVs School of Public Policy. She received her Professional Spiritual Coaching License at the Agape University of Transformational Studies and Leadership in Los Angeles, CA in 2000. She was co-Director of Agape’s Peace Ministry working on collaborative projects with local communities and the South African Consulate. She facilitated classes on Universal Principles, New Thought Ancient Wisdom Teachings, Spiritual Practices, Self-Mastery, and Practical Mysticism while at Agape University. She completed additional studies at the Institute of Ancient Mysteries with extensive spiritual work in Egypt, Peru, Kenya and the US.
Evelyn teaches the Community Health Worker course at the College of Southern Nevada’s Division of Workforce and Economic Development (DWED). She also leads the Nevada Partners, Inc. Future of Work Pillar for the West Las Vegas Promise Neighborhood (WLVPN). She presented mindful leadership workshops and retreats for community organizations including CNS, the City of Las Vegas, Nevada Department of Correction’s Florence McClure Women’s Prison, and other local organizations.
She is an adult survivor of child abuse and currently resides in Las Vegas, NV where she is the Founder/CEO of Mindful Alliances, LLC. Her passion is helping community leaders and members cultivate their unique mindful leadership qualities so they can better serve themselves and others. She sees private clients, is a public speaker, workshop facilitator, and writer addressing race, adoption, and healing from childhood trauma.
Fata Baako, Center for Disease Control and prevention
Fata Baako is an ORISE fellow in the Division of Diabetes Translation. As a fellow, she supports two cooperative agreements: assisting with the development and delivery of training courses, community of practices, and providing technical assistance to state and local health department recipients.
Fata worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Belize. As a volunteer, she worked alongside local community health workers and teachers on non-communicable diseases and maternal health education projects.
After her MPH, she joined Emory University as a program coordinator for Africa CDC Institute for Workforce development. As a coordinator, she successfully managed the development of multiple training courses, collaborated with international partners, and conducted data synthesis and dissemination of timely information.
Gabriela Boscan, Rural Health Association Washington DC
Gaby Boscán joined the National Rural Health Association staff in 2009. As Senior Director of Program Services and Development, she assists with all grant-writing activities and management, helps in conference coordination, and is the NRHA staff contact for the Journal of Rural Health, the NRHA’s Fellowship program, the Health Equity Council, and the Rural Medical Educators Group. Gaby is also the key staff working on the NRHA’s US/Mexico Border Health Initiative and the lead planner of the NRHA’s Community Health Worker Training Network. She earned a Masters in Public Health and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Florida. Originally from Venezuela, she is fluent in Spanish and English.
Gabriela Ruano, Fair Winds Family Resource Center
Gabriela Ruano, born in Tijuana, Mexico, came to the United States twenty
–
five years ago. During this time, she had three children. Gabriela was very passionate about being involved in education. She spent twelve years volunteering on school committees, school councils and represented her children’s school at the district level.
Gaby felt passionate about an individual’s responsibility to be integrated in the community. This value led Gabriela to become a Promotora with Chula Vista Community Collaborative in 2016, a nonprofit organization located in the South Bay area of San Diego County.
As a Promotora, Gabriela provides outreach and education to families in San Diego. Over the course of 4 years, Gabriela was certified a s a Domestic Violence Counselor in California, Mental Health First Aid, and has been certified by the Institution of Psychiatry of Mexico as facilitator of the Hispanic workshop “It’s
Hard to Be a Woman?”
Gabriela has been facilitator of “It’s Hard to Be a Woman?” for 4 years, working with women suffering from depression, interventions that have been in person as well as through a digital platform.
Gabriela assists families with health coverage applications (Medicaid), Calfresh as well as Calworks applications.
Gabriela has identified that working to empower, motivate, and educate women is what she imagines herself doing in life
Gary Ringer, Joy Southfield Community Development Corporation
For the past two decades, Gary Ringer has served his community as a Firefighter for the great City of Detroit. The bulk of his commitment to the citizens has been dedicated to the Cody Rouge/Warrendale community. Gary has served on the Governance Committee for Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance and the Board of Joy-Southfield Community Development Corporation. A graduate of the Leadership Academy sponsored by University of Michigan – Detroit, he’s been trained to build capacity, economic wealth, and sustainability. An entrepreneur at heart, Gary’s completed Southwest Solutions – Prosper Us Entrepreneurship Training, Kaufmann Fast Track and Build Institute’s – BUILD Social programs, all of which are designed for Metro Detroit residents in the City of Detroit seeking to start or expand a small business. And in October of 2018, Gary had the honor of being selected to participate in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – Culture of Health Leaders fellowship, a three-year leadership development program. Culture of Health Leaders are people working in every field and profession who want to use their influence to advance a Culture of Health where everyone living in America has a fair opportunity to live a long, healthy life. Gary is currently Director of Community and Economic Development at Joy Southfield CDC.
Hanakia Tui, Community Liason Papakolea Kupuna Community Care Network
Aloha Kakou! I am Hannah Hanakia (Kaneakua) Tui. Born and raised in Papakolea by my loving parents, and step parent. I learned to love Keakua, my ohana, my culture, and my kupuna from the greatest example in my life, my mother, Hannah Kia Kaneakua-Basso. My husband, Michael Tui was also raised here in Papakolea, and we have been both very blessed to also be able to raise our children, and our grandchildren in our beautiful community. I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve my Kupuna, their ohana, and our Hawaiian community. The sharing of our Hawaiian culture, values, and aloha is my passion.
Aloha kekahi i kekahi, (love one another) When we love one another we show love, caring, and concern for one another. May we all have Aloha for all. Me Kealoha Nui.
Iolani Ulii, Kula No Na Po'e Hawai'i
I am a 4th generation homesteader of Papakōlea, from the ‘Ohana Kamau’u on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. In my role as a KULA Community Health Worker, I lead the Lamakū After School Program that provides tutoring, homework assistance, and cultural or educational-based activities for keiki (children) in grades K-5. I am grateful for the challenges that strengthen our program to ensure that our youth are served in the most meaningful way.
