Dr. Mona Arora is a researcher at the University of Arizona College of Public Health. She obtained her Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) degree in Tropical Medicine from the Tulane University School of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene and has a doctorate degree in Geography from the University of Arizona. Dr. Arora is also a member of the teaching faculty and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in climate change and health. She has guest lectured on special topics including one health, pandemic preparedness and response, health equity, and systems thinking. Her research focuses on building the public health capacity to address “wicked’ challenges through the development of decision-support tools; enhancing science communication and translation; and integrating a health and equity lens adaptation planning. Dr. Arora is a member of the One Health faculty in MEZCOPH as well as a member of the National Association of City & County Health Officials’ Global Climate Change Workgroup and a member of the Pima County Health Department’s Ethics Committee.
Presentation title: AZ Librarians Fostering Resilient Rural Communities
Laura Aviles is a Program Coordinator for Yuma County Public Health Services District working in public health for the past 19 years focusing on chronic disease prevention efforts and supervising CHW initiatives. She co-leads the Yuma CHW Coalition assisting with coalition formation and development efforts.
Presentation title: “CONECTATE: Connecting communities through Community Health Worker (CHW) workforce development”
Cayley Balser, JD – At Innovation for Justice (i4J), Cayley engages with community members and leads students on data collection, analysis, and synthesis. She’s passionate about integrating trauma-informed practices into research. Cayley earned her J.D. from the University of Arizona College of Law, graduating Cum Laude and receiving the Hon. Earl H. Carroll Public Service Award. Cayley earned Master in Education (M.Ed.) and Education Specialist (Ed.S.) degrees in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Florida and is a National Certified Counselor. At Clemson University she was on the varsity volleyball team, inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and earned a B.A. in Psychology.
Presentation title: Health Justice Gaps in Rural Communities: Two Case Studies in the Southwest
Kiani Becerra is the Grants Coordinator for the CDC-CCR Grant with the Arizona Advisory Council on Indian Health Care. In her current role, she works closely with tribal partners and provides a multitude of assistance where needed.
Presentation title: CDC-CCR Grant: Contribution to the Sustainability of Tribal CHR Programs in Arizona
Assistant Clinical Professor and Academic Fieldwork Coordinator, Gina Buban, OTD, OTR/L earned her Bachelor of Arts in Education at ASU, Master of Science in Occupational Therapy at ATSU and her post-professional Occupational Therapy Degree at ATSU. For over 10 years, she practiced in the pediatric setting. Dr. Buban joined NAU Occupational Therapy as adjunct faculty in 2018 where she discovered a new passion and capacity for working with aspiring occupational therapists. During her time as adjunct faculty, she found it personally and professionally gratifying to support students in tying together NAU’s curriculum and the real-world experience of fieldwork. In late 2018, she transitioned to full-time faculty and continues to work for the NAU Occupational Therapy Department.
Presentation title: Developing a Diverse Rural Healthcare Workforce: Recruitment, Retention and Clinical Training
Elena ‘Lena’ Cameron, BS (she/her/ella) is a program coordinator for the Arizona Center for Rural Health. Her background is in public health with experience in several programs relating to opioid use. Her interests include harm reduction and public health communication. She is currently pursuing a graduate degree in public health.
Presentation Titles: Promotores, Peers, and Family Support Specialists: Opportunities for Rural Arizona; and An Ecological Approach to Increase Workforce Capacity for Addiction Prevention, Harm Reduction, and Treatment
Bettie Coplan is Associate Professor at the Northern Arizona University PA Program where she also serves as director of the program’s Rural Health Professions Program. Her clinical background is in gastroenterology and primary care, and she practices clinically at a community health center.
