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.   

Sequoia Thompson is a Steering Committee member of the LA County Sexual and Gender Diverse Women’s Health Collaborative. As a healer through dialogue, Sequoia utilizes her background in psychology and craft as a motivational speaker, and somatic dialogue facilitator to empower her audience to see themselves as changemakers who create spaces that offer dignity, holistic care, and psychological safety for all identities and ways of being.

Sequoia incorporates storytelling to humanize discussions around Intersectional Identity, Inclusive Language, Racial Equity, and Accountability. This pairing of storytelling and administrative decolonizing creates an impactful ambiance for transformational and sustainable change. Her transnational research investigating European and American heteronormative colonialism fuels her passion for social justice and QTBIPOC advocacy. 
Sequoia is an ardent advocate for mental health and incorporates her journey through Major Depressive Disorder to empower those who may not have the resources to understand the condition and thrive through and with it.

Gabrielle Agana Pascua is a consultant for the City of West Hollywood, serving as the Training Coordinator for the LA County Sexual & Gender Diverse Women’s Health Collaborative. She is also the Program Coordinator for the Iris Cantor – UCLA Women’s Health Education & Research Center, where she previously was an intern. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology & Society. Throughout her undergraduate education, Gabrielle volunteered with UCLA’s Mobile Clinic Project as a Caseworker and member of the Health Education Committee. She brought street-side clinic access to West Hollywood at sites such as Salvation Army, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and Hollywood Food Coalition. She now volunteers with UCLA’s Companion Care, which seeks to build sustainable bridges and establish a continuum of care between people experiencing homelessness with existing health and social services network in Los Angeles.

Dr. Jody Vogelzang, a nationally recognized speaker, researcher, registered dietitian, and health education specialist, is an expert in community health who has spent the last two decades teaching in higher education.  Her peers have formally recognized her for excellence in professional practice (Excellence in Public Health Nutrition (AND) and Achievements in Public Health Nutrition (APA) and for dedication to the high standards of the nutrition and dietetics profession through active participation, leadership, and devotion to serving others in nutrition and dietetics, as well as allied health fields (AND Medallion Award).  
She holds a bachelor’s degree in dietetics from Michigan State University, a Master's Degree in Health Science from Grand Valley State University, a Master's of Arts in Biology from Miami University, and a Doctorate in Health Services specializing in community health from Walden University. She regularly volunteers in professional and community organizations locally, nationally, and internationally.

Sely-Ann Johnson, PhD, brings diverse expertise in public health, teaching, research, and epidemiology, focusing on disaster preparedness, prevention, and food safety. In her previous role at the CDC Foundation, she served as an epidemiologist, overseeing multiple analytic projects. Her duties involved developing project summaries and data briefs, implementing process improvements, overseeing the creation of Tableau visualizations, and analyzing data to produce actionable outputs for stakeholders. She currently teaches public health courses at Ball State University and Perdue Global. Dr. Johnson holds a Ph.D. in Health Education and a Master of Public Health from the University of Toledo.

Dr. Kanekar is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator for Health Education and Health Promotion at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. His fourteen years of teaching experience involves more than 30 different courses (undergraduate and graduate) in the areas of public health, health education, and health promotion. Recipient of numerous teaching awards at the international, national, and local levels, his pedagogical techniques involve online –distance learning, hybrid, and face-to-face courses. His research areas of interest focus on adolescent health, measurement in health education, global health, online and hybrid pedagogy, and health behavior interventions. He currently serves on the Society for Public Health Education Ethics Committee and Editorial Board of the American Journal of Public Health and Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education at the national level and as Member at Large Finance at the Arkansas Society for Public Health Education at the state level.

Yuliya Shneyderman, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Health Education at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. She co-coordinates the Associate in Science degree in Public Health. Her research interests are environmental health, sexual and reproductive health, and vaccine hesitancy. She serves on the SOPHE Ethics Committee.

Shaylon Rettig, MD, MBA is the Medical Director for UIW Health at the University of the Incarnate Word.  He is board certified in Pediatrics and Sports Medicine.  Dr. Rettig serves as a medical consultant for several San Antonio, Texas area school districts, supporting school nurses and nearly 140,000 students.  During the COVID-19 pandemic Dr. Rettig worked at a Children's emergency room and assisted many area school districts through their shutdowns and reopenings.  >span class="NormalTextRun SCXW240477109 BCX8">financial and physical impact of the pandemic on individuals and families. Dr. Rettig was brought on by the University of the Incarnate Word to assist the University in the transition from COVID and to imagine and to reimagine health and wellness for University employees and students in a post-pandemic era. 

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.

Tiff Cunin is a Senior Health Program Manager at the National Recreation and Park Association where they manage the healthy aging in parks body of work. The healthy aging in parks portfolio is focused on identifying community-based solutions that ensure the equitable access to programs, services, resources and more to support aging in place through parks and recreation in more than 10,000 communities across the country.

Tiff Cunin is a Senior Health Program Manager at the National Recreation and Park Association where they manage the healthy aging in parks body of work. The healthy aging in parks portfolio is focused on identifying community-based solutions that ensure the equitable access to programs, services, resources and more to support aging in place through parks and recreation in more than 10,000 communities across the country.

Tiff Cunin is a Senior Health Program Manager at the National Recreation and Park Association where they manage the healthy aging in parks body of work. The healthy aging in parks portfolio is focused on identifying community-based solutions that ensure the equitable access to programs, services, resources and more to support aging in place through parks and recreation in more than 10,000 communities across the country.

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.