My mission is to serve our community to the best of my abilities by reinforcing and instilling a cultural foundation grounded in Hawaiian values and morals within our youth. Teaching and learning through our native culture can empower our youth to shape their own identity and better meet personal expectations and standards. Ultimately, the goal is to build a firm foundation for our youth, families, and community.
Isabel Fierros, Interpreter
Isabel Fierros heredó el gusto por los idiomas de su madre, una exiliada cubana rigurosa con la corrección lingüística, que transmitió a sus hijas la importancia del lenguaje en la comunicación entre seres humanos. El amor a todo lo mexicano le viene a Isabel de sus raíces mexicanas por parte de padre. Isabel cuenta con una Maestría en traducción del español al inglés de la Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo en España, una Diplomatura en Traducción Jurídica de la Organización Mexicana de Traductores y muchos años felices de experiencia en el mundo de la traducción e interpretación de ambas lenguas.
Isabel Fierros inherited her zest for languages from her mother, a Cuban exile meticulous about accurate language, who instilled in her daughters its importance in human communication. Isabel’s love for all things Mexican comes from her ancestry on her father’s side. Isabel has a Master’s in Spanish-English translation from the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo in Spain, a certificate in legal translation from the Organización Mexicana de Traductores, and many happy years of experience in Spanish ˂ ˃ English interpreting and translation.
Jacqueline Sweeney, Treasurer and CHW Training Coordinator, Community Health Workers Association of Rochester
Jacqueline has been a CHW with URMC Social Work Division’s Baby Love Program for 26 years working with pregnant women to ensure healthy birth outcomes. She served on the Mercy Residential Board from 1994-1999, as a Steering Committee Member of the Rochester Area Family Life Education from 1994-2004, as a Family Development Credential Field Advisor from 2000-2015, on the Advisory Group of the Eastman Dental Home Project from 2005-2009, and on the Advisory Board for the Adapting Collaborative Care Perinatal Depression Treatment to a Pediatric Setting in 2008. Jacqueline is currently on the Parents As Teachers Advisory Committee and is serving on the Town of Irondequoit’s ICARE Program on Racial Equity. Jacqueline was the Co-Chair of CHWAR from 2000-2010.
Jarrel Fox
Add Bio Here
Jessica Hoskins, Total Health Roadmap at CHI Saint Joseph Health in Lexington, Kentucky
Jessica Hoskins is Project Coordinator for Total Health Roadmap at CHI Saint Joseph Health in Lexington, Kentucky. The grant is funded through a Mission and Ministry Grant from Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI)/Common Spirit Health. Jessica was previously a Certified Community Health Worker for the CHI Saint Joseph Health London Pediatrics Clinic, and stepped into the role of Project Coordinator in April 2021.
Jessica has worked for CHI Saint Joseph Health for 12 years and was a part of the first clinic for Kentucky One Health (now CHI Saint Joseph Health) to be credited from NCQA as a Patient Center Medical Home at the Premier Family Health Clinic in 2014.
Jessica is currently pursuing a degree in Computer Information Systems at Ashworth College and expects to graduate in spring 2022.
Joanina Gazcon, El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center
Joanina Gazcon, a Community Health Worker and Communications Coordinator has been working on ensuring the community gets the information they need by developing popular education material and toolkits. These toolkits have spread nationally to ensure the community has the most up to date and accurate information.
Joelle Monaco, MBA, Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc.
Joelle is passionate about educating others from a People First Principle; an organization’s people are their most valuable asset, each with their own experiences, assets, and purpose. Joelle’s expertise expands over thirteen years in organizational development and over seven years within the mental health field.
Joelle is the Director of Outreach & Business Engagement for the Mental Health Association in New York State, Inc. (MHANYS). Joelle oversees MHANYS Workforce Development & Outreach Program within the Capital Region and across the MHA Affiliate Network. This statewide initiative is designed to improve the employment opportunities for individuals living with mental health challenges. This is achieved by creating dialogue and educational opportunities for employers about the importance of understanding mental health in the workplace as part of workforce development to create an inclusive environment while achieving organizational success.
In addition, she oversees the Capital Region Project AWARE Grant supported through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Through this grant, Joelle trains individuals to improve mental health literacy, helping them identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health challenges. Since 2016, Joelle has trained over 1,400 individuals in Mental Health First Aid. Joelle received her MBA and BS in Psychology with a minor in Education from the University at Albany, New York.
Jose Rucobo, Curriculum & Workforce Engagement Specialist
Jose Rucobo – Curriculum & Workforce Engagement Specialist: Jose Rucobo is a Certified Community Health Worker (CHW) in the state of Texas with six years of CHW experience in Hispanic communities, plus two years of working with older adult Hispanic populations. He currently provides technical assistance to service providers through MHP Salud’s Strengthening Aging service for Older Hispanic Adults program, a minority Technical Assistance Resource Center (TARC) funded by the Administration for Community Living. Jose holds a BA in Criminal Justice and Psychology from the University of Texas at El Paso and he is located at MHP Salud’s West Texas office.
Joyce Hamilton, Hopi Tribe
Joyce M. Hamilton, a Hopi Tribal member from the village of Hotevilla. Joyce is the Manager for the Hopi Tribe Community Health Representative (CHR) program. In 1993, she earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Education from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. After leaving college, Joyce moved back to the Hopi Reservation to begin work with the Hopi Tribes’ Office of Health Services as a Health Educator. Health Education was truly enjoyable as she brought new ideas and creative activities to incorporate into teaching the Hopi Community about preventable diseases. In 1996, Mrs. Hamilton left her position to begin work at the local High School as a Physical Education/Health Education Teacher where she worked Freshmen and Seniors. Short lived employment with the Hopi Jr./Sr. High School brought her back to the Hopi Tribe to begin work on a new grant initiative. The Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI) was authorized by Congress in 1997 to begin addressing Diabetes using best practices. In January 2017, Joyce began employment with the Hopi Tribes’ Department of Health and Human Services’ Hopi Community Health Representative (CHR) program. She has been working to stabilize various areas of the CHR program to ensure the program is working to meet the needs of the Hopi Community
Julie St. John, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Julie St. John is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, TTUHSC, Abilene campus. She has her doctorate in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health. She is a Texas certified Community Health Worker Instructor, served on the Texas CHW Advisory Committee from 2011-2020, serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Association of Promotores and Community Health workers, a member of the APHA CHW Section, and has worked with CHWs twenty years. Her research interests include utilizing CHWs in community based participatory research and community health development approaches, and she has served as the principal and co-investigator on numerous projects. She founded the National CHW Training Center at Texas A&M School of Public Health. She was a Co-Investigator on the CHW Core Consensus Project, phase II, 2016-2018. Additionally, she teaches several undergraduate and graduate level public health courses. She has also developed over 500 hours of CHW and CHW instructor continuing education trainings. Along with co-editors Wandy Hernandez-Gordon and Susan Mayfield-Johnson, they recently published a CHW textbook with 20 teams comprised of 140 authors titled, “Promoting the Health of the Community – Community Health Workers Describing their Roles, Competencies, and Practice,” with Springer in April 2021.
