POPULATION HEALTH INNOVATION LAB - Key Persons
Becca joined PHIL in 2021 to support the communications and marketing needs of the program. She provides vision and direction for a comprehensive communications strategy for PHIL. Becca ensures brand consistency across all communications materials, including reports, presentations, posters, conference materials, and more. She manages the PHIL website, social media, and newsletter and is responsible for graphic design, copy editing, public relations, and more. She is passionate about improving health and well-being at an individual and community level. In support of the PHIL mission, she aims to develop communications strategies that advance health, well-being, and equity. Outside of work, you can find Becca and her partner, Adam, rock climbing, swimming in the ocean, running, and doing yoga.
Experience:
Becca has more than a decade of experience in communications and marketing. She has worked for a public health institute, an environmental non-profit, and in education. She has experience developing strategic communications plans and implementing through website development, brand management, storytelling, social media management, writing and editing, and graphic design. She received her BA in Journalism and a BA in Philosophy from Brooklyn College and her MBA (specialization in Strategic Communications and Marketing) from Boston College.
Expertise:
Strategic communications planning; brand management; website maintenance; writing; editing
Languages:
English
Beverly joined PHIL in April 2022. She primarily works to support the PRACTICE project evaluations through conducting literature reviews, data analysis preparation, and participant outreach. When Beverly is not working she is weightlifting, doing calligraphy, or watching Love Island UK (specifically seasons 5 and 6)!
Experience:
Beverly's research focus includes structural inequalities that disproportionately compromise minority communities' access to healthcare, consequent health implications, and how public health measures can work to better serve such populations. In her most recent role as a research assistant for the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED), Beverly supported numerous maternal and child health-related studies, including the development of her own project focused on Black-White disparities in prenatal care quality, mental health outcomes, and maternal treatment-seeking behaviors. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Health Science with a minor in Biology from Boston University in January 2022.
Expertise:
Qualitative Data Collection and Dissemination; Racial Health Disparities and Equity; Social Determinants of Health for Marginalized Communities
Languages:
English, French, Haitian Creole
Christina has been with PHIL since 2020. Her work supports systems change efforts rooted in multisector collaboratives-particularly Accountable Communities of/for Health. She wears multiple hats that include stakeholder engagement, development and delivery of trainings, sense-making strategizing, data collection and analysis, graphic design, and administrative functions. If you peeked into her office, you might find her developing plans and tools for better cross-sector engagement (particularly virtually), diving into Excel workbooks for fun, facilitating meetings, or testing out new technologies for the PHIL team. When not working, you'll find Christina enjoying outdoor spaces, trying her best to grow vegetables and compost, crafting with her little ones, or trying local food establishments in her community.
Experience:
Christina has over ten years of experience in research and practice across multiple health-focused disciplines. From 2016-2020, she worked on-the-ground in development of a multisector, population health-focused collaborative where she managed policy development, day-to-day operations, funding creation and distribution, stakeholder engagement, and trust building across various community sectors and with residents. Prior to 2016, Christina worked in multiple research labs as both an assistant and a co-principal investigator on her own federally funded research. She also spent a period working in federal-level, international public health policy with the Office of Global Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in neuroscience and Spanish from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and her Master of Public Health degree from San Diego State University in San Diego, California.
Expertise:
Cross-sector collaboration development; Systems Change; Training & External Engagement
Languages:
English, Spanish
Esmeralda is committed to promoting individual and community wellbeing by addressing root causes of health inequalities and disparities in accessing resources through community engagement, collaboration, advocacy, and research. She joined the PHIL team in 2021 to support PHIL's mission in improving health, wellbeing, and equity across communities through research and evaluation. Her work is primarily focused on community engagement in research. When not at work, Esmeralda can be found spending time with her family, putting puzzles together, or playing with her dogs.
Experience:
Esmeralda's background revolves around supporting diverse communities through mentoring, advocacy, and research. Prior to joining PHIL, Esmeralda mentored elementary school children with adverse childhood experiences and mental disorders across San Diego County. She also worked with non-profits and migrant communities around the U.S./Mexico border region to conduct advocacy and research work. In her most recent role as a research assistant in the Wellbeing Lab, Esmeralda supported national and international research projects and interventions centered around promoting youth and community wellbeing through community partnerships. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a Specialization in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, San Diego in 2021.
Expertise:
Community-based Participatory Research; Mixed-Methods Studies; Promoting Individual and Community Wellbeing
Languages:
Spanish, English
Jessica joined the PHIL team in 2023. As a Program Associate, Jessica will be an integral support for PHIL's overall implementation of the Providing Access and Transforming Health (PATH) Collaborative Planning and Implementation (CPI) initiative. On any given day, you might find Jessica coordinating with MERLIN, Learning & Action, or Operations team members to optimally support high-need registrants. Outside of work, you can find her with her pug, watering her plants, or doodling imaginary creatures!
Experience:
While taking a course called Confronting HIV/AIDS at San Diego State University, Jessica became determined to serve stigmatized and marginalized communities within her community. Soon after, she began her public health career at a small non-profit that provided coordinated services for women, children, and families impacted by HIV/AIDS. Working in the field of HIV brought to light transformational public health principles such as cultural humility, trauma-informed care, and meaningful community engagement. These intentional ways of approaching care inspired Jessica to pursue an MPH in Leadership and Practice at UNC Chapel Hill to investigate how she can apply such innovative approaches to systems change. During her practicum with SDSU Research Foundation, Jessica discovered her new passions in implementation science and process evaluation.
Expertise:
Project Development and Implementation, Community Advocacy, Process Evaluation
Languages:
English, Conversational Spanish
Job Titles:
- Director of Learning & Action
Kathryn has been with PHIL since 2010, doing a "little bit of everything" in her time here. She helps lead program strategy and organizational/program development activities, while also being involved in PHIL's research activities. She recently completed a practice paper for PHIL's Northern ACEs Collaborative and led the development of an Operational Plan for Transitional Housing Facility that was established by one of the CACHI ACH sites. One of Kathryn's many strengths is serving as a "thought partner" for the team on projects and program issues, including being heavily involved in the development and production of the Powering Change curriculum. When not working, you can find Kathryn looking for her next favorite recipe, and spending time with her family: building Lego creations or swimming with her two boys, playing with their mini-Australian Shepherd, and conspiring with her husband to plan their next family adventure.
Experience:
Kathryn has worked in the health space for over 25 years, mainly focused on sexual and reproductive health and reproductive justice. Prior to joining PHIL, she was Deputy Director for CAMI Health, where she worked for almost 10 years in research, advocacy, and helping to build an international multisector collaborative. Prior to CAMI Health, Kathryn worked in a variety of positions doing research, advocacy, and other project implementation at prestigious organizations such as Kaiser Permanente, the Guttmacher Institute, the Population Council, and Planned Parenthood. She also served as a Rural Health and Small Business Development Volunteer and Volunteer Leader for the Peace Corps in Cote D'Ivoire. Kathryn has a BA in Politics and International Relations from Scripps College in Claremont, CA, and a Master's in Public Policy from UC Berkeley.
Expertise:
Creatively solving problems; Program Strategy and Organizational Development; Project Management
Languages:
English, Spanish. I mainly spoke French while I was in the Peace Corps in the Ivory Coast, but also learned a tiny bit of Baoule while I was there, but it's been a while!
Job Titles:
- Lead Research Scientist II
Kendra joined PHIL in April 2022 as the lead evaluator of the PRACTICE project. Kendra supports the PRACTICE evaluation by overseeing evaluation project management and providing senior-level guidance to evaluation leads. When Kendra is not working, she loves to spend time with her family and friends, read, and try new restaurants.
Experience:
Kendra earned a BS in Environmental Health from the University of Georgia. She received both a PhD in Health Education and Health Promotion and a MPH with a focus on Maternal Health and Global Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Kendra completed her postdoc at the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University where she worked on a mixed methods research project to explore the intersection of reproductive health and sickle cell disease. Before joining PHIL, Kendra worked as the Assistant Director of Evaluation and Institutional Assessment at the Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center. In this role, Kendra oversaw evaluation efforts, set the strategic evaluation direction, and led evaluation plan development and implementation efforts.
Expertise:
Mixed Methods Research; Program Evaluation; Health Equity
Languages Spoken:
Maggie joined the PHIL team in August 2022. At PHIL, Maggie will provide technical assistance to Preventing and Responding to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)-Associated Health Conditions and Toxic Stress in Clinics through Community Engagement (PRACTICE) grantees across the state to support their teams in fostering partnerships, increasing services for patients, and expanding the workforce dedicated to decreasing the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress on health through a systems change approach. Outside of work, Maggie enjoys spending time with her two children, husband, and two dogs, Nico and Coco. They enjoy going on family trips, hiking, and exploring restaurants and landmarks all over the LA area.
