Dr. Jodi Brookins-Fisher is the Division Director and Professor in the Division of Public Health, School of Health Sciences at Central Michigan University. She is currently the SOPHE Advocacy Committee co-chair and has served as the President of Eta Sigma Gamma. She is currently the Chapter Sponsor of Eta Chapter at CMU. She is a passionate human rights activist and believes strongly in equity for all groups when it comes to access and affordable health care. Additionally, she feels that advocacy within the Health Education profession should be at the forefront of our current and future endeavors.

Jeanne Ayers, R.N. MPH, leads Healthy Democracy Healthy People,  a coalition of 11 public health organizations committed to advancing health and racial equity by strengthening civic and voter participation and ensuring access to the ballot for all eligible voters.  

Gnora Gumanow, MPH, is the Healthy Democracy Health People (HDHP) Partnerships Director. She built grassroots movements for access to health care and democracy reform before pursuing her graduate degree at the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health. 

Certified Health Education Specialist with 37 years of professional experience as a practitioner in public health education, health promotion, and policy development.  This includes 19 years at state and county public health departments, 12 years at a voluntary health organization at both the national and state levels, and 6 years at a health plan.

Dr. Josina R. O'Connell is a family medicine doctor in Denver, Colorado affiliated with Denver Health. She received her medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 2009 and has been teaching family medicine as an assistant professor there since 2015. Additionally, Dr. O'Connell serves as the Director of the Colorado Area Health Education Centers (COAHEC). She enjoys writing, music and is passionate about supporting underrepresented and minority students finding their way to their health care careers. She is devoted to underserved medicine and addressing health inequity on all levels.

Samantha is a current student finishing a Master’s in Public Health with a focus on community health education at the University of Northern Colorado. She has worked in a variety of roles within Medicare, special education, and assisted living where she developed her passion for health education. She is excited to be at Centennial Area Health Education Center where she gets to explore that passion serving the rural communities and students of Northeastern Colorado as the program assistant

Teresa O’Connell is the Assistant Director of the MSU Denver Health Institute. She completed her BA in ELA at DU where she swam all four years on a full-ride swimming scholarship.  After graduating from DU, she attended UC Denver where she received her Ed. S in Educational Psychology, with a concentration in secondary English education. Teresa is a Colorado professionally licensed educator and taught secondary English language arts, reading, theater, and writing for over eight years. During her time teaching, she also worked for three years as a high school athletic director.  In 2018, she began working at Denver Health as the director of the Healthcare Interest pipeline and internship program, where she worked with underrepresented, marginalized students from MSU Denver, CU Denver, and Regis University who were pursuing healthcare degrees. During that time, she began attending CU Denver again, this time pursuing her doctorate in educational leadership for equity, urban and diverse communities, and continues that work to this day. After Denver Health, Teresa transitioned to MSU Denver as the Peer Health Exchange program manager and affiliate faculty for a year before being promoted to . She also is the co-founder and Vice President of the non-profit Student Health Investment Partners (or SHIPs- http://studenthealthinvestmentpartners.com/). She lives with her partner Tyler, and their three-year-old bernedoodle, George>span class="xgmaildefault">, in Littleton, CO. 

Jacquelyn Mesenbrink completed her DrPH and MPH at Georgia Southern University and received a B.S. in Biology from Iowa State University. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Health Sciences in the Health and Kinesiology Department at Georgia Southern University. Jacquelyn has presented at various conferences throughout the country including the American Public Health Association, Georgia Public Health Association, and Georgia State University Conference. She has held a multitude of leadership positions including Employee Resource Group, Sexual Assault Response Team, GASOPHE Education and Training, Dean’s Advisory Committee, Graduate Student Organization, Georgia Public Health Association Career Development Board, Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition, and Georgia Southern University Strategic Planning Board for Teaching and Research. Jacquelyn has been awarded the Graduate Student Leadership and Service Award, APHA Sexual Violence Photovoice Award, Iowa State University Employee of the Year, and Best Graduate Poster Presentation at APHA Conference. She is both a trained Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) and Sexual Assault Victim Advocate. In her previous work as a Visiting Instructor for the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, she taught a wide range of courses including health policy, health education, and community health. She also invests in serving her campus and local community as the Sexual Assault Response Team Co-Lead and advises the Sexual Assault Student Educators. As a public health leader, Jacquelyn strives to advocate for health equity, create a wellness culture, and actively engage others in changing behaviors through best-practice prevention initiatives.