Karla Alvarado, Baylor Scott & White (BSWH)
Karla Alvarado was born and raised in Cd. Juarez, Mexico. Migrated to the United States when I was about 12 years old and lived in El Paso, Texas. My calling has always been to serve the community. I was the “to go to” person in my community to help translate, make calls, fill out forms and/or find resources. In 2011, I moved to the DFW Area and stumble into the title Community Health Worker (CHW). It made me realized I had been a CHW all my life. I started with Baylor Scott & White (BSWH) as the Community Care Navigator. Now 10 years later I manage the Community Care Navigation Program at BSWH. This has given me the opportunity to help grow the CHW discipline and help develop a career ladder for others. It has been my passion to help others. I truly can say “I get paid for doing what I love”.
Karl Johnson, Community Based Workforce Alliance
A doctoral student in public health at the University of North Carolina. One of the founding members of the Community Based Workforce Alliance–a group of organizations that works to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic response and rebuilding efforts are equitable and effective and involve, fund, strengthen, and elevate trusted community-based workers.
Kawaiokapualeilehua Kaneakua-Rauschenburg
Aloha mai kākou!
It has been one of the biggest blessings in my life to work for Kula no nā Poʻe Hawaiʻi. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve my community through doing what I love most, teaching and helping others. I work for the Lamakū Program that provides homework assistance and cultural education to the keiki in Papakōlea. I cannot wait to see them flourish into brilliant and beautiful students! To help keiki understand the importance of our culture’s customs, language, and aloha is what I hope to achieve in my future.
I am a 4th generation homesteader and a proud member of the ʻohana Kāneakua on Tantalus Dr. I graduated from Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Ānuenue in 2018 with honors. Since then, I have been pursuing my dream of becoming an Elementary Educator in Hawaiian Language Immersion at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Aside from working and going to school, other things keep me grounded. Spending time out in the ʻāina and being an artistic creator are a couple of examples.
I love my home and cannot wait to see what the future holds for us here at Kula no nā poʻeHawaiʻi. Mahalo Nui!
Keara Rodela, CHW Common Indicators Project
Keara Rodela (she/her) is the current Community and Public Health Programs Supervisor for the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO). She earned her Master of Public Health in Global Maternal Child Health from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, holds a Bachelor of Science in Community Health Education from Portland State University, and was part of the 2nd We Are Health, Afro-centric CHW Training.
Keara is a Black, Queer woman who is committed to redressing the social determinants of health affecting her communities, utilizing the Community Health Worker model, popular education philosophy, and a racial equity lens. She has held various roles in her 19 years in the health field, and the honor of championing the CHW profession and contributing to the creation of an assessment toolkit to support CHWs’ professional development, through her role on the national Community Health Worker Core Consensus (C3) Project, Phase 2 Assessment Advisory Group and the CHW Common Indicators Project.
Kelly Wranik, Community Health Worker at Immunize Nevada
Kelly Wranik, CHW II, she/her/hers
Kelly Wranik is a Community Health Worker at Immunize Nevada, the state’s only statewide nonprofit dedicated to immunizations. After graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno, with a Bachelor’s of Science in Community Health Sciences, with an Emphasis in Public Health, Kelly thrived in nonprofit work that served her community. She found her passion in advocating for sub-communities that were often overlooked or historically marginalized.
In the middle of a pandemic, Kelly gained her CHW II certification and joined the Immunize Nevada CHW Team. She, with her team, has helped develop these positions over time and built on previous organizational infrastructure, knowledge, and partnerships to best serve her communities while increasing access and decreasing barriers to Flu and COVID-19 vaccines and other health information. When she is not serving Northern Nevada in COVID Vaccine Response, Kelly enjoys binge watching her favorite shows and loves the Marvel and DC Universes, naming her two lab/heelers after prominent movie characters (Luthor and Stanley).
Kevinn Porras
Add Bio Here
Kim Bush, MPA, CHWI, CHW, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Program Director
Kim serves as the Program Director for the Center of Population Health, Analytics, & Quality Advancement and the Texas Area Health Education (AHEC) East Northeast Region within the School of Community and Rural Health at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHSCT). As a certified Community Health Worker (CHW) and CHW Instructor, Kim holds various leadership positions in local, State, and National CHW associations. In addition, she has over 25 years of experience in behavioral and community health working with rural and underserved populations. During the last seven years, she has given multiple presentations on the effectiveness of Community Health Workers (CHWs) to various organizations and agencies across Northeast Texas including regional and national conferences. As the lead CHW instructor, Kim facilitates The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler’s Department of State Health Services (DSHS) certified CHW training site. Additionally, she develops and teaches in-person, online, and hybrid training modules for CHWs and other health and service professionals.
