Dr. Erin K. O'Neill is Associate Professor and Chairperson of Population Health & Exercise Science Department at New Jersey City University.  Her interest is in improving the understanding of developing healthier educational environments and/or college campuses to assist transitioning young adults to becoming productive and inquisitive additions to a global society.  

Kimberly Price is an associate professor of public health and director of the Master of Public Health program.  She has been on faculty at LR since the fall of 2014 and teaches in the areas of health promotion program planning and evaluation, epidemiology and community engagement. Prior to coming to LR, she worked for more than 15 years as a health education specialist in clinical and community settings. She has devoted her career to promoting wellness and understanding social determinants of health.

Price has coordinated programs at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the NJ War-Related Illness and Injury Center, as well as other projects with nonprofit agencies in urban communities. She currently serves as a Trustee on the board for the Society of Public Health Education (SOPHE) and has served on the board of directors for MountainTrue, Medical Advocates for Healthy Air and on the executive board for North Carolina SOPHE.

Her scholarly interests include reducing health inequities, addressing health literacy and program evaluation and assessment.

In 2023, she received the Roediger Distinguished Service Professorship, designated annually by the university president in recognition of distinguished service to the university, profession and community.

Anqunette Parham is experienced in blending research, public health, legal analysis, and policy development with leadership experience in direct care and program administration in community and clinical settings. She is well versed in developing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating programs for non-profits, health care organizations, and municipalities. She has over a decade of experience writing successful federal, state, and local grant applications securing over $5 million in funds.

Falen Petros, MS has four years of experience in public health communication, education and community engagement. This experience includes day-to-day project management and communications support for regional public health programs – made possible by federal, state and county funds. These programs have promoted SUD stigma reduction, vaccine adoption, health literacy among racial and ethnic minorities and launched county-wide maternal health services. Under Falen's leadership, a $3.6M grant was awarded a one-year extension and was up for 4 national and regional awards.

Additionally, Falen has served child care systems and health systems as a public health communicator and health educator. She champions health literacy as a vehicle to advance health equity.

Julie Friedman, MPH is a member of the LA County Sexual and Gender Diverse Women’s Health Collaborative and as the director of the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Education and Research Center, she oversees the operation of the Collaborative. At the Center, her work focuses on the social determinants of women’s health. In collaboration with cross-sector partners, she engages in education, research, and advocacy initiatives focused on vulnerable women in LA County to advance their health across the lifespan. Previously she was the executive director of the Early Childhood Parenting Center, managed the employee health promotion program at the Los Angeles Times, and was a consultant with Growing Health Partnerships working with nonprofit organizations. She has published articles on worksite wellness, health promotion, and women’s health. She serves as a Board of Supervisors appointee to the LA County Commission for Women where she is the Chair of the Health Committee.   

Ashley is a Health Educator at Worksite Wellness LA. She earned her MPH in Community Health Education from California State University, Northridge. She is a health educator with Worksite Wellness LA, a non-profit organization aimed at assisting low-to-moderate income individuals and families navigate the healthcare system and learn to adopt healthier lifestyles. She is also a Certified Lactation Educator and Certified Educator in Infant Massage. Ashley’s interests are in women’s health with a focus on Latina women of childbearing age, environmental justice, breast cancer, and maternal and child health. She is currently supporting a California Breast Cancer Research Program research grant with the Iris Cantor UCLA Women's Health Education and Research Center and Worksite Wellness. She is dedicated to empowering communities to advance health equity.

Laurel Mellin, PhD, is a health psychologist and the founder of emotional brain training, which she developed during her 40 years as a faculty member in the School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, most recently as an associate professor of family and community medicine and pediatrics. She has a B.A. from UC Berkeley, a M.A. in nutrition from S.F. State University, and a PhD in health psychology and behavioral medicine from Northcentral University. Her work has received awards from the American Medical Association and the US Department of Consumer Affairs. Dr. Mellin is the author of 11 books on emotional brain training and is a New York Times bestselling author. She is a researcher and trains health professionals in the EBT Method.

Kimberly Price is an associate professor of public health and director of the Master of Public Health program.  She has been on faculty at LR since the fall of 2014 and teaches in the areas of health promotion program planning and evaluation, epidemiology and community engagement. Prior to coming to LR, she worked for more than 15 years as a health education specialist in clinical and community settings. She has devoted her career to promoting wellness and understanding social determinants of health.