Experience:
Maggie received her bachelor's degree in Psychology from California State University Dominguez Hills in 2013. While pursuing her degree, she became interested in mental health, child development, and the impact of trauma on development and health. After graduating, she worked in positions that allowed her to support families that had been impacted by child abuse, intimate partner violence, and other forms of trauma that impacted their parenting experience by providing case management, referrals and linkages, and home visitation. After spending several years working directly with populations who experienced trauma and negative social determinants of health, Maggie decided to pursue a Master of Public Health degree at California State University Los Angeles and completed the program in 2022. She also worked on the COVID response team at a local health department where she managed a team of community health workers facilitating outreach in the community and uniting cross sector organizations within the community to reach those disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
Expertise:
Health Education, Program Implementation, Maternal & Child Health
Languages:
English, Spanish
Megan has been with PHIL since 2022. She joined the team to support with projects focused on Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, including the PRACTICE project and the Northern ACEs Collaborative. Since then, she has expanded her scope and lends her skills to a variety of Learning and Action Division programs. When she's not working, you can find Megan surfing, biking, trail running, volunteering, or tending to her compost. She loves all things outdoors and is passionate about environmental conservation.
Experience:
In her early career, Megan worked hands-on with patients gaining valuable experience in health behavior and health education. Her desire to impact larger populations and interest in health prevention drew her to the field of public health. Megan has since worked in Oral Health and Nutrition, HIV/AIDs Education, and Tobacco Prevention. During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Megan served as the Surveillance Lead of the Epidemiology Unit at a county public health department. Prior to joining PHIL, Megan served as the program coordinator for a county-wide effort to implement ACEs screening and referral services in pediatric clinics. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from Chapman University, a Master of Public Health degree from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and is a Certified Health Education Specialist.
Expertise:
Health Education, Cross-Sector Collaboration, Intervention Design and Evaluation
Languages:
English, Beginner Spanish
Rebecca began her career with PHIL in March 2022. She is responsible for the day-to-day financial and administrative operations and planning in support of PHIL projects and programs. She is new to the public health sector but has always had a passion for helping people and giving back to her community. Joining the PHIL team will allow her to become more involved in public health and in combatting some of the major issues affecting people worldwide. When not at work, Rebecca enjoys spending time with her daughters, writing poems, or playing with her two Yorkiepoos, Christopher and Parker.
Experience:
Rebecca has more than 15 years in public relations and administrative support. Her background in local government within the utilities sector has given her the knowledge and experience to support public health awareness and help create change.
Expertise:
Budget Management; Administrative Support
Languages:
English
Job Titles:
- PRACTICE Managing Director
Sandy joined PHIL in January 2023 to manage the PRACTICE project, a multi-sector collaborative designed to increase capacity to screen and respond to ACEs and toxic stress. Outside of work, Sandy is usually trying out a fun new recipe or going for walks in her beautiful neighborhood.
Experience:
Before joining PHIL, Sandy worked at Concert Health, a digitally-enabled behavioral health medical group. There she focused on business development and enterprise partnerships. She also served as a consultant for Manatt health, the director of health policy at the California Academy of Family Physicians, and policy advisor to U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski. Sandy is a passionate advocate for the work done in primary care and has designed projects to improve addiction treatment, integrate behavioral health into primary care, enhance screening for adverse childhood experiences, and improve care for patients with complex needs.
Expertise:
Clinical Transformation, Policy, Behavioral Health Integration
Languages:
English
Job Titles:
- Lead Research Scientist II
Seun joined PHIL in April 2022. He leads the PRACTICE evaluation grant-an initiative that supports project teams in strengthening partnerships for Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) screening to respond to toxic stress, develop evidence-based approaches for combatting toxic stress physiology, and helping the teams develop their workforce to support ACE screening and toxic stress response. When not working, Seun loves to read books, be physically active with a pickup soccer or basketball game, or nerd out learning different ways to implement Artificial Inelegance to support public health practice.
Experience:
Seun received his B.S. in Cognitive Neuroscience from Michigan State University (2016) and MPH in Biostatistics and Epidemiology in 2018. He has experience designing and leading surveillance activities to mitigate the spread of infectious diseases including bacterial STIs, HCV, HBV, HIV, MPOX and COVID-19, focusing on reducing their disparate outcomes in at risk populations. He also has experience in implementation science and program development for combatting the burden of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and other chronic diseases for children living in Low-and-Middle Income Countries.
Expertise:
Quantitative Research Methods; Infectious Disease Surveillance & Control; Implementation Science
Languages:
Fluent in English and Yoruba
Skylar joined PHIL in July 2022 as a PRACTICE Coach for the Preventing and Responding to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)-Associated Health Conditions and Toxic Stress in Clinics through Community Engagement (PRACTICE) grant. Skylar will be working directly with PRACTICE grantees across the state to assist them with technical support and guidance to implement systems change efforts to decrease the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress, increase services and new provider types, and create sustainable networks. When not at work, Skylar enjoys planning trips with friends and family, trying out new coffee shops to find the perfect chai latte, and keeping up with her mini Aussie-doodle Cosmo at the dog beach.