Kim Jay, BA, Sinai Urban Health Institute, Senior Community Health Worker Consultant and Trainer
Kim Jay is the Senior Community Health Worker Consultant and Trainer for Sinai Urban Health Institute. She started with Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) in 2012 and currently works primarily on SUHI’s Center for CHW Research, Outcomes, and Workforce Development (CROWD), to train and onboard CHWs within various organizations and provides support for CHW Supervisors and Managers to insure the most effective integration into their programs. In addition, Kim continues her work as a CHW within SUHI, where she meets clients in the home or in clinic to address any health literacy, navigation or social barriers that may be preventing them from being healthy, mind body and spirit. In 2014, Kim was the recipient of the Real Award, which is a national award given through the Save the Children foundation that honors outstanding work in the medical field. Kim was one of few community health workers to receive this honor in Washington DC. In addition, Kim is Co-Chair for the Illinois Community Health Worker Association, Co-Lead for a workgroup under Healthy Chicago 2025, published an article in the Journal of Ambulatory Care Management entitled “Community Health Worker Profile: the Journey, Job, and Justification”. Most recently, a Board member for the National CHW Association (NACHW) and one of the lead Co-Facilitators from Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI), for the Chi-Tracing Contact Tracer initiative in Illinois, to onboard over 500 Contact Tracers for their role in combating the spread of COVID-19.
Leslie Jebson, Texas A&M Health / Texas Accountable Communities of Health Initiative
Les Jebson currently serves as a healthcare administrator with Texas A&M University Health. Mr. Jebson is both certified and a fellow with The American College of Healthcare Executives [ACHE] and The Medical Group Management Association [MGMA] and is also a Certified Healthcare Patient Safety and Risk Manager. He holds masters degrees in both business and healthcare and serves as a guest instructor for several universities and advisor to healthcare organizations. He have authored numerous healthcare articles and spoken nationally on healthcare innovation and care improvement. He and his colleagues currently serve as the backbone organization for the new Texas Accountable Communities For Health Initiative under development in central Texas.
Lily Lee, Loma Linda University Health- SMGC, Promotores Academy
Lily Lee, DrPH, MPH is a multicultural CHW ally from Southern CA devoted to building CHW/P workforce capacity and organizational readiness for CHW/P integration across various settings. She has worked with and along CHWs/Ps since the early 1990s. Under her current role as Director of San Manuel Gateway College and the Promotores/CHW Academy at Loma Linda University Health, she has built partnerships, trained, and supported integration of over 300 CHWs/Ps into health plans, health care organizations, school settings, and community-based programs. Dr. Lee is committed to ensuring that CHWs/Ps retain the “community” in the core of their practice. As a public health practitioner and translational researcher, she works closely with researchers and administrators to design programs, evaluate, develop curricula, train, mentor and consult to ensure CHWs/Ps are included as valued essential members of teams and programs. Dr. Lee thrives when she engages in opportunities to contribute her strategic and organizational management skills to operationalize CHW-engaged teams to achieve greater impact in population health outcomes. She currently serves as an elected board member of NACHW and other national and state CHW coalitions. She loves to work closely with CHWs/Ps to unite voices, to mentor and be mentored, and to support CHWs/Ps to take the courage to rise to the occasion into leadership opportunities. Outside of work, Dr. Lee educates and mentors public health students and also serves in two journal boards, one of which she is currently a guest editor for the special CHW edition.
Dr. Lisa Sackett, Clinical psychologist, certified cognitive coach, and staff member of the HOBSCOTCH Institute for Cognitive Health and Well-Being at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Dr. Lisa Sackett is a clinical psychologist, certified cognitive coach, and staff member of the HOBSCOTCH Institute for Cognitive Health and Well-Being at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. She completed her undergraduate work at the University of Virginia (1985), and her Master’s degree (1990) and PhD at Michigan State University (1992). She pursued her interests in pediatric behavioral health and chronic illness management at Boston Children’s Hospital. As a staff psychologist and clinical director of an outpatient mental health clinic, she treated children and adults reporting high levels of stress, poor physical health, and low mood/high anxiety by using a blend of cognitive behavioral interventions, mindfulness training, and lifestyle adjustments to improve coping, reduce symptoms, and reduce distress. Currently in private practice, she uses cognitive behavioral strategies and the mind-body connection to treat individuals and families who have interrelated problems with illness, anxiety, mood, stress, and coping. She is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Massachusetts Psychological Association.
Lori Hurley, Fordham Graduate School of Social Service
Lori Hurley is Program Director of the Ryan White Part A, HIV Care Coordination Patient Navigator programs at both STAR Health Center campuses, Downstate
Health Sciences University and Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center. She is the Program Evaluator for STAR’s HRSA Project of National Significance on implementation of Rapid Antiretroviral Therapy, as well as two SAMHSA grants: one that addresses risk for HIV infection and substance use among men who have sex with men, transgender individuals and those re-entering the community after incarceration, and one that provides trauma-informed mental health counseling for BIPOC adults with serious mental illness or co-occurring disorders. Dr. Hurley has worked for over 20 years in grassroots organizations and academic settings that provide care to people living with HIV/AIDS. She held a leadership role in the establishment of the first LGBTQ ambulatory clinic at Downstate Health Sciences University, STAR Health Center, and has served as staff liaison to STAR’s Social Media Community Advisory group for MSM and Transgender individuals, the Brooklyn Community Pride Center Workforce Development Initiative and the Brooklyn Better Business Bureau’s LGBTQ subcommittee. She obtained her PhD from Fordham Graduate School of Social Service in May 2021.
Lucia Colindres-Vasquez, CHWAR
Lucia worked as a Community Health Worker for the Monroe County Department of Health in 1999, a home visiting program for pregnant women and their children. During that time, she became involved with CHWAR, formerly known as ROWA. She is one of the original members since the group organized in 1999. Currently she is the Board of Directors Chair for CHWAR. Lucia has over 23 years of experience working in health care and public health initiatives addressing the needs of underserved populations. In addition has experience with program development in the following areas: Community and street outreach, prevention and education, care management services, and Community Health Worker program development. She currently works at Rochester Regional Health and is one of the Co-Chairs of the Latino Health Coalition at Common Ground health.
Dr. Marcella Nunez Smith, MD, MHS, Chair, Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, Sr. Advisor, White House COVID Response Team, Director of Equity Research and Innovation Center, Yale School of Medicine
Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a co-chair of President-elect Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, will also lead a new White House task force dedicated to health equity.