Dr. Sheila M. Patterson serves the Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Scholarly Collaboration in CSU's new College of Health. Dr. Patterson is a graduate faculty and primarily teaches health behavior, research methods, epidemiology, professional ethics and food politics. Dr. Patterson is a past editor for The Health Educator: Journal of Eta Sigma Gamma and served on the national Board of Directors for Eta Sigma Gamma. Her research interests include survey research, health equity, ethics training, professional preparation of health educators and worksite health promotion. Dr. Patterson has served on the CSU IRB Committee and served as Faculty Athletic Representation for CSU Athletics/NCAA.

Dr. Patterson is a former Board Chair of the National Commission of Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC) and has served on a variety of national committees for the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE)and the American Association for Health Education (AAHE). She has published her research in a variety of health education-related journals and has made over 50 presentations at the national and state levels. Dr. Patterson has served as a consultant in the areas of needs assessment, survey research, program evaluation and as an external reviewer for health-related programs in higher education.

Dr. Jodi DeMarco serves as the Chair of the Department of Health Sciences & Human Performance at Cleveland State University. Prior to this, Jodi oversaw the undergraduate and graduate health sciences programs which are preparatory degrees for individuals entering the health field in a variety of professions. Under her leadership, health promotion was introduced as a track in this major and became a career path Cleveland State's students.  Jodi primarily teaches issues and leadership in the health system, introduction to health sciences, social determinants of health and health disparities.  

Jodi remains active in professional organizations and has served as a reviewer The Health Educator and scholarship reviewer for both state and national SOPHE. She also serves on two local school boards where she can use her expertise to help connect with youth to educate about health professions. Jodi has served on the university's interprofessional education committee for years and has been involved with simulations across the disciplines including introducing this concept into undergraduate curricula and coursework.

Dr. Crawley is a College Lecturer at Cleveland State University. She graduated from Kent State University with a PhD in Health Education and Health Promotion. Her previous degrees include a Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology, a Masters in Education in exercise science and a Masters in Education in Health Education and Health Promotion. Prior to returning to academics, Dr.Crawley was a Program coordinator,  creating, implementing and evaluating worksite wellness promotion programs for 4 years.  Her unique academic and work experience is the basis for research interests in childhood obesity, social support, physical activity, worksite health promotion and health coaching.

Originally from the Netherlands, Dr. Jeanine Guidry is an assistant professor at the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture, director of the School's Media+Health Lab, and a member of the Institute for Women’s Health (IWH) Sexual and Domestic Violence Research Development Group.

Her research agenda focuses on the use of visual social media and mobile technology in health, risk, and crisis communication and message design, and her dissertation research studied effective message design development for the future Zika vaccine. She regularly presents her work at national and international conferences, such as the International Communications Association (ICA) conference, the DC Health Communication (DCHC) conference, the American Public Health Association (APHA) conference, the EUPRERA (European PR) conference, AEJMC, IPRRC, and the European Association for Communication in Healthcare (EACH) Conference. In addition, her work has been published in Public Relations Review, Vaccine, the Journal of Social Marketing, Health Communication, PRism, and Communication Teacher.

Together with Dr. Marcus Messner, Jeanine won the national first-place award in the Best Practices in Teaching Competition of AEJMC for the “Global Health and Social Media” open online course. She also won the AEJMC ComSHER Lori Eason Award for Top Student Paper in 2014.

Jeanine received her Ph.D. in Social and Behavioral Sciences from the Department of Health Behavior and Policy in the School of Medicine at VCU, her M.S. in Health Sciences from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and her M.P.S. in Strategic Public Relations from George Washington University.

