2022 Digital Institute for Higher Education Academy - Monday

Tammy Dillard-Steels brings extensive experience in association management with over 25 years in both the nonprofit and private sectors. Dillard-Steels holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University. She is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and a scholar from ASAE’s Diversity Executive Leader Program, and the Association Forum of Chicagoland’s Diversity Workforce Initiative. Dillard-Steels is responsible for leading SOPHE’s dedicated team of professionals while growing the value of the organization to its members, donors, sponsors, partners and other stakeholders. She leads efforts to expand the organization’s programs while growing and strengthening its membership base.

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.

Holly Hunt, MA, is Chief of the Healthy Schools Branch in the Division of Population Health (DPH), at CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). The School Health Branch leads chronic disease prevention activities specific to children and adolescents in schools with a focus on obesity prevention, nutrition and physical activity, and management of chronic conditions. With a long history of working across education and public health agencies, the School Health Branch provides rich partnerships and expertise for implementing public health practices in schools.Ms. Hunt leads innovative projects in research application, evaluation, and program and professional development. Prior to joining the Branch, Ms. Hunt served as the Deputy Director of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH), responsible for the overall management of Division operations and establishing effective working partnerships with key national, federal, and nonprofit organizations working to improve the health of youth. Ms. Hunt joined CDC in 1997 and has served as the Associate Director for Policy, Evaluation, and Legislation, Director of Science Education, and as a Project Officer to CDC-funded national, state and local school health projects. Before joining CDC, Ms. Hunt served for seven years as an HIV Prevention Education Consultant in the Kentucky Department of Education, responsible for the development and implementation of statewide HIV prevention and school health programs, professional development, and community partnerships to promote the health of school-aged youth.

Rachael Dombrowski, PhD, MPH, designs, implements and evaluates multilevel interventions to advance social justice and improve community health. Dr. Dombrowski is a faculty member of California State University San Marcos where she conducts community-based participatory research, including program development and evaluation within the Midwest and nation-wide. Dr. Dombrowski serves as an evaluator for the Best Food Forward school-based nutrition supports intervention, and recently conducted an assessment of over 300 grocery stores for the Great Grocer Project. Prior to working in academia, Dr. Dombrowski spent over 10 years directing and evaluating several multilevel interventions focused on policy, systems and environmental change within schools, communities, hospitals and corner stores in suburban Cook County and Chicago, Illinois. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago (PhD) and the University of Michigan (MPH). She has worked in the public health field for over 15 years.

Melissa Fahrenbruch, MEd is the Program and Professional Development Team Lead in the Division of Population Health’s School Health Branch, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Melissa earned a BS in Education from the University of Nebraska, and a master’s in educational leadership from Doane College. She has over 25 years of experience in the education field as a teacher, coach and as a high school principal. Her school health expertise led her to Kansas and was the Director of CDC’s Coordinated School Health Program in the early 2000s. She then moved to Atlanta to serve as a Project Officer of that program which led her to her current position as team lead. Melissa currently oversees two school health cooperative agreements for states and national organizations and is the lead for internal and external professional development events for CDC staff and funded partners.

Sarah Lee is team lead for the Research Application and Evaluation Team, with the Healthy Schools Branch, Division of Population Health at the CDC. Her team focuses on chronic disease prevention and management in schools, providing scientific expertise and leadership on pertinent documents, surveillance systems, and CDC school health programs. Sarah earned her M.S. in Community Health Promotion from the University of Montana, and her PhD in Exercise and Wellness Education from Arizona State University. Sarah has authored over 40 manuscripts, reports, book chapters, and commentaries. Throughout the pandemic, Sarah served in numerous deployments to CDC’s COVID-19 emergency response as the team lead for the Community Guidance team and the Deputy for the Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force. She has been at CDC for 18 years, all of which have been dedicated to improving school and student health.

Dr. Bonni C. Hodges, a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and Professor in the Health Department at SUNY Cortland, has been working in school and community health for over 30 years. She has a particular interest in the intersection of school and community health practice. She has published in such journals as Health Promotion Practice, the Journal of School Health, American Journal of Health Education, and the Health Educator. She was the director of the 5-year School Health Systems Change Project and is currently Co-Director of the Institute for DIII College Athlete Wellbeing and Athletic Leadership. She eaned a B.S. in physical education/athletic training from Ithaca College, a M.S. in exercise science from Northeastern University, and a Ph.D from the University of Maryland-College Park.

Dr. Kandice Porter is a Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education at Kennesaw State University. For over twenty years, she has taught health education methods coursework in a HPETE P-12 program. Currently, she is working with the GADOE to train professionals to develop curricula aligned with the newly approved Georgia Standards of Excellence for health education.

James Mallare is an Associate Researcher at Wayne State University He has assisted in research initiatives that cover experiences across the life span from childhood and adolescent nutrition to cognition and physical activity in the older adult population. His areas of interest are in nutrition and chronic disease in low socio-economic populations and the professional preparation of community and school health educators at institutions for higher education. A native Canadian, he is constantly looking for connections and opportunities to collaborate internationally on matters of education and betterment of health systems.

Marlene Tappe is Professor and Former Chair, Department of Health Science at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where she has served since 2005.  She has some 40 years of experience in school health education and has served as an expert and advisor to many CDC and HHS initiatives and publications. Dr. Tappe received her master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois-Champaign, and her undergraduate degree from Minnesota State University in school health education and physical education.