Price has coordinated programs at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the NJ War-Related Illness and Injury Center, as well as other projects with nonprofit agencies in urban communities. She currently serves as a Trustee on the board for the Society of Public Health Education (SOPHE) and has served on the board of directors for MountainTrue, Medical Advocates for Healthy Air and on the executive board for North Carolina SOPHE.

Her scholarly interests include reducing health inequities, addressing health literacy and program evaluation and assessment.

In 2023, she received the Roediger Distinguished Service Professorship, designated annually by the university president in recognition of distinguished service to the university, profession and community.

Dr. Ashley S. Love, an experienced public health professional with over 20 years of expertise, is committed to addressing social determinants of health. Trained at Columbia University and Nova Southeastern University and having lived in Europe, Asia, and North America, she brings a multicultural perspective to her work. As the former State Epidemiologist of Delaware/Bureau Chief of Epidemiology, Dr. Love was crucial in effectively managing the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. Her interdisciplinary and interfaith approach, coupled with her experience working with diverse age and racial/minority groups, enriches her work. Dr. Love’s areas of expertise include public health, healthcare education, telehealth, nutrition, and gerontology. She has taught numerous community college and university courses, employing innovative approaches. She has been an award-winning educator, certified online instructor, and an active-duty military spouse for over two decades. She is an associate professor and director of graduate studies at the University of Incarnate Word’s Dreeben School of Education.

ProfessorSima A. Hamadeh is a Full Professor of Public Health Nutrition and the ProgramCoordinator of Nutrition and Dietetic Sciences at Haigazian University, and asenior lecturer in the Nutrition Master programs at Saint Joseph University inLebanon.

Shereceived her master’s degree in Community Nutrition and Ph.D. in Public HealthNutrition from University of Montreal-Canada. Her M.Sc. work was awarded the“Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence” in 2009. Her Ph.D. work washonored by Canadian experts in 2013 and awarded the “Prix d’ExcellenceScientifique Franco-Libanais” from the Société des Membres de la Légiond’Honneur au Liban & the French Embassy in Lebanon in 2015. Her outstandingpostdoctoral studies on “Science Journalism” at Northwestern University werenotably considered by TED team in US and TED in Arabic team to join them as ascience curator in 2023.

Prof.Hamadeh main research interest deals with public health nutrition matters andscience communication/journalism such as: public health promotion, food systemsand sustainability; nutrition in media and communication, nutrition economicsand consumerism, food citizenship, nutrition psychology, digital food andsports marketing, digital and media health literacy, and their relatedpolicies. She published several peer-reviewed papers, and scientific blogs andaudiovisuals exploring these topics from different perspectives, and shedesigned various significant comprehensive theoretical frameworks toconsolidate her research work.

Prof.Hamadeh works closely with different national and international ministries andorganizations on projects, seminars, research, and community programs. She hostedand was hosted on many panel discussions and podcasts, and has provided manytalks and keynote speeches in national and international scientific congresses.She was honored and awarded special prizes for her outstanding papers inEurope, Canada, Gulf countries, and in Lebanon. She is also a member of severalexecutive international scientific committees and associations and a reviewerfor distinguished scientific peer-reviewed journals and for health short movieapplications to the annual American Public Health Association conference.

Mostrecently, Prof. Hamadeh joined the new “Mentoring Program in Communication andMarketing” and the “Reviewer Committee for the National Physical EducationStandards” of the Society of Health & Physical Educators- USA. She is alsoa mentor in the American Public Health Association for health promotion,communication, and policies. In June 23 she was selected by TUFTS University asan expert panelist to engage in the consensus-building process of their“Leading A Sustainability Transition in Nutrition Globally-LASTING” project. Finally,in July 24 she was appointed by Emerald Publishing-UK as an Editor-in-Chief fora new Gold Open Scientific Journal “Global Smart Food Systems”.