Nunez-Smith, an associate professor of internal medicine, public health, and management at Yale, is one of the nation’s foremost experts on disparities in healthcare access. Since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has called attention to the unequal burden borne by communities of color.
In her new role, she will work to ensure that response, care, and treatment for COVID-19 is distributed equally.
“I’m proud to go to work with leaders who are deeply committed to science and to centering equity in our response to the pandemic,” Nunez-Smith said during an online event during which she and other key health-related nominees and appointees were introduced. “And not as a secondary concern, not as a box to check, but as a shared value, woven into all of the work that we do and prioritized by every member of the Biden-Harris team.”
Nunez-Smith also is associate dean for health equity research, director of the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity, and the founding director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) at Yale School of Medicine.
“Dr. Nunez-Smith has been at the forefront of health equity research and we are delighted that she will bring her expertise to this task force,” said Dr. Nancy J. Brown, dean of the Yale School of Medicine. “Addressing health inequities and ensuring that we meet the needs of our most vulnerable populations is vital to an effective, coordinated response to the current pandemic.”
Since being named co-chair of Biden’s coronavirus advisory board in November, Nunez-Smith has talked publicly about the ways that economic pressures are impairing the ability of communities of color to take preventative measures, and how existing health disparities are exacerbating the pandemic’s unequal burden on Black and Hispanic people.
Maria Martin, MSW, CHW, PASOs, Executive Director
Maria A. Martin is Executive Director for PASOs of SC, a community-based organization under the Center for Community Health Alignment and hosted at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. Founded in 2005, PASOs helps Latin@ communities and service providers work together for strong and healthy families. Maria was born in El Paso, Tx. and raised in the U.S. by Mexican and Puerto Rican immigrant parents pursuing a better life in the States. She has lived in South Carolina and has considered it home since the tender age of 16. She is an individual who has always sought to utilize her education, passion, and skills for the betterment of underserved and vulnerable populations with a focus on supporting Latin@ populations that can benefit from her bilingual and bicultural competencies. Maria is a proud community health worker and has a Master of Social work degree from the University of South Carolina. She also has 22 years’ experience of leadership and non-profit/public programs administrative and community health work with statewide Latin@ communities in our state. Maria is a committed community health worker, social worker, and professional who has a heart for community work and understands how to meet communities where they are and how to build upon their strengths for optimal wellbeing and lifelong success.
Maureen Quigley
Add Bio Here
Mae-Gilene Begay, MSW, CHR/CHW, Navajo Nation Community Health Representative (CHR)/Outreach Program, Program Manager
For over 20 years, Mae-Gilene Begay has been managing the Navajo Nation Community Health Representative (CHR)/Outreach program. The Navajo Nation CHR program is focused on infectious diseases and primary prevention to improve the general health of the Navajo people by exploring innovative options. About 90% of the CHR program clienteles are elders over 55 years old. Ms. Begay earned a Masters of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 2007 and received the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work Service Award in March 2015. In 2018, Ms. Begay was awarded the American Dental Association Presidential Citation. Ms. Begay served as the APHA CHW Section past chair, serves on the APHA CHW Nomination Committee, and is the Governing Counselor representative to the greater APHA executive board. She served on the Arizona Department of Health CHW Advisory Council and New Mexico Department of Health inaugural CHW certification board. She was elected to the National Women’s Health Network board in 2018.
Mae-Gilene has been an avid advocator for increasing oral health literacy and awareness of the growing health disparities in oral health and other chronic diseases among the Navajo people.
Melissa Beccera
Add Bio Here
Melissa Pancoast
Add Bio Here
Melissa K. Thomas, PhD, MSPH, MSA, MCHES, C-CHW, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Assistant Professor
Dr. Melissa Thomas has worked on addressing health disparities through community-engaged research and outreach models for over 20 years with a specific emphasis in rural and Appalachia Ohio. Key to Melissa’s research interests is exploring health needs and issues of minority populations in the region. Thomas currently serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Athens campus. In her former role, Thomas was the Founding Director of the Office of Health Equity at the OhioHealth Research and Innovation Institute and created programs and services for Latinx, LGBT, African-American, and Appalachian communities. Dr. Thomas also serves as Founding Director of the nonprofit Center for Appalachia Research in Cancer Education (CARE) and has led a number of research studies aimed at reducing the burden of cancer through culturally-competent health education programs. She is a certified community health worker in Ohio.
Michelle Archuletta M.S. M.A., Public health Advisor, Community Health Team Lead & CHR Consultant, Indian health Service/OCPS/DCCS
Michelle Archuleta serves as a public health advisor with the Division of Clinical and Community Services in the Indian Health Service. She is currently the National Consultant for the Community Health Representative Program. Michelle has an extensive background in health promotion, health coaching, and community-based programming spanning 20 years at the regional and national levels. Prior to her work in public health, Michelle worked in the field of sport, recreation and physical education at the collegiate level.
MORE ABOUT MICHELLE
Michelle is a Mima, and an enrolled member of the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. She is a warrior for the human spirit, has studied leadership and change at Antioch University, and sees her current work as her right work for improving community health and well-being.
Mike Young, Center for Community Health Alignment and PASOs under the Arnold School at Public Health at the University of South Carolina
Mike moved to South Carolina from California in 2011 to study cultural anthropology at UofSC and conducted research with remote indigenous communities in the jungles of Guatemala spending almost an entire year living with them participating in typical daily life activities to better understand their experiences. Earning the trust of entire communities, being the only outsider, and collaborating in ways that supported them in ways that worked best for them became second nature. Mike got his masters in 2013 and after reaching ABD status in his doctorate program, finishing all his coursework with a 4.0 throughout his graduate school career, he decided to leave academia. Mike wasn’t interested in only studying community, how people connect, share, support, and understand one another. He is passionate about putting these principles into action and to positively impact the livelihoods of others. Mike Young is now the Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Center for Community Health Alignment and PASOs under the Arnold School at Public Health at the University of South Carolina where he works to strengthen South Carolina’s Latinx communities and CHW workforces by overseeing and supporting a statewide team of Community Health Workers/Promotores and strengthening networks in their ability to address the strengths and needs of the community through trainings, technical support, and customized support for partners and coalitions. Mike is a published author on topics related to promoting community health, a Fellow of the Diversity Leaders Initiative at the Riley Institute, a Board of Directors Member for South Carolina Community Economic Development (SCACED), and a member of several equity and inclusion coalitions, and regularly gets invited by state, regional, national, and local governmental and nongovernmental entities to speak about diversity, equity, inclusion, implicit bias, anti-racism, and other social issues.
