Kirsten Rodgers

EdD, MSPH, MCHES®

An Educational Consultant and Adjunct Faculty in Public Health for over 15 years who has conducted research and developed trainings in collaboration with National Networks of Public Health Institutes, de Beaumont Foundation, and Regional Public Health Training Centers to develop and improve leadership capacity in professional workforce in public health.  Currently contracts with the CDC to provide continuing education to employees in Leadership and other topics in Public Health.

Michele Bildner

MPH, MCHES®

Michele is a second-year Doctor of Public Health Leadership student at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health and has a dozen years’ experience in health education, with 9 years as an M/CHES. She has worked across industries in the health sector, and her organizational leadership experience ranges from the governmental sector, private industry (health insurance, healthcare), higher education, community, research and evaluation consulting, and non-profit philanthropy as an individual contributor, team member, and administrator. Michele has worked with the older adult population, youth, college students, and peer-to-peer as a mentor within organizations, often responsible for developing and implementing training for adult learners, leveraging the three academic years she has committed to as adjunct faculty in an undergraduate health education and promotion program. She has focused largely on non-infectious/chronic disease and obesity prevention at the policy, system, and environmental levels as well as issues of environmental justice (demolitions, lead poisoning, eviction prevention, food insecurity) with strategies that address racism across sectors in a health in all policies or whole government framework.

Davondra Brown, MEd, MCHES®

Master Certified Health Education Specialist

Davondra I. Brown Services, LLC

Davondra Brown is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES®) who specializes in sexual wellness. She serves on the Board of Commissioners and the Division Board of Professional Development for the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, in addition to many other volunteer efforts. Mrs. Brown has earned a Bachelor’s in Philosophy, a Master’s in Education, and an advanced certificate of Innovative Technologies in Health Science Education.

Victoria Williams, PhD, MPH, MEd, MCHES®

Behavioral Research Scientist and Instructional Designer

State Farm & Walden University

Victoria A. Williams, PhD, MPH, MEd, MCHES is a behavioral research scientist and instructional designer. She is a public health expert specializing in developing, implementing, and evaluating technology-based programs for diverse audiences. 

Katie M. Houk, MLIS, MPH

Kathryn Houk is Health Literacy & Community Engagement Librarian and assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’s Health Sciences Library. She received her MLIS from Kent State University in 2009 and recently completed her MPH from San Jose State University in community health education. Katie has a keen interest in health communication, particularly in improving science and health literacy in the public and improving expert’s communication skills. She is also interested in community and university collaborations in the Las Vegas valley, including securing and running a recent grant that provides continuing education on consumer health information for the local community health workforce.

Melissa Wilkins

Melissa Wilkins is a Project Manager for the County of Santa Barbara, Department of Behavioral Wellness. With over 15 years of experience in the field, Melissa has managed a number of programs to address health disparities including substance use prevention and treatment programs. She is currently pursuing her MPH from San Jose State University and is passionate about addressing population level health through advocacy, collaboration, and relationship building. She currently facilitates county-wide trainings to promote the implementation of evidence-based practices and successfully managed the transition from in-person trainings to web-based platforms in response to COVID-19. 

Amy Thompson, PhD, CHES® (Moderator)

Vice Provost

University of Toledo

Dr. Amy Thompson who is a Professor & Co-Director at the Center for Health & Successful Living for the University of Toledo. Her research areas are on advocacy, gun violence prevention, breast cancer prevention, and nutritional issues. She has also served as the Trustee for Advocacy & Resolutions for SOPHE from 2015-2017; 2017-2019.

Sarah Van Orman, MD, MMM, FACHA

Chief Health Officer, Associate Vice Provost, and Division Chief of College Health

University of Southern California Student Health and Keck School of Medicine of USC

Dr. Van Orman has spent her professional career as a college health physician, university health services administrator, and campus chief health officer. She earned an undergraduate degree in physics from Carleton College (MN) and her MD degree from the Mayo Clinic (MN). Residency training was at the University of Chicago in combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. She is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and earned a Master of Medical Management (MMM) degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

She is currently the Associate Vice Provost and Chief Health Officer for Student Health at the University of Southern California where she is also a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine in Keck School of Medicine.

She currently serves on the American College Health Association (ACHA) COVID-19 task force and as a Co-Chair of ACHA’s CDC-funded Campus COVID-19 Vaccine Initiative (CoVAC) steering committee. She is a past President of the American College Health Association.

Tondra L. Moore, PhD, JD, MPH

Executive Director of Health Services

Prairie View A&M University

Dr. Tondra L. Moore, in her role as Executive Director for PRAMU Health Services, oversees operations of the Student Counseling Center, Office of Disability Services, Medical Services, and the Hilltop Reserve, an emergency resource center. She also serves as the Health Administrator for Medical Services which provides ambulatory care for the entire campus as well as the local community members of Prairie View, Texas. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as the lead public health official and incident commander for the university. In this capacity, she devised the framework for the university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her funded research and publications have focused on health disparities in underserved populations and the lack of diversity in academic programs that train and prepare the leadership of healthcare organizations. Dr. Moore earned a Juris Doctorate from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, Doctorate in Administration -- Health Services and Master of Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Alabama State University.