Jeanine and her husband Chris run a local nonprofit in Richmond, VA – consisting of a band, Offering, and a mural painting component, Arts in the Alley.

Jennifer Schleman’s path to the National Health Council (NHC) began in Dayton, Ohio, where she saw firsthand what it means to watch loved one’s struggle with chronic health conditions. Several of Schleman’s close family members developed complications ranging from blood clots to diabetes. It was these experiences in her youth that poised Schleman to grow into a passionate advocate for patients across countless communities that have and continue to be marginalized by the health care system. Schleman joined the NHC in December 2016 and is the senior vice president, communications & governance. She oversees all the NHC’s marketing, communications, and public relations activities while also serving as the steward of the organization’s brand. She also leads the NHC’s governance activities by providing strategic direction and counsel to the CEO in the management and execution of the NHC’s governance requirements.

Schleman earned a master’s in strategic public relations from The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management and is a cum laude graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. She earned her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in 2007. Schleman has volunteered for PRSA on the national and local levels and is a past board member of PRSA’s National Capital Chapter in Washington, D.C.

Tiffany works with multiple clients as an independent public health educator in New Jersey. Her roles include grant coach with the New Jersey Healthy Communities Network, project coordinator for a community health grant, and health educator for a local health department. She also leads health communications for Public Health Connected, a new nonprofit that aims to strengthen the community of public health professionals. Her passion for health education developed while earning her MPH at UC Berkeley, and during an internship at CDC designing educational materials. She has also worked in student health at Berkeley, patient education at Kaiser Permanente, and obesity prevention at a regional health department in Virginia.

Dr. Gardner is an assistant professor of health promotion at Mississippi State University. He received his PhD in Health Education and Health Promotion (2016) from the University of Alabama, MS in General Human Environmental Sciences with a Specialization in Rural Community Health (2011) from the University of Alabama, and BS in Biology (2009) from Alabama A&M University. Furthermore, he possesses Certified Health Education Specialist credential through the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. Gardner’s research interests are in health equity with a focus on rural and/or African American populations. His current research examines the risky sexual behaviors and readiness of rural African American men to participate in barbershop-based HIV prevention programs, and COVID-19 disclosure decisions among rural African Americans. Previous research examined the black church’s response to the Jackson Water Crisis. He is also a co-investigator on one study that examines older rural African American adults’ attachment to place and their perceptions of well-being in relation to place, and another study which examines high school students’ interest in food and health science careers based on the delivery of tailored curricula to expose them to the professions in the respective fields.

Deborah A. Fortune, Ph.D., CHES, 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 & CSHE Project with the American Association for Health Education. She has been a faculty member at the following institutions: East Tennessee State University, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Marymount University. Dr. Fortune received her B.S. degree in Biology from Mississippi University for Women, 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.

Seronda A. Robinson is an Epidemiologist and Professor in the Department of Public Health Education at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). She has served at NCCU for 16 years. Her research interests focus on health disparities involving and resulting from the social determinants of health.  Dr. Robinson has conducted research in areas including obesity and body image, hypertension, cancer, kidney disease and diabetes.

Dr. Robinson currently serves on the African-American COVID Response Task Force (AACT+) and as a member of NCCU's Advanced Center for COVID-19 Related Disparities (ACCORD), which aims to facilitate COVID-19 testing and vaccination and conducts multidisciplinary research to study the public health and economic impact of COVID-19 on underserved communities in North Carolina. She also leads a telehealth series that provides the community with health information to raise awareness and enhance behavioral health promotion and disease prevention.

At NCCU, Dr. Robinson also serves as the coordinator for the nationally-recognized Eagle Pride Blood, Marrow, Organ, Sickle Cell, and Cord Blood Drive. She is the adviser of the Gamma Phi Chapter of Eta Sigma Gamma National Health Education Honorary. Dr. Robinson also leads the “Eat Smart Be Active” initiative that promotes healthy nutritional choices and increasing physical activity.  Through this initiative, the university has identified campus trails that are followed during the annual NCCU First Lady's Walk each spring.

