Nick Turkas, MS serves as the Senior Director of Patient Education and Community Connections at the Arthritis Foundation. Nick also serves as the Liaison for all things Walk with Ease program. 

Nick Turkas, MS serves as the Senior Director of Patient Education and Community Connections at the Arthritis Foundation. Nick also serves as the Liaison for all things Walk with Ease program. 

Julie Coleman is a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Associate. She oversee the Arthritis-Appropriate Evidence-Based Intervention Approval Process at the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance and has assisted SOPHE in the development of the its toolkit on supporting remote delivery of AAEBIs. 

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.

Nick Turkas, MS serves as the Senior Director of Patient Education and Community Connections at the Arthritis Foundation. Nick also serves as the Liaison for all things Walk with Ease program. 

Julie Coleman is a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Associate. She oversee the Arthritis-Appropriate Evidence-Based Intervention Approval Process at the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance and has assisted SOPHE in the development of the its toolkit on supporting remote delivery of AAEBIs. 

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.