Presentation Title: An Update on the State of Arizona Public University Investments in the PA Workforce: Building Bidirectional Paths for the Future
Sean Cronin is the Project Manager for the AzCANN project at UArizona's Chronic Pain & Addiction Center, leading with 10+ years coordinating and implementing community-based programming locally, nationally, and abroad. Beginning his career in experiential and multimodal programs applying storytelling and service learning to promote community literacy and language acquisition in Southern Arizona, Sean believes in the wealth of opportunities that the linguistic, cultural, and economic diversity of offer in empowering Arizona communities. The last 4 years Sean has pivoted to public health programs, collaborating on innovative programs educating on issues relating to sexual and relationship health, LGBTQ community & leadership enrichment, positive mental health & suicide prevention, and illicit substances with focus on alcohol and opioid use.
Presentation title: An Ecological Approach to Increase Workforce Capacity for Addiction Prevention, Harm Reduction, and Treatment
Alex Demyan serves AHCCCS as Assistant Director of the Division of Community Advocacy and Intergovernmental Relations. Alex oversees the agency’s two advocacy departments as well as the agency’s federal relations unit. Alex brings experience in non-profits, federal grants, behavioral health, and public policy. He is a leader in Medicaid health policy for a variety of populations. He led the agency through attaining multiple federal authorities in response to the pandemic, helped shape and negotiate AHCCCS’ 1115 renewal and amendment, led stakeholder engagement for major agency initiatives, and assisted in health policy development. Alex is a graduate of both NAU and ASU.
Presentation title: CHW/CHR Reimbursement in Medicaid
Edith Di Santo is the Chief for the Arizona Primary Care Office, in the Bureau of Women’s & Children’s Health. The Primary Care Office oversees workforce programs aimed at increasing access to primary care and other services with emphasis on the health needs of underserved people and areas. Edith has a Master’s Degree in Public Health focused in health policy from George Washington University. Edith completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Edith has over 15 years of public health experience, working at the federal, state, local and non-profit sectors. In her previous roles, she managed large federal grants for Arizona to include the WIC and SNAP-Ed grants and contracts. She has worked in the hospital and primary care settings working with physicians to improve access and care for diverse populations. Edith is passionate about public health, reducing health disparities, and improving access to care.
Presentation title: Arizona Primary Care Office: Role & Current Workforce Programs
Regina Eddie, Ph.D., RN, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at Northern Arizona University. She is an enrolled tribal member of the Diné (Navajo) Nation of Arizona. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nursing and Health Policy Collaborative fellow. Her research focuses on American Indian health disparities, school wellness policies and practices, and tribal health policy research. She is also committed to increasing recruitment and retention of Native American nursing students. Further, she facilitates public health nursing practicums with rural, underserved AI populations to help serve rural medically underserved areas, particularly in Navajo communities.
Presentation title: NAU Dreamcatchers: Fostering a Growth Mindset to Encourage Native American Students to Pursue Careers in Healthcare
Gabriela Elizondo-Craig is a Post-Graduate Fellow for Innovation for Justice and a current MS in Environmental Health Sciences student at the University of Arizona. Gabriela holds a B.S., Public Health, and a J.D. from the University of Arizona. Her research interests lie at the intersection between the law and public health. In particular, she is interested in interdisciplinary research to leverage legal tools that improve access to justice and health outcomes for underrepresented populations. At Innovation for Justice, Gabriela oversees the Medical Debt Legal Advocates pilots in Utah and served as a Co-PI for the Medical Debt Policy Scorecard.
Presentation title: Health Justice Gaps in Rural Communities: Two Case Studies in the Southwest
A-PAL’s Co-Director Dr. Kathryn Emerick is a perinatal psychiatrist who graduated from the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Tucson Department of Psychiatry residency program, where she studied under Director Dr. Kalia in the perinatal psychiatry education track. Dr. Emerick has worked with numerous patients throughout her career, and many through multiple pregnancies. She finds her work in perinatal psychiatry professionally satisfying due to her motivated patients and the fact that many of the psychiatric concerns in the perinatal stage–such as postpartum depression and postpartum rage–are treatable. She is thrilled for the launch of A-PAL and the opportunity to give Arizona’s healthcare providers the tools they need to treat their perinatal patients.