Dr. Robinson has appeared on numerous broadcast and radio shows, including segments on UNC TV, WUNC, WTVD-ABC 11, where she offers education on numerous public health topics, such as Ebola and preventing its spread and the importance of understanding the impact of COVID-19 on underserved communities. She is published in book chapters on addressing diabetes health disparities in African Americans and leadership and community-based research.

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from Clark Atlanta University, Dr. Robinson received a doctorate in epidemiology from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Maria U. Okeke, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation at Florida A&M University (FAMU). She completed her graduate studies in Health Education/Public Health at the University Tennessee-Knoxville. She has over 30 years of experience teaching health education courses and implementing University health promotion programs. Her research interests include maternal and child health, improvement of family planning, and sex education in the developing country, education of youth on self-esteem, violence prevention, and HIV/AIDS prevention education, and renovation of rural high schools in Arondizuogu, Nigeria, and sponsoring scholarships for rural indigent students.

Lisa is a Reimbursement Analyst at Centura Health in Colorado. She helps Centura hospitals with Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare cost reporting, and she assists hospitals with Medicare bad debt and reimbursement analyses, wage index reviews, volume decline and geographic reclassification, and various low volume and disproportionate share hospital applications. Lisa is passionate to support Centura hospitals tackle their healthcare and reimbursement needs. Prior to Centura, Lisa worked as a Senior Healthcare Consultant through BKD CPA's and Advisors, assisting clients with their reimbursement consulting. During her time there, she also served two years as the Chair of the Foundation Committee, BKD’s charitable arm. Lisa is the Chair of the Aspiring Leaders Committee through the Healthcare Financial Management Association Colorado Chapter. She, additionally, spends time as the Senior Director of Emerging Leaders through the Colorado Public Health Association’s Board of Directors. In her free time, Lisa loves serving the community. She has served four years on the Young Professionals Board of Boys Hope Girls Hope, raising over $300,000 for Colorado high school students who overcame a challenging or disadvantaged background. Lisa is a 2019 graduate of Colorado Christian University, Denver, with bachelor’s degrees in Accounting and Business Administration. She is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health through Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, specializing in Health Systems and Policy, and she expects to graduate in 2024.

Samantha is a passionate advocate for accessible, high-quality healthcare - She is continuously in active pursuit of this vision.

 Samantha will graduate with a Master’s in Public Health from the Colorado School of Public Health in 2023. She currently investigates global health as a Research Assistant for the university’s Department of Community and Behavioral Health. She is also the Associate Director of the Colorado Public Health Association’s Emerging Leaders Committee, where she supports fellow public health professionals. Samantha also serves as the Project Manager for the Otowi Group where she builds relationships with clients and generates solutions to help them effectively serve their communities and provide quality public health services. 

Previously, Samantha was the Community-Based Organizations Coordinator at Tri-County Health Department. Through this position, she built community partnerships, managed funding, and provided resources to support long-term recovery from COVID-19. Prior to moving to Colorado, she worked at a non-profit health insurance company, Blue Shield of California. At Blue Shield, she organized biometric screenings and flu shot events, implemented virtual wellness programs for clients and their employees, and served as a panelist at large nutrition and fitness events.

Samantha aspires to one day apply her skills and experience to supporting foreign health systems and work abroad in countries that may benefit from her assistance.

Chelsey Hughes, MS, CHES® is the Project Manager, Grants at the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE). She holds a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Old Dominion University and a Master of Science in Health Promotion from Maryland University of Integrative Health. She brings several years of experience in school health, health education, and health promotion as she has authored and co-authored health education and promotion programs focused on health, wellness, and nutrition for school-aged children, adolescents, and adults. Hughes oversees the CDC Healthy Schools cooperative agreements as well as several internal committees at SOPHE; SOPHE Awards, Professional Preparation Committee, and the Student Health Edu-Thon Subcommittee.