Public Health Advocacy Consensus Task Force (PH-ACT): Health Education Town Hall

Dr. Karen Mancera-Cuevas is the Senior Director of Health Equity at the National Health Council. She works to help build health equity as a core competency through collaboration with other National Health Council departments. This includes developing programs, improving patient-centered outcomes, and working on current projects related to health equity. She also is the Chair of the American Public Health Association Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section, Chair for the Coalition of National Health Education Organizations, Associate Editor for the Progress in Community Health Partnerships Journal, the Regional Committee representative for the International Union for Promotion and Education, and Board Member of Professional Development for the Society of Public Health Education. She received her undergraduate degree in community health education from the University of Maryland and has degrees in public administration from DePaul University and in health policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She earned her DrPH from Walden University. The majority of Mancera-Cuevas’ professional career involved health education intersecting health policy and clinical research. She has worked in various settings – community nonprofit, health policy, academic and government sectors. 

A longtime leader and presence in the field, Dr. William Datema has served in education and public health for over 40 years, including service from local to international levels. He has held several national leadership positions in the United States including branch chief roles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in school health and community health, Director of Partnerships for Children’s Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Executive Director of Eta Sigma Gamma national health education honorary society and the Society of State Leaders of Health and Physical Education.

In his decorated career, Datema has volunteered in many prominent roles including as the President-Elect of the National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), President of the Foundation for the Advancement of Health Education, and Chair-Elect of the Missouri State University Alumni Association. He is also a board member of the CATCH Global Foundation and Action for Healthy Kids. He previously served on the global boards of ASCD and the International Union for Health Promotion and Education; the national boards of the American Association for Health Education (AAHE), American School Health Association (ASHA), National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, and National PTA; and as chair of the national board and a founding board member of Action for Healthy Kids. He is the United States representative for the UNESCO Chair for Global Health and Education.

He holds a Doctor of Public Health in health policy and management from the University of Georgia, and a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Education from Missouri State University. Dr. Datema has presented in 48 U.S. states and 12 other nations, and he has authored and contributed to numerous publications. He is a fellow of ASHA and AAHE, a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES), and a member of Delta Omega national public health honorary society and Eta Sigma Gamma.

Glenn is a passionate, strategic, and skilled public health leader with extensive experience managing successful campaigns that improve lives. At the Horizon Foundation, Glenn leads a talented program and policy team that works side by side with community to build power, advocate for policy change and dismantle structural racism in Howard County and greater Maryland.

These coalition-led initiatives are making an impact. For example, Howard County Unsweetened successfully advocated for policies that make healthier food and drinks more widely available at parks, schools, government offices, community organizations and child care facilities. Nationally published peer-reviewed research found that local sugary drink sales have declined by 30 percent in Howard County due to these campaigns. Additionally, the Streets for All Coalition successfully advocated for more than $50 million in complete streets improvements over the past 6 years with priority given to underinvested neighborhoods of color. 

At the Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy, Glenn is the Director of the Public Health Advocacy Consensus Task Force (PH-ACT) and it's National Consensus on Advocacy Instruction. In this role, Glenn and the Lerner Center team are working with the de Beaumont Foundation, in collaboration with other national and state public health organizations to 1) Gain consensus on the definition of public health advocacy;  2) Identify the essential advocacy skills needed to operationalize it; and 3) Draft guidance that could help schools and programs. Learn more here.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Glenn was a national consultant, executive director, community organizer, grassroots strategist and policy director in the government and nonprofit sectors. His work resulted in more than 40 new state and local laws and regulations across the nation that increased access to health care, protected the public’s health, raised tobacco prices, created smoke-free public places and cut youth access to tobacco.

Locally, Glenn was a key leader in efforts to make all Howard County public places smoke-free, pass the nation’s first regulations prohibiting youth access to indoor tanning beds, make healthy food and beverages more widely available, and guarantee that 1:1 mental health counseling was made available to all Howard County students during the school day. He's also helped secure millions of dollars in local public health investments and was a co-creator of the Healthy Howard Health Plan, a nationally acclaimed health care access program for the uninsured.

Glenn is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer and his work is featured in the book The DeMarco Factor: Transforming Public Will into Political Power. Glenn has a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Pittsburgh and was named a Distinguished Graduate in 2002. He's currently a public health doctoral student at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He and his wife, Janice, live in Columbia and are the proud parents of two young men, Eric and Evan.