Monica Garcia, Program Director II, MHP Salud
Program Director II: Monica Garcia joined MHP Salud in 2021 as Program Director II. She is responsible for delivering consultation to Federally Qualified Health Centers across the nation that are starting or wish to strengthen their own Community Health Worker program. Monica’s twelve years of professional experience in private and non-profit sectors, has spanned borders and strengthened community health equity initiatives in underserved communities globally. Ms. Garcia holds an MA in Latin American and Border Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso and she is located at MHP Salud’s West Texas office.
Monica Ventura, DFW-CHW Association
Monica Ventura is a Master of Public Health student at Baylor University. Currently, she is completing her internship with the DFW-CHW Association. She is employed with Texas Health Resources Hospital system as a community health worker. One of her goals and aspirations include working and providing training with community health workers locally and globally to improve the health of various communities. Lastly, Monica enjoys spending time with her family and close friends. She enjoys trying new foods, arts and crafts, shopping, and outdoor activities.
Niem Nay-Kret, REACH LoWELL, Community Health Worker
Niem is a Bilingual -Bi-cultural Community Health Worker at Lowell Community Health Center. She has worked in many departments at Lowell CHC, her most recent work was in pediatric behavioral health. During her 13 plus years with the Health Center, she has supported programs for refugees/immigrants, teen clinics, prenatal care/OBGYN case management, breast health education and Chronic Disease prevention/education program (CCH REACH 2010). Niem just transferred from working on Contract Tracing/Case investigation work for CHC and DPH’s Contact Tracing Initiative to fight and stop the spread of COVID-19 to join the REACH LoWELL program team. Niem is an active volunteer and works to improve the lives and health of people in the community
Noelle Wiggins, CHW Common Indicators Project
Noelle Wiggins, EdD, MSPH, has over 25 years’ experience conducting community based participatory research and evaluation about Community Health Workers and popular education methodology. My primary areas of interest include: comparative effectiveness of popular and conventional education as strategies for increasing empowerment and building capacity; role of popular education in reducing health inequities; role of Community Health Workers as community organizers.
Pamela Fernandez
Add Bio Here
Paul Conrad, ASPIN
Paul Conrad, B.S., CCHW-CT, Director of Training & Workforce Development, graduated from Central Michigan University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree with dual Majors in History and Political Science. Paul completed the Teacher Certification Program Aquinas College in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1993 with a Secondary Education Major; he has held teaching licenses in Michigan and Indiana.
Paul oversees ASPIN’s Workforce Development programs. These currently include the ASPIN Chronic Care Education & Paraprofessional Training Program (ACCEPT), the ASPIN Opioid Workforce Expansion Program (AOWEP) and the ASPIN Certified Community Health Worker training program. Paul is also currently an ambassador of NACHW, the National Association of Community Health Workers.
Quisha Umemba, Umemba Health LLC
Quisha Umemba is a Registered Nurse with a Masters degree in Public Health. She is a Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, a Certified Lifestyle Coach, and a Certified Community Health Worker Instructor. As an educator and consultant, Quisha works with community organizations, social service agencies, government agencies and healthcare systems to help them prevent and manage chronic disease in their patient populations. Having developed, implemented, and overseen numerous health initiatives and community collaborations, Quisha noticed a need for more training and education for health and public health professionals. To this effort, she created Umemba Health Academy providing continuing education and professional development training for CHWs, CHW Instructors, and other front-line health workers.
Rachel Fawcett, The Beans
Rachel Fawcett is a graduate of Central Michigan University with a background in preventative rehabilitation. Rachel spent her first few years of her career working with different hospital systems in Oklahoma city. In 2016 she moved with her Family to Muskegon Michigan where she worked at a community based wellness center. Since moving to Muskegon Rachel has worked to impact the health and wellness of the community through multiple wellness coalitions. She now works for The Beans where she can help healthcare workers, nonprofit employees, and teachers across the country live happier healthier lives by reducing their financial stress.
Ramona Dillard, BS, CHW, Department of the Laguna Pueblo Health Services, Director of the Community Health and Wellness
Ms. Dillard has devoted her career to advancing health equity and community health; primarily in American Indian/Alaska Native, Tribal communities and other rural communities of color. She has extensive experience developing and directing community-based health programs and initiatives aimed at impacting chronic disease and promoting overall wellness in Laguna, NM. For over 30 years, Ramona has served as the Department Director of the Community Health and Wellness Department of the Laguna Pueblo Health Services in Laguna, New Mexico. She served as a Board member of the Laguna Health Care Corporation from 2017- 2019, the first health corporation for the Pueblo. Her career with CHR/CHW includes serving as a Manager of the CHR program from 1987 to 1996. She served in several capacities with the New Mexico Southern Colorado CHR Association, as President, Vice President and Secretary for the organization where she advocated for CHR roles and served as a catalyst and promoter for CHRs issues in Tribal, State and Federal arenas. She also serves as the Chair of the Conference and Event Committee for the National Association of Community Health Worker-NACHW, and is a Board Member of the national organization.
Ron Zellon, Sonora Translators & Interpreters
The child of a Brazilian mother and an American father, Ron Zellon grew up speaking Spanish, English, and Portuguese in Lima, Peru. His earliest memories are of wonderment of the three linguistic worlds he seamlessly inhabited. As a young man, Ron earned a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Arizona, quickly putting what he learned at the service of intercultural communication. Tucson’s big-city-small-town vibe and proximity to the Mexico border swayed Ron to make his life and base his business out of Tucson. In 1998, Ron launched Sonora Translators & Interpreters to provide Spanish translation and interpreting solutions. As Sonora Translators & Interpreters grew, Ron and his fellow interpreters started traveling out of town, across the States, and even out of the United States. Nowadays, Sonora Translators & Interpreters routinely travel in the United States and Mexico on assignment.