Cheryl Hug-English, MD, MPH

Medical Director of the Student Health Center

University of Nevada-Reno

Cheryl Hug-English has worked as a physician in college health for most of her career.  She received her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Nevada, Reno, and graduated from the University Of Nevada School Of Medicine. She received her Master in Public Health in Epidemiology from UCLA. She served as past Interim Dean for the University Of Nevada School Of Medicine and is currently the Director of the Student Health Center for the University of Nevada, Reno. She currently serves as a Board Member for the American College Health Association and is a member of the group’s COVID-19 Task Force.

Kate Lorig

DrPH

Self Management Resource Center, Professor Emerita at Stanford School of Medicine

Kate served as the Director of the Stanford Patient Education Research Center and Professor of Medicine in the Stanford School of Medicine. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing at Boston University, and her master's and doctorate of public health in health education at the University of California, Berkeley. She came to Stanford in 1979 while a graduate student at Cal to develop and research an educational program that emphasized self-help skills for people with arthritis. This program became the Arthritis Self-Help Course and was the prototype for the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, The Diabetes Self-Management Program, the Positive Self-Management Program for HIV, the Cancer: Thriving and Surviving Program, the Building Better Caregiver's Program, the Chronic Pain Self-Management Program, and others. She has authored several books and many articles about arthritis, chronic disease in general, health education, and behavioral science. She travels extensively at the invitation of organizations concerned with patient care and academic research. She lives in Mountain View, CA, with her 2 cats and a collection of Native American art.

Paige Denison

Director, Health and Wellness Department, Sound Generations, National Director, Project Enhance: EnhanceFitness/EnhanceWellness

Paige Denison has over 20 years of experience working with evidence-based health promotion programs for older adults and adults aging with disability. As Director of Health, Wellness and Project Enhance at Sound Generations in Seattle, WA, Paige oversees the ongoing research coordination, adaptation, licensing, and dissemination of two such programs: Enhance® Wellness (9 States) and Enhance®Fitness (43 States and DC). Regionally, her oversight focuses on implementation of multiple evidence-based health promotion programs for diverse adult populations in King County, WA. Additionally, she serves on the Exercise Is Medicine (EIM) Older Adult Advisory Committee for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center (HPRC) Community Advisory Board and is the past Chair of the Evidence Based Leadership Collaborative.

Susan Hughes

PhD

Director, Center for Research on Health & Aging, University of Illinois

Dr. Hughes directs the Center for Research on Health and Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago and serve as Principal Investigator of its National Institute on Aging Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion and Translation. The Roybal Center focuses on the design and testing of evidence-based health promotion programs for older adults with an emphasis on physical activity, mobility and cognitive health, using neuroimaging to assess the impact of interventions on brain connectivity. She designed Fit and Strong! (F&S), an evidence-based physical activity/behavior change program for older adults with lower extremity osteoarthritis (OA). F&S has been approved by the Administration on CommunityLiving as a falls prevention program and a self management adjunct. The program is also recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Arthritis Appropriate Evidence-Based Lifestyle Intervention.  We are collaborating with the National Recreation and Park Association to deliver F&S in partnership with Community BasedOrganizations in 32 states. With Dr.Marian Fitzgibbon, we recently tested the effectiveness of a new version of the program--F&S Plus, an enhanced version that addresses both PA and weight loss through dietary change. Findings showed significant benefits ofF&S Plus on weight, OA symptoms, and mobility at 2 months that were maintained at 6 and 12 months. Most recently, in response to the COVID 19 pandemic, we have developed an online,synchronous, live-streamed version of F&S called Fit and Strong! @Home.  Preliminary findings from a pilot of the program have been extremely positive. We look forward to this opportunity to discuss the online version of the program with you today. 

Andrew DeMott

MPH

Center Coordinator and Fit & Strong! Manager, Center for Research on Health and Aging Institute for Health Research and Policy at University of Illinois at Chicago

Andrew DeMott Coordinates the Center for Research on Health and Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and manages the nationally-recognized evidence-based program, Fit & Strong! He received his MPH in Community Health Sciences from the UIC School of Public Health.

Nick Turkas

MS

Director, External Affairs, Arthritis Foundation

As a non-profit professional for more than 20 years, Nick has successfully designed and managed local, regional, and national programs and services with measurable results. His experience creating physical activity and public education campaigns that involve and reach patients for maximum impact. He currently oversees the Walk With Ease program and manages relationships with national non-profits, academic institutions and healthcare professional societies. Nick Turkas earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations and a master’s degree in human services management. 

Danny Valdez, PhD

Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Health Science

Indiana University School of Public Health

Danny Valdez, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Health Science at the Indiana University School of Public Health, Bloomington. His research broadly focuses on language as data, leveraging social media and other big data sources to draw inferences about health phenomena. Part of his work is dedicated to Latinx sexual health behavior and procuring social media data from this population to understand sexual health needs and practices.