Gabriella Pandolfelli, MPH is the Director of Epidemiology and Public Health Analytics. She is also a PhD Candidate in Population Health and Clinical Outcomes Research at Stony Brook University. She is actively involved in interprofessional education (IPE) and research projects that include a commitment to building successful community-academic partnerships, community engagement and participatory action research, and team-based IPE to improve health equity and access to resources while demonstrating community impact. Building upon her experience in community engagement, she is committed to research that focuses on cardiovascular disease and hypertension prevention interventions in community-based settings that promote access to care and health equity.

Dr. Karen Mancera-Cuevas is the Senior Director of Health Equity at the National Health Council. She works to help build health equity as a core competency through collaboration with other National Health Council departments. This includes developing programs, improving patient-centered outcomes, and working on current projects related to health equity. She also is the Chair of the American Public Health Association Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section, Chair for the Coalition of National Health Education Organizations, Associate Editor for the Progress in Community Health Partnerships Journal, the Regional Committee representative for the International Union for Promotion and Education, and Board Member of Professional Development for the Society of Public Health Education. She received her undergraduate degree in community health education from the University of Maryland and has degrees in public administration from DePaul University and in health policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She earned her DrPH from Walden University. The majority of Mancera-Cuevas’ professional career involved health education intersecting health policy and clinical research. She has worked in various settings – community nonprofit, health policy, academic and government sectors. 

Marline D. Edmond is a first-generation Haitian- American professional with 10 combined years of expertise in public health, community engagement, partnership, and stakeholder management. She is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) and Howard University Culture, Communication, and Media PhD student with a focus in Health Communication. She is an active member and NJ Chapter Delegate of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) and NJ Ambassador for Black Ladies in Public Health (BLiPH). She is passionate about improving the health/racial disparities, health equity, and health literacy in the Haitian communities she serves.

David A. Birch, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Health Science at The University of Alabama. He served as professor and department chair from 2011-2018. From 2001-2008 he served as professor and chair of the Department of Health Education and Recreation, Southern Illinois University Car­bondale. Dr. Birch is a past president of the American Association for Health Education (AAHE) and the Society for Public Health Edu­cation (SOPHE). He has served on the Board of Directors of AAHE, the American School Health Association (ASHA), the Foundation for the Advancement of Health Education, the National Association of Health Education Centers, and the SOPHE Board of Trustees. Dr. Birch has served in various leadership positions in national committees and task forces. He is currently a member of the editorial board of Health Education & Behavior. He is a former member of the editorial boards of the Journal of School Health, Pedagogy in Health Promotion-The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, the Ameri­can Journal of Health Education, and the American Journal of Health Studies. Dr. Birch is a Charter Fellow of AAHE and an ASHA Fellow. He has received the highest professional award from three organizations: the ASHA William A. Howe Award (2019), the SOPHE Distin­guished Fellow Award (2018), and the Eta Sigma Gamma Honor Award (2015) along with numerous other professional awards. He was the 2008 Ann E. Nolte Scholar in Health Education, Illinois State University. As a fac­ulty member at Indiana University, Dr. Birch received the Trustee’s Teaching Award and the Teaching Excellence Recognition Award.

Hannah P. Catalano, PhD, MCHES, is an associate professor of public health at Uni­versity of North Carolina–Wilmington (UNCW). She is an editorial board member for the Jour­nal of School Health. She is a member of the National Committee on the Future of School Health. She is also a member of the SOPHE Think Tank work group that provides strategic direction on the Institute for Higher Education Academy intended for teacher preparation programs and updates the SOPHE Model Toolkit for K-12 School Health Educators. She is a Founding Faculty Fellow of the UNC-UNCW Research Collaboratory in the College of Health & Human Services at UNCW. She founded and currently leads the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Research Collaboratory (WSCCRC) at UNCW, which is a unique initiative to engage college students in scholarly discussions around WSCC and to facilitate meaningful research on the model. She has served on the board of directors for the American School Health Association (ASHA) and co-chaired the ASHA Research and Pub­lications Committee. She previously served as a member of the National Consensus on School Health Expert Review Group. She is a former Future Leaders Academy Fellow of ASHA and NextUp Leadership Development Fellow of UNCW. She is a former health and physical education teacher at a Title I school. Her scholarship centers broadly around child and adolescent health, quality school health education, and the Whole School, Whole Com­munity, Whole Child model.