Closer to home, Ron has been a faculty member at the now National Center for Interpretation, and an adjunct faculty member with the Interpretation and Translation Program, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Arizona. A lead rater for the Spanish interpreter exam given by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, Ron also puts his expertise to work in the rigorous process the AOUSC has in place for certifying Spanish interpreters.
Rosaicela Estrada, Community Health Worker
Rosaicela Estrada is a Community Health Worker that gives her heart out to the community. She has been actively working in the field, bringing awareness and educating the community since we got hit with this pandemic. She has been in many events doing outreach by tabling, door to door, one on one where she gives valuable resources and refers community members to testing and vaccination sites, and makes appointments for them. She has done some presentations and interviews as well. One discussion that stands out for her is the one she did with the lead singer of Los Tigres Del Norte, Jorge Hernandez, where they shared information to a broad range of audiences on the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Rumana Rabbani, CommUnity Healing through Activism and Strategic Mobilzation (CHASM)
Rumana Shams Rabbani was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, one of the poorest and most populated countries in the world. She was exposed to a severe lack of social-determinants-of-health interventions resulting in poor or no access to housing, contaminated water, lack of food, minimum or no access to medical care, and witnessed poor mothers and their children dying on the streets of Dhaka.
Rumana is a Person with Lived Experience (PWLE) who sits at the intersectionality of – a woman of color born to immigrant parents experiencing racism, a survivor of Domestic Violence, and a single parent graduate student. Rumana’s lived experience includes physical, emotional, and mental abuse in her childhood into adulthood. The cycle of victimization became normalized and in retrospect has significantly shaped Rumana’s world view. Rumana continues to reflect on racial injustice in the judicial system that perpetuates violence especially of abusers from European ethnic descent. CHW advocacy has anchored her towards regaining her identity and agency, which in turn became an intrinsic asset that shifted her pain into purpose rather than a barrier. Thus, this lived + shared experience been a significant influence for her passion and partnership with CHWs who are embedded in creating equitable and just systems.
Rumana received her Master’s in Healthcare Administration (MHA) focusing on strategic management. Due to her continued interest to be an activist-researcher/community-practitioner, Rumana had a desire to learn how to apply evidence-based strategies for uptake of community-based interventions and be a change activist alongside community-based CHWs. Rumana is currently a Doctoral student in the Health Policy & Management Department minoring in Implementation Science at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Rumana is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar (RWJF HPRS) where she co-designs as the Principal Investigator (PI) with CHWs and Racial Justice Leaders using systems and design thinking, improvement science, and implementation science methodologies. The multi-ethnic and mutli-racial codesign team applies Popular Education behaviors and Activist Research as a foundational theory / framework to advance the “groundwater” issue of systemic racism for historically marginalized communities. Since 2017, she has been the Chair of the pre-APHA CHW Summit. Her RWJF HPRS dissertation work provides the aims and methodological approach for the 2022 pre-APHA CHW Dismantling Structural Racism & Classism National Workshop co-designed and co-led by CHWs.
Rumana has been the PI for the past eight years focusing on sustainable and equitable pay for community-based CHW programs. She is the Chair for the APHA CHW Section Policy Committee, where she facilitates/co-leads the development of the policy proposal for “CHWs as Racial Equity Advocates and Pathways for Training.” Locally, in North Carolina Rumana is the Co-Chair for the NC CHW Advisory Board and is on the workgroup to co-design the NC CHW certification / training program with a focus on racial equity and violence.
She is the Evaluator/ Data analyst and co-lead for the Formative Evaluation workgroup for the Racial Equity Learning & Action Community, Planning & Implementation team where she partners with people-with-lived experience impacted by racial inequities for effective implementation, evaluation, and scale-up of national racial equity initiatives. Rumana serves on the Organization Team with the Collaborative for Anti-Racism in Dissemination and Implementation Science (CARDIS) national collaborative led by the University of Washington focusing on anti-racist Black practices in the Implementation Science field. She serves as the co-President for the Implementation Science Student Group at UNC-CH. Rumana is leading a racial equity pilot with Manufacturing Extension Partnerships in NC. She is working with the National Emerging Special Pathogen Training and Education Center partnered with the CDC, Emory, and University of Nebraska as a consultant with the Wandersman Center specializing in quality improvement and Technical Assistance for Covid-19 services and formative evaluation for regional centers across the country. Rumana serves as a stakeholder with the Community Based Workforce Alliance and is on the Advisory Board for Sokoto House.
Rumana views her adversity as a driver to make an impactful difference from a micro to macro level: in her own life, her daughter’s life, and on a systems level. This relentless purpose driven by her core values of empathy, proximity, and holding tension in life-giving ways has transformed into passion for her work to address racial inequities. Rumana’s lived experience of trauma has grounded her to turn victimization into empowerment by advocating for CHWs, and in effect advancing racial equity for historically marginalized communities.
Rumana is the co-founder of the CommUnity Healing through Activism and Strategic Mobilization (CHASM).
Silvia Ortega, Loma Linda University Health- SMGC, Promotores Academy
For almost a decade, Silvia has worked in the nonprofit sector, earning certificates in Professional Life Coaching and Community Health Work from Loma Linda University Health and El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center. Through her work in maternal health, she became an integral part of the accreditation process for the Home Visitation Expectant Mothers Program. Also, she became the first graduating class to pioneer clinic- based community health work and established the first program in Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital NICU department.
Silvia has devoted her personal and professional life to her dual passions for health and education. She has learned that the ro Save ot issues of our society all come from systems that influence communities to make poor lifestyle choices that result in a poor health and lack of education. She believes firmly that parents are their children’s first teacher and their home is their first school. Thus, part of the solution is the understanding that health begins as early as pregnancy and the foundation of a great education begins in the home.
Silvia is a former board president of two educational boards and is committed to make an impact in the life of the most vulnerable students and families in our community.