Megan S. Patterson, PhD, MPH

Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology

Texas A&M University

Megan S. Patterson, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on using network analysis to measure how social and spatial networks impact the overall wellbeing of individuals and communities. Her training in research methods and network analysis provides ample opportunities to design, conduct, and collaborate on a variety of studies within behavioral science.

Dr. Bonnie Edmondson

Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator of the School Health Education Program

Southern Connecticut State University

Dr. Bonnie Edmondson is an Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator of the School Health Education Program at Southern Connecticut State University. She has over 35 years of experience as an educator, coach, and former professional athlete. Nationally, Dr. Edmondson has served on expert panels for the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is a peer reviewer for numerous professional publications and journals, and is a nationally renowned speaker on health and education policy and athletic coaching. At the state level, Bonnie lead the writing and implementation of numerous school health policies and programmatic guidance documents. In addition, she is a two-time national champion and former world ranked hammer thrower. She is active with USA Track and Field having served as head coach for the 2019 IAAF World Championship team, coach for the 2016 United States Olympic Team, and seven IAAF World Championship teams. Bonnie also serves as Chair of the prestigious USATF Women’s Commission and is a member of the Women’s Track and Field Executive Committee. Dr. Edmondson holds an EdD in Educational Leadership, an MS in School Health Education, and a BA in English.

Ewelina M. Swierad, PhD, EdM, MA, MSc

Associate Research Scientist

Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Ewelina is an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). Ewelina has earned her degrees in Psychology from Columbia University in New York City, the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and the University of Warsaw, Poland. Before joining CUIMC, she completed her post-doctoral training at CUNY School of Public Health & Health Policy. Ewelina’s research involves a hybrid of psychology, public health, music, social justice, and innovation. She is passionate about the role of multidisciplinary fields, media, arts, and music in effective health and mental health education and behavior change. Together with Dr. Olajide Williams, she has developed the Multisensory Multilevel Health Education Model – a theoretical framework focused on innovative, culturally sensitive, and evidence-based health education. In her academic work, she pursuits one question: “how do we inspire people to look after their health, mental health, and wellbeing?”. Ewelina is a recipient of several awards, including the Fulbright Scholarship and International Postgraduate Research Scholarship from the Australian Government. She also received the Innovative Leader in Magazine Media Award from Yale University for her work on Lifelab – a project that aims at bringing the science of psychology from academia to our daily lives. Through Columbia lab, Ewelina is a part of Hip Hop Public Health team that uses hip-hop music and innovative media tools to create programs that improve health literacy and foster positive behaviors among children and their families. Whether it is through her research, previous clinical work, or personal interests, Ewelina enjoys exploring new ideas and connections between them. She often immerses herself in the cultural landscape of NYC – jazz, ballet, museums, and random science lectures. And this exploration informs her research, too.

Melissa Valerio (Moderator)

PhD, MPH

Associate Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science at the UT School of Public Health, San Antonio Regional Campus

Melissa Valerio, Ph.D., MPH, is an Associate Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science at the UT School of Public Health, San Antonio Regional Campus. Prior to returning to Texas, she spent five years as Assistant Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

She obtained her Master’s degree in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and her PhD in health behavior and health education from the University of Michigan. Dr. Valerio's interests include chronic disease management and prevention, the design and evaluation of effective health education messages and materials, and survey methods. She is particularly interested in health literacy and cultural competence issues related to health education and communication in minority underserved communities. Dr. Valerio has been involved in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of community-based coalitions and partnerships. Most recently I have served as PI on studies focused on the design and evaluation of innovative functional health literacy-related interventions and strategies to promote disease management (type 2 diabetes, asthma, and oral health) and prevention (type 2 diabetes). She serves as PI on an NINR funded R21 study to develop a measure of verbal functional health literacy. Dr. Valerio also serves as Co-I on several studies including an NIDDK funded R01 examining the use and influence of genetic explanations in the prevention of type 2 diabetes, and AHRQ funded R18 examining comparative effectiveness research practices in diabetes management, and on a P60 funded center initiative addressing health disparities in cardiovascular risk.

Dr. Amanda R. Gabarda, EdD, MPH, MS, CHES®

Senior Director, Clinical Training & Education

UPMC Health Plan

Dr. Gabarda is the Senior Director of Clinical Training & Development at UPMC Health Plan where is responsible for the creation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of training and skill development of lifestyle health coaches and care managers. She has a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Exercise Science from Slippery Rock University, a Master of Public Health from Walden University, and a Doctor of Education in Health and Physical Activity from the University of Pittsburgh. Ms. Gabarda is a National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach a Certified Health Education Specialist, and a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers.

Renee Greenwald, MS, NBC-HWC

Quality Assurance Coordinator

UPMC Health Plan

Renee Greenwald is a Quality Assurance Coordinator at UPMC Health Plan where she is responsible for training, empowering, and the skill development of health coaches and care managers. She has a bachelor’s in Exercise Science from Slippery Rock University and a master’s in Exercise Science and Health Promotion, specializing in wellness and fitness and wellness coaching from California University of Pennsylvania. Renee is a Nationally Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach.