Dance Party

Twitter: @michelainestl

Michele Bildner has worked in public health and health education for over ten years, gaining experience designing and implementing community nutrition education; researching and evaluating childhood obesity policies, systems, and environments across the US; assessing, planning, and implementing community health initiatives; and achieving health department accreditation and organizational strategic management. As a mid-career practitioner, Michele’s practice is rooted in collaborative approaches for convening key stakeholders to lead change for wicked problems. In addition to her role as a Project Manager for Non-Infectious Disease Programs at the CDC Foundation, Michele is an adjunct faculty member at Fontbonne University in St. Louis - where she earned her BS in Dietetics - preparing undergraduate health education and promotion students for practice. Michele earned her Master of Public Health in Community Health Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She became MCHES®-credentialed in 2017 and is involved with SOPHE at the national level, formally serving on the Professional Preparation and Nomination Committees, as well as supporting the 2021 Annual Meeting as the Abstract Committee Chair. She is the 2020 President-Elect of SOPHE Midwest, which includes Missouri and Kansas, and has been convening St. Louis Area CHES® and MCHES® professionals for the past two years to build the professional network in her local community and change the employment landscape for certified health education specialists (CHES®). Michele began her DrPH in Leadership at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health with the 2019 cohort where she serves on the Student Management Committee and the inaugural Equity Strategy Development Committee. Her dissertation work is focused on identifying facilitators and barriers to the value of the M/CHES® credentials through the lens of public health leadership principles.