Sam Tone
Add Bio Here
Shannon Kelly
Add Bio Here
Susan Mayfield-Johnson, The University of Southern Mississippi
Dr. Mayfield-Johnson is an Associate Professor in the School of Health Professions, College of Nursing and Health Professions, at the University of Southern Mississippi. She has served as a CHW ally for over twenty years. Her area of research focuses on community health workers, racially diverse and underserved populations, health disparities, and qualitative research designs. She has a strong commitment to community engagement in public health educational programs and practice in participatory action research for improving community health. Nationally, she also serves on the Community Health Worker (CHW) Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA), as a Master Trainer for the Women’s Health Leadership Institute, Office of Women’s Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, and on the Southeastern Health Equity Council, as a part of the Regional Health Equity Councils with the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities for the Office of Minority Health. Previously, she served as the Director for the Center for Sustainable Health Outreach and Program Planner for the National Unity Conference (1999 – 2019), a national conference for and about CHWs. In Mississippi, she serves on various state-wide committees and advisory councils like the Health Equity Coalition, Mississippi Chronic Illness Coalition, Mississippi Food Policy Council, and the Mississippi Hypertension Coalition. Most recently, she was honored by the Mississippi Board of Trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning as the Diversity and Inclusion Educator of the Year and as a Health Care Hero by the Mississippi Business Journal.
Teresa Campos-Dominguez, Multnomah County Health Department, Community Health Worker
Teresa Campos- Dominguez is an Immigrant Latin woman born in Mexico who is the mother of 3 children and 5 grandchildren. Ms. Campos is a Community Health Worker (CHW) for the Public Health Division of Multnomah County Health Department’s in Portland Oregon. Ms. Campos has over 33 years of experience as a CHW. Ms. Campos has presented at over 50 state, national, and international conferences, and is a well-known trainer and advocate for Community Health Worker and Popular Education. Nationally, she served on the Advisory Council of the National Community Health Advisor Study, and she was the formal chair of the Community Health Workers (CHW) Special Primary Interest Group (SPIG) of the American Public Health Association from 2000-2002. Ms. Campos was a member of the American Diabetes Association “Cultural Competency Work Group” and the National Diabetes Education program, NDEP Hispanic/Latino Stakeholder Group for about 2 years. Ms. Campos is a certified Nia Instructor, Trauma Informed-Brain Sensitive Yoga Teacher, and Social Justice and YOGA Certify Teacher; she uses those skills to teach and provide tools to several community members and groups to support and bring individual and community healing and empowerment. She was one of the founders of The Community Capacitation Center and has more than 30 years of experience developing curriculum and training Community Health Workers in several BIPOC. She also provides Community Health Worker Technical Assistance and Training to culturally diverse organizations and programs.
Trina Dawson
Add Bio Here
Valarie Davis, JD, MBA, Founder, ElevateHer, Inc.
Valarie’s heritage is rooted in a family full of African American preachers, teachers, and entrepreneurs , with parents who were Mississippi-tried civil rights advocates of the 1960s. She brings her relentless pursuit of justice for humanity to her work on behalf of women, children, and Black communities around the world.
Her answer to the catastrophic pandemic-driven losses in Black communities was to convene a group of phenomenal Black women to save and uplift Black lives by offering workforce development and public health services. CONTACT Pros LLC and ElevateHER, Inc. were birthed out of the pandemic in 2020. In just four months from launch, CONTACT Pros secured a federal government agency contract. ElevateHER has received multiple grants to deliver COVID-19 response and community health work since its launch in the fall of 2020.
Valarie serves on the The State of Maryland Department of Health (MDH) Mass Vaccination Outreach Planning Workgroup and MDH Black Communities Sub-workgroup. She earned her certification as a Contact Tracer, and is a Member of the National Association of Community Health Workers.
ElevateHER has participated as an Advisor and panelist for COVID-19 panel presentations for Nonprofit Montgomery, The University of Maryland Eastern Shore and NAACP Allegany County Branch, Black America Cares podcast, the Montgomery County East County Community COVID-19 Committee. Valarie is a member of the Maryland Nonprofits Think Tank that is working to re-imagine the philanthropic sector in Maryland. She is also leading the new Maryland Health Equity Alliance in which ElevateHER is a Founding Ally working with likeminded organizations to advance equitable processes, priorities, and outcomes in well-being for Black Marylanders.
Her work elevating the lives of women and girls extends to her role as Founder and Director of the not-for-profit organization Blossom, Inc. and Lead Coach at The Vineyard, LLC. Valarie helps girls and women to discover their gifts and talents, and boldly pursue their unique purposes. She is the single mom of a brilliant beautiful teenage girl and a fierce educational advocate other parents have called a “beautiful beast”. Valarie volunteers on several recovery and strategic planning work groups for the largest school district in Maryland, Montgomery County Public Schools because she is “that parent” – the engaged, informed advocate who advocates on behalf of every child.
Victoria Adewumi, CHW Common Indicators Project
Victoria Adewumi is an equity communicator and network leader, supporting neighborhood-based interventions for community health and wellbeing. Victoria works as the Community Liaison/CHW for the City of Manchester, NH Health Department and was part of the first class of trained Community Health Workers in the state of New Hampshire. For her entire carrer, Victoria has connected historically marginalized communities with greater social, physical, and environmental supports to facilitate resident self-empowerment. A New Hampshire native, Victoria holds a B.A/M.A. in Political Science and International Affairs from the University of New Hampshire and is a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Fellow currently pursuing an MPH in Adolescent Health.
Wandy Hernandez-Gordon
Add Bio Here
Yvette Salinas, National Center for Farmworker Health
Add Bio Here
Zenaida Martinez, Community Outreach Ambassador
Zenaida is a Community Outreach Ambassador who is dedicated to serving at-risk and in-need populations for more than 20 years. Zenaida has demonstrated working history in the health care industry. Zenaida excels at connecting with community members, collaborating with service providers, implementing outreach plans, delivering compelling presentations to community groups and developing a network of services. Zenaida is experienced in Medicaid and Medicare programs, community needs and education techniques.