SOPHE All Member Business Meeting

Deborah A. Fortune, Ph.D., MCHES, is an associate professor in the Department of Health Education at North Carolina Central University and is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist. Prior to her current position, Dr. Fortune was the director of the National HIV and CSHE Project with the American Association for Health Education. She has been a faculty member at the following institutions: East Tennessee State University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Marymount University.

Dr. Fortune received her B.S. degree in Biology from Mississippi University for Women, her M.S. degree in Community Health Education from the University of Southern Mississippi, and her Ph.D. in Public Health Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Dr. Fortune has provided instructor training in comprehensive school health education (Growing Healthy curriculum and Teenage Health Teaching Modules), HIV/AIDS for African Americans, youth violence prevention, and cultural diversity in health education. Her research interests include HIV and sexual health among African American college women, youth violence prevention, professional preparation in health education, and faculty and youth mentoring. She has published and made numerous presentations on those topics.

Susan Robertson, CAE Susan Robertson is the interim CEO of Society for Public Health Education.  In her role as interim CEO, Susan has led SOPHE’s dedicated team of professionals while continuing to grow the organization’s value to its members, donors, sponsors, partners, and other stakeholders. She has ensured that SOPHE’s programs remain high-quality, sought-after opportunities for SOPHE members and other public health education professionals. Prior to joining SOPHE. Ms. Robertson was the former President & CEO of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) a 48,000-member professional society serving association leaders to solve real-time challenges, fulfill their missions and impact society. In addition to leading ASAE, she provided oversight to the ASAE Research Foundation and ASAE’s for-profit subsidiary, ASAE Business Services, Inc. She was a spokesperson for the association profession and frequent speaker and presenter at various conferences and programs around the world.  

Prior to joining ASAE in 2001, Susan was the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at U.S. Office Products, a DC-based multi-billion-dollar publicly traded international business products company.

Dr. Amy Thompson is a Professor & Co-Director at the Center for Health & Successful Living for the University of Toledo. Her research areas are on advocacy, gun violence prevention, breast cancer prevention, and nutritional issues. She has also served as the Trustee for Advocacy & Resolutions for SOPHE from 2015-2017; 2017-2019.

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.

Ms. Sherry brings almost 40 years of program development and leadership experience in community health and health care to the Minnesota Department of Health. She is currently the Healthy Systems Manager for the Office of Statewide Health Improvement Initiatives. Previously she worked on the formation and implementation of the Health Care Homes (PCMH) Initiative. Prior to joining MDH, Ms. Sherry led community health initiatives addressing maternal & child health and chronic disease at an urban safety net hospital. She was the executive director of a community health clinic in Minnesota that provided clinical, health education and home health care services. While working on her master?s degree, she was the project director for an adolescent pregnancy & prevention services consortium and a comprehensive child development program in Brooklyn, NY.