SOPHE-DNPAO Writing Workshop 2023: Session 3

Founding editor Health Promotion Practice and President, Public Health Systems Consultants 

Randy is a nationally recognized public health professional with over thirty-five years’ experience in implementing health promotion/disease prevention initiatives in state health departments and voluntary health organizations with an emphasis on chronic disease prevention and control, cancer control, tobacco control, community-based health promotion, and healthy public policy. He is currently President of Public Health Systems Consultants and serves as the Sr. Public Health Consultant for Cancer Control with the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD). He is an Adjunct Faculty member for several leading academic public health programs. Randy has written and presented on the importance of engaging public health practitioners along with researchers and engaged communities as a key factor in advancing implementation science. 

He has authored or co-authored numerous articles on health promotion and chronic disease prevention. Randy is the Founding Editor of the journal, Health Promotion Practice, a journal of the Society for Public Health Education. He has been awarded the Society for Public Health Education’s Distinguished Fellow Award, the Society’s highest honor. 

Cole Youngner is a Technical Editor & Writer supporting the Program Development & Evaluation Branch at DNPAO and its grant recipients. Tapping into his academic days as a peer writing tutor, he works with DNPAO recipients on writing success stories and publications to disseminate public health practice wisdom to different audiences. His public health interests include socio-contextual determinants of health, global health, qualitative methods, mental health promotion, and injury and violence prevention. After a decade at Emory University as a student and employee, he continued his public health journey in different capacities with CDC from injury and violence prevention, health communications & writing, global health, to antibiotic resistance, and now, nutrition and physical activity promotion. In another life, he was also an award-winning bartender and spirits expert with a passion for sustainability in the food and beverage industries.

LaNita S. Wright is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education, Public Health Education program at Kennesaw State University. She teaches undergraduate courses pertaining to public health theory, planning, implementation and evaluation.

Her current research focuses on how interconnected systems influence health-promoting behaviors, especially among adolescents, with a recent research project focusing on the Black Church’s role in preventing teen pregnancy. She also recently facilitated a community engagement project (alongside a nonprofit) pertaining to the local community’s perceptions of sexual health related topics and implementation. Her recent work has been published in Health Promotion Practice and Journal of Adolescence.

LaNita offers professional service in various ways, including peer-reviewing manuscripts for multiple journals and book publishers, and serving on the Health Promotion Practice Editorial Board.

She received a Doctor of Philosophy in Health Promotion and a Master of Public Health in Health Promotion Sciences from the University of Oklahoma. She received a Bachelor of Science in Health Services Administration from Auburn University.

LaNita is a passionate, dedicated public health professional. She finds joy in playing an active role in the development of young people through research, teaching, training, and mentoring.  

Joseph Lee is originally from Madison County, NC. He attended Duke University for an undergraduate degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies. He has an MPH in maternal and child health and a PhD in health behavior from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Joseph is now an associate professor in the Department of Health Education and Promotion, College of Health and Human Performance, where he conducts research on tobacco prevention and control and LGBT health inequities.