Best Practices for Creating Research and Practice Posters

La Verne D. Partlow, M.Ed., Health Education Coordinator at Gaston County Public Health. La Verne has over 27 years of experience in public health at the local and state levels. From 1997 to 2000, she worked at the Iredell County Health Department as the Health Education Specialist. During her tenure, she developed and implemented a lay health advisor program to address sexually transmitted infections in the African-American community. From 2000 to 2005, La Verne worked as a Program Consultant in infant morbidity and mortality in the African American community with the NC Department of Health and Human Services. Since 2005, she has been working in the field of chronic disease prevention.

Dr. Lori Dewald has her doctorate from the University of Tennessee in health education, her masters in school and public health is also from the University of Tennessee, and she has two bachelors degrees (Mankato State University in teacher education, and Athletic Training from South Dakota State University). Lori was the first person in the country to achieve both the credentials of Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC) and Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) in combination with a doctorate, an accomplishment that was rarely matched by others. In 2011, when the new advanced health education credential became available, she became a master certified health education specialist (MCHES) and was the first person in the country with both the ATC and MCHES credentials. 

Lori has given over 170 invited national conference presentations and has had over 45 peer reviewed research publications. Lori is on the peer review boards for 10 different professional journals and is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Health Education Teaching (Journal of Health Education Teaching Established 2010 - Home) and the Journal for Interprofessional Postgraduate Research (My Business - JIPR HomeThe Aim and Scope)

Lori is involved in many national committees in the American College Health Association (ACHA), the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), and the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE).

Lori was inducted as a fellow in the American Association for Health Education in 2009. In 2011 she received the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer award from the NATA. And the American College Health Association honored her and 4 other women with the 2019 Best Practices in Administration award for the first of its kind national survey they developed to assess faculty and staff health and wellness behaviors.

Dr. Michelle S. Williams is a distinguished public health scientist with nearly two decades of experience in health behavior research, program evaluation, and health equity. Dr. Williams specializes in addressing critical public health challenges such as cancer prevention, HIV/AIDS, obesity, and cardiovascular health, particularly among underserved populations. She possesses deep expertise in designing, implementing, and evaluating public health interventions, as well as translating complex data into actionable recommendations for stakeholders. Dr. Williams holds a PhD in Health Education and Health Promotion and an MSPH in Health Outcomes Research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, along with an MPH in Environmental and Occupational Health from Florida A&M University. She is also a Master Certified Health Education Specialist. Throughout her career, she has led groundbreaking initiatives, including Mississippi’s first Project ECHO, a telehealth program enhancing HPV vaccine knowledge among healthcare providers, and community-based interventions to reduce cancer disparities and improve screening rates in underserved areas. An accomplished educator, Dr. Williams is an Associate Professor at George Mason University, where she mentors students, develops curricula, and conducts impactful research. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and presented at international conferences on topics such as cervical cancer awareness and telehealth adoption. Recognized for her leadership, Dr. Williams serves on professional boards and committees dedicated to advancing public health and health equity. Dr. Williams’s work is guided by a passion for eliminating health disparities and fostering collaborative solutions that improve health outcomes for diverse communities.

Asma Awan is the Program Manager in the Administrative Faculty in the Department of Social and Behavioral Health at School of Public Health, University of Nevada Las Vegas. She has a strong background in medical sciences, community health program evaluation, epidemiology, and public health, and experience in quantitative and qualitative research for disease states across different levels of the population. She has expertise in data collection and analysis into healthcare research methodology and improving population health. Her scope research aligns evaluation of health programs based on the RQFSM model and Multi Theory Model (MTM) intervention development in the public and private sectors.

Maricela is the Deputy CEO at the Society for Public Health Education, She is responsible for operationalizing our strategic priorities and oversee several functional areas, including membership, professional development, chapter relations, and resource development. Maricela is a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and is a certified association executive (CAE). She is a Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP) alumna and serves as a mentor for the ASAE ReadyMe Program. She earned a Master of Healthcare Administration and a Master of Science in Biology from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. Maricela volunteers on National PTA's bylaws committee. She lives in Woodbridge, Virginia with her husband of 25 years, three children, Richard, Salma and Ava and their dog, Rudy.