Rosemary Reilly-Chammat, EdD, is the associate director of school health and extended learning in the Office of Student, Community and Academic Supports in the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (RIDE). She has served in a variety of roles in RIDE over the past 10 years. In addition, she worked for 26 years in the Rhode Island Department of Health, leading a variety of efforts related to student health and health in schools. She is the past president of the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education and is on the board of the American School Health Association (ASHA). She received an ASHA Fellow Award in 2021.

Sue Baldwin, PhD, MCHES, FASHA, has worked as a health educator for more than 25 years designing, implementing, and evaluating health education programs and curricula. She has taught at the collegiate and high school levels for nearly two decades. Dr. Baldwin has been the Buffalo Public Schools district wellness coordinator for seven years and in 2020 was appointed the supervisor of health and physical education in Buffalo, New York. Under her direction the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) initiative was implemented across 60 schools. The program was awarded the 2019 American School Health Association WSCC District Wide Implementation Award, recognition from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with a district site visit, and urban district recognition from ASCD for the district’s use of the WSCC model. Dr. Baldwin has received numerous awards for her work in school health. She received her bachelor’s from Gannon University, her master’s from Slippery Rock University, and her doctorate from Kent State University. Moreover, she completed a master’s in educational leadership and policy at SUNY Buffalo and obtained her school building and school district leader certifications in New York.

M. Elaine Auld, MPH, MCHES, is the chief executive officer, emerita, for the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE). As SOPHE’s chief executive officer from 1995 to 2021 she oversaw the organization’s portfolio in professional preparation, professional development, research, publications, and advocacy. Over her more than 40-year career, Ms. Auld has published some 50 journal articles and book chapters on the profession’s role in community and school health education, health equity, national and international workforce development, and public policy. With regard to the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model, Ms. Auld was principal investigator on several Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cooperative agreements that provided training and materials development for professionals, promoted the model as part of the National Task Force on the Future of School Health Education, and helped establish SOPHE’s School Health Teacher Education Standards used in credentialing.

Deborah A. Fortune, Ph.D., MCHES, is an associate professor in the Department of Health Education at North Carolina Central University and is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist. Prior to her current position, Dr. Fortune was the director of the National HIV and CSHE Project with the American Association for Health Education. She has been a faculty member at the following institutions: East Tennessee State University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Marymount University.

Dr. Fortune received her B.S. degree in Biology from Mississippi University for Women, her M.S. degree in Community Health Education from the University of Southern Mississippi, and her Ph.D. in Public Health Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Dr. Fortune has provided instructor training in comprehensive school health education (Growing Healthy curriculum and Teenage Health Teaching Modules), HIV/AIDS for African Americans, youth violence prevention, and cultural diversity in health education. Her research interests include HIV and sexual health among African American college women, youth violence prevention, professional preparation in health education, and faculty and youth mentoring. She has published and made numerous presentations on those topics.

Gaby Gregg, MPH, CHES®, NBC-HWC has worked in public health for over 19 years and has vast experience in nutrition education, health education, and public health program delivery, administration, and grant oversight. She currently serves as Senior Manager of Nutrition Education at the Orange County Food Bank, a program of Community Action Partnership of Orange County. She earned a Master in Public Health, a Bachelors in Health Science, an Associate of Arts in Graphic Design and Entertainment Marketing, is a Certified Health Education Specialist, and a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach. Additionally, Gaby has volunteered her time and talent as a Board Member for Southern California SOPHE for over 15 years.

Nancy Bernal is a dedicated public health professional and certified health education specialist, bringing diverse expertise to the health and wellness community. With a Master of Public Health (MPH) and a deep passion for advancing public health initiatives, Nancy currently serves as a Research Associate for a non-profit organization, where she contributes to evaluating evidence-based health programs across California. A Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC), Nancy is committed to promoting health equity and empowering individuals and communities to make informed decisions about their well-being. Her approach is grounded in a holistic view of health, integrating physical, mental, and social well-being. In addition to her public health credentials, Nancy is a 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200), certified by Yoga Alliance. She combines her expertise in health education with the transformative power of yoga, offering a unique perspective on wellness that emphasizes mindfulness, stress management, and body-mind connection. With a strong belief in physical, emotional, and mental health interconnectedness, Nancy is dedicated to fostering healthier, more balanced lifestyles through research, education, and wellness practices.