Presentation title: Building Capacity of Rural Health Providers to Promote Maternal Mental Health: Launch of a Statewide Program
C. Lauren Erdelyi, MPH, CAPM is currently a doctoral candidate in the DrPH Public Health Policy & Management program at the University of Arizona Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Her research is focused on policy, systems and environmental change. Specifically, her research includes using an implementation science lens to design, implement and measure impacts of public health policy interventions to support child health and wellness within underserved communities. Professionally, Lauren works as the project manager overseeing and leading a portfolio of public health information and evaluation projects for a large, national non-profit.
Presentation title: Leveraging Tax Policy Pilot Program to Address Drivers of Childhood Obesity: A Framework for Enhancing Rural Health Ecosystems in Arizona
Joena Ezroj, M.Ed., is the director of the Western Arizona Health Education Center for Regional Center for Border Health, where she oversees educational programming and the recruitment and retention of health care professionals in Yuma, La Paz and Mohave counties. Her work experience includes Coordinator and Assistant Clinical Professor for Arizona State University, Instructional Coach for Gadsden Elementary School District, and teacher for Yuma Elementary School District. She is the 2012 Teacher of the Year for Yuma County. Joena is highly active in the regional area and is the co-chair of the City of Somerton Parks and Recreation Committee, member of the Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board Cocopah Tribe Regional Partnership Council, and she is also a member of the Somerton Rotary. Joena holds a bachelors and Masters degree in Education from Northern Arizona University and a Master of Educational Leadership and Administration from Grand Canyon University. Joena believes that success is achieved for communities through servant leadership and building partnerships.
Presentation title: Workforce Development: Growing Our Own through Pipeline Programs to Job Placement and Beyond
Taylor Leigh Fisher is originally from upstate New York and spent 5 years traveling and working in Latin America in order to learn the Spanish language. In 2020, Taylor moved back to the US, living in Tucson, Arizona so that she could become involved in border issues and attend the University of Arizona. She has since graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies. In her free time, she is an active volunteer on the border helping those coming to the United States, supplying food and basic necessities in rural desert areas, acting as interpreter and translator in shelters and searching for those who have gone missing. As a Community Health Worker at SEAHEC, Taylor continues working to better the lives of rural and migrant communities in the border region by providing health education and connecting individuals to the resources they need.
Presentation title: Proyecto Juntos - A CHW lead initiative to address vaccine hesitancy in rural, underserved Southeast Arizona
Dr. Aaron Guest is a socio-environmental gerontologist and Assistant Professor of Aging within the Center for Innovation in Healthy and Resilient Aging at Arizona State University. His research has focused on the interrelationships between individuals and their social and built environments and how these environments influence health, particularly among rural and sexual and gender minority older adults. Through this, he aims to identify opportunities to improve social connectedness and support aging-in-community. Related to this, additional lines of research focus on reducing discrimination against older populations and advancing efforts to grow and sustain the gerontological workforce.
Presentation title: Ensuring Age-Friendly Public Health in Rural Communities: Success and Opportunities
Ergi Gumusaneli is the founder and CEO of Fitz Ilias Health and Technology, a national mental health provider company. Fitz Ilias strives on delivering exceptional mental health care to rural communities. Ergi is also a board certified psychiatrist by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and Rappeport Fellow of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.
Presentation title: Focus on Fentanyl 2023. Substance Abuse Treatment Opportunities in Rural Communities.
Loren Halili is a graduate of the University of Arizona Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, where she received both her Bachelors and Masters degrees. She is currently a program management assistant at the Arizona Center for Rural Health AHEAD AZ program under the CDC-ADHS COVID-19 disparities initiative. In her role, she spearheaded the development and implementation of the Public Health Youth Champions Program, which aims to expose and engage youth under 18 years old in the field of public health.
Presentation title: Collaborative community engagement in rural communities to address the opioid crisis
Dr. Denise Muesch Helm is a professor of dental hygiene and affiliated faculty in the Center for Health Equity Research and the Interprofessional Health Ph.D. Program at NAU. As a dental hygiene educator for over 33 years, she is committed to increasing access to healthcare for underserved populations and is passionate about promoting environments that embrace diversity to address access to healthcare. She has received over $30 million in grant funding to support these efforts. Dr. Helm holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction, a Master of Arts in Sociology, and a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene, from NAU.
Presentation title: Arizona Area Health Education Centers Undergraduate Scholars Program: Investing in Workforce Development
Joyce A. Hospodar, MBA, MPA, has spent over 35 years working for hospital systems in Utah, Kentucky, and Arizona in the areas of strategic planning, marketing, and operations of community-based programs. She is the Senior Advisor, Rural Programs at the Arizona Center for Rural Health. Her efforts focus on providing technical assistance to the state’s small rural hospitals and rural health clinics. She also works with statewide EMS and Trauma systems now focused with others on the 4 year SAMHSA First Responder Opioid effort.
Presentation title: An ecological approach to increase workforce capacity for addiction prevention, harm reduction, and treatment.
A-PAL's Director Saira Kalia, MD, is an accomplished perinatal psychiatrist and educator with a wealth of experience in clinical care and administrative leadership. She has held various roles at Banner University Medical Center, including Medical Director for Outpatient Psychiatry and Associate Program Director for the Adult Psychiatry Residency Program. Her contributions to the field of perinatal psychiatry include launching the Psychiatry Department's Perinatal Psychiatry Training Track and Clinical Service and working to expand the department's services. Additionally, Dr. Kalia provides national trainings for the Perinatal Psychiatry International organization and has made significant contributions to the National Curriculum of Reproductive Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association's first Textbook of Women's Reproductive Mental Health.
Presentation title: Building Capacity of Rural Health Providers to Promote Maternal Mental Health: Launch of a Statewide Program
Bryna Koch, DrPH has 18 years of public health policy and evaluation experience in university and non-profit settings. She has supported program, policy, and evaluation efforts for community-based organizations and governmental agencies. Ms. Koch began her work at the Arizona Center for Rural Health (AzCRH) in 2016. At the AzCRH her focus is health workforce data collection, synthesis, and reporting. Her research interests include the impacts and outcomes of the major policies like Affordable Care Act (ACA) on health insurance coverage, utilization, and outcomes for underserved and vulnerable populations.
Presentation title: Using Data to Inform Health Workforce Development
Diana Kramer has addressed social determinants of health at federal, state, county, and direct care levels over twenty-five years. Background in systemic and region-specific data-driven initiatives, program development, policy improvement, evaluation, care coordination, training, and workforce development assist in defining culturally and linguistically appropriate service standards for individuals accessing and receiving integrated services in the healthcare delivery systems of care. Ms. Kramer has a Doctor of Behavioral Health/Integrated Health from Arizona State University. A champion for health equity practices, her focus is improving the lives of individuals, children, and families through the delivery of comprehensive culturally adaptive treatment for overall health and wellness.
Presentation title: CommunityCares: Arizona's SDOH Solution for Whole Person Care
Ron Kubit serves as the CEO for TeleNeph. TeleNeph partners with Rural Hospitals in keeping care local for patients with ESKD. TeleNeph provides rural hospitals with the capability of providing Inpatient Dialysis. Kubit has a long legacy of creating innovative healthcare solutions including the development of Tele-radiology, population health applications, ICU applications and pharmacogenomics decision support application. He has had executive leadership positions in New Zealand / Australia / Japan and has worked for multinational companies such as Optum, EY & EDS, and has lived in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Kubit has a passion for getting involved, where he previously held the position of president of the Colorado Healthcare Strategy Management and Colorado Neurological Institute, Board of Trustees of Roosevelt University and the Advisory Board of Daniels Business School – Denver University, founding board member of No Barriers, and was one of the founding members of the Kilimanjaro Blind Trust – Tanzania.
Presentation title: ESRD Patients Staying Local in Rural America
Ashley Lazaro is a first-generation graduate, who holds a Bachelor's in Public Health with a minor in Biology and Master's degree in Public Health with an emphasis in Indigenous Health, from Northern Arizona University. Ashley worked for the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP), a program funded by The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and The National Cancer Institute (NCI). She is the Training Officer 1 for the Arizona Advisory Council on Indian Health Care's CDC-CCR Grant, where she works with Community Health Representatives. Ashley is passionate about improving Tribal health and hopes to continue working within Tribal communities.
Presentation title: CDC-CCR Grant: Contribution to the Sustainability of Tribal CHR Programs in Arizona
Lisa Lewis, President of the Arizona Library Association, has been working in libraries for 21 years and is currently the Library Services Manager for Show Low Public Library. She has had many adventures since starting her career including presenting a series of workshops to librarians in Croatia by invitation of the U.S. Embassy. Lisa has served on the ARSL (Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) board and is currently the AzLA (Arizona Library Association) President. She has always been a strong advocate for rural and small libraries and continues to be a strong voice for all public libraries.
Presentation title: AZ Librarians Fostering Resilient Rural Communities
Kevin Lohenry, PhD, PA-C, joined the University of Arizona in 2022 after serving as the associate dean for graduate student affairs at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He also served as program director for the Primary Care Physician Assistant Program at USC from 2011-2022. He is the co-founder of the Keck Street Medicine program at USC, which provides care for unsheltered individuals living on the streets of Los Angeles. He is a veteran of the United States Navy and has served as a Physician Assistant since 1996. Lohenry is a past-president of the Physician Assistant Education Association and former director-at-large for the board of directors for the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). In 2012, Lohenry served the as a member of the Joining Forces Initiative with the First Lady’s Office. He practiced family and internal medicine.
Presentation title: An Update on the State of Arizona Public University Investments in the PA Workforce: Building Bidirectional Paths for the Future
Rhonda Mason is a Master prepared Registered Nurse with over 30 years of experience in the acute hospital setting. She has spent a large part of her nursing career in leadership roles, most recently as the Chief Nursing Officer at a very busy critical access hospital in Arizona. Prior to this, Rhonda had held several positions including Nurse Manager, Director of Quality, and then CNO at a critical access hospital in Washington State. She started her career in large city hospitals in bother the Seattle area and Honolulu. Though her career started in the urban settings, rural healthcare is her passion; being able to bring her experience in leadership development, project management, and clinical excellence to smaller communities brings Rhonda great professional pride and satisfaction in her work.
Presentation title: ESRD Patients Staying Local in Rural America
Dr. Erin McMahon has been a certified nurse-midwife for 24 years and was first called to midwifery work 30 years ago. Serving birthing persons, families and providing reproductive care in various settings has been the joy of her life. Dr. McMahon is the Founding Program Director for the Midwifery Specialty at the University of Arizona College of Nursing. She has been teaching in the classroom for over 11 years and precepting midwifery students and resident physicians for over 20 years. She is passionate about the use of simulation as a teaching strategy. Dr. McMahon is an American College of Nurse-Midwives Fellow and a member of the American Midwifery Certification Board. She has served on national committees for the revision of the ACNM Core Competencies of Basic Midwifery Practice and the INACSL Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice.
Presentation title: Improving maternal outcomes by expanding the midwifery workforce in Arizona communities
Kelly McGann (She, Her, Hers), has years of experience in case management, human services, and CBO program delivery in rural communities. Her experience allows her to understand the human element when considering SDOH interoperability and advancement of Whole-Person Care, as well as the importance of building resources and tools with community voice at the forefront.
Presentation title: CommunityCares: Arizona's SDOH Solution for Whole Person Care
Dr. Bridget Murphy has three decades of education and experience in behavioral health and educational research/evaluation, services, and support. She has held positions in academic institutions, community-based and private sector organizations. Dr. Murphy’s holds a doctorate in behavioral health and master’s in education. Her principal experience is substance use, mental health and related infectious diseases for culturally diverse children, youth, and families in various settings. As a teen, Dr. Murphy struggled with substance use and mental health issues and participated in treatment. This experience provided the foundation for her academic and professional direction.
Presentation title: An ecological approach to increase workforce capacity for addiction prevention, harm reduction, and treatment.
As a graduate from Project FUTRE