Experience:
Skylar received both her Doctor of Public Health (2021) and Master of Public Health (2017) from Claremont Graduate University. Her dissertation focused on the early implementation of California's ACEs Aware initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic. She interviewed a variety of stakeholders involved in ACEs screenings and community programming related to toxic stress to create recommendations and reflect on lessons learned for developing trauma-informed initiatives. Her last position as Program Manager for an ACEs Aware Network of Care Planning grant allowed her to work directly with clinics and community based organizations to strategize how they would develop an ACEs clinical workflow that could be connected to appropriate services in the community. She was a 2016-17 Public Health Fellow for the California Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities fellowship, a joint program with Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the USC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. She has also worked in diabetes education and prevention on a cross-sector team.
Expertise:
Public Health Policy, Program Implementation, Qualitative Research
Languages:
English, Spanglish
Job Titles:
- Director of MERLIN ( Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning Innovations )
Stephanie has been with PHIL since 2019. She directs the scientific vision and strategy for PHIL, including leading multiple research teams, designs research methodologies, and conducting data collection and analysis. She is also deeply involved with other aspects of PHIL's research, including performing and supervising research activities, preparing reports, and authoring scholarly publications, and presenting research at national conferences. If that weren't enough to keep her busy, she also provides PHIL staff with technical training, and provides direct supervision of research staff. When not addressing public health and its many challenges, you can find Stephanie spending quality time with her husband and cat-Kristoff and Speed Bump-going on walks to explore Denver, spending all the time she can outside hiking, biking, climbing, and kayaking, and playing strategy games at home with Kristoff. Speed Bump likes to think he's playing, too.
Experience:
Before joining the PHIL team, Stephanie worked as Senior Researcher in the Center on Network Science (2017-2020) and principal consultant of Bultema Consulting LLC (2018-2020). She served as a public health professional from 2010-2017, most recently as Assessment Epidemiologist. Her recent community service includes acting as Co-President of the School of Public Affairs PhD Student Association (2019-2020), President of the School Health Care Association of Spokane County (2015-2017), and as Board Member for Communities in Schools of Spokane County (2015-2017). Stephanie earned an M.A. in Administrative Leadership from Whitworth University, with additional coursework completed through Washington State University's Master of Health Policy and Administration program. She recently completed her PhD at the University of Colorado Denver's School of Public Affairs, studying collaborative governance in Accountable Communities of/for Health.
Expertise:
Public Affairs; Collaborative Governance; Network Science
Languages:
English (native), French (rusty conversational), Turkish (basic conversational)
The waters of population health are deep and complex, and Sue works every day to support collaboratives in approaching their work with innovative practices and data-driven research. Sue has been with PHIL since 2015. Her decades of experience in public health have led her to a deep understanding of and work addressing issues such as chronic disease, access to prenatal care, and children's health. Sue is a champion for multi sector collaboratives and Accountable Communities of/for Health (ACH) sites. Sue was instrumental in forming the initial ACH model in Washington and has played a leading role in 19 other sites, including 10 ACH sites in Vermont and 9 in California. When not working to champion change in public health, Sue can be found spending time in the mountains or at the beach-often with her grandson, Jalen, and her Yellow Lab Koda -traveling, and continually pursuing the joy of learning new things.
Experience:
Prior to joining PHI, Sue held several positions with the Washington State Department of Health (WSDH). She served as the Special Assistant for Health Transformation and Innovation, Director of the Office of Healthy Communities, Director of Office of Community Wellness and Prevention as well as the state Chronic Disease Director and Maternal and Child Health Director. Prior to her role at WSDH, she served as Director for the Cowlitz County Health Department in Longview, Washington.
Expertise:
Partnership and Collaborative Development; Systems Thinking, Public Health
Languages:
English
After working in academic research and community-based services, Tammy began her California public health work as a local First 5 Director in 2001. Tammy went on to serve in various local government leadership roles, including oversight of County Public Health, Behavioral Health, and Social Services. After a career in public service, Tammy now lives with her husband, John, on an off-the-grid homestead in California's Coastal Redwoods. When not working, Tammy spends as much time as possible helping John on their farm growing Korean-inspired vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers through sustainable practices that protect and preserve the natural environment.
Experience:
Tammy joined PHIL in 2024 to help lead Collaborative Planning and Implementation (CPI) strategies that support and strengthen regional CalAIM services. California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) is a far-reaching, multiyear plan by the Department of Health Care Services to transform Medi-Cal and make it more equitable, coordinated, and person-centered. To help integrate Medi-Cal more seamlessly with other services and develop local capacity, the state implemented the Providing Access and Transforming Health (PATH) Initiative within CalAIM. Supporting seven counties across two CPI regions, PHIL's PATH CPI work promotes collaborative opportunities to address gaps and improve outcomes through CalAIM Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports.
Expertise:
Strategic Planning, Facilitation & Training, Process Improvement
Languages:
English