Using Principles of Leadership to Ignite Forward-Thinking Students (UPLIFTS)

Dr. Kirsten Rodgers is an Educational Consultant with over fifteen years of experience teaching and developing instructional programs in public health. As Principal and Lead Consultant of Proximate Learning, LLC, she works with federal, state, and local agencies and academic institutions to develop educational programs for public health and healthcare professionals. She is a founding member of Pedagogy in Health Promotion and serves on two national boards that focus on professional development in public health. Currently, Dr. Rodgers contracts with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to prepare current employees and fellows for the public health workforce.  She also contracts with non-profits and other national agencies to develop educational products and courses that focus on leadership, health equity, public-private partnerships, and community-level change theories in public health. Dr. Rodgers’ educational credentials include a doctorate in Health Education from Columbia University, 2010 and a Masters of Science in Public Health from the University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, 2003. She has been a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) since 2011. From 2012-2015, she served as a faculty member at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and in 2016, led the undergraduate public health program accreditation at Georgia College and State University where she was an Assistant Professor. She enjoys creating meaningful education that inspires students and professionals to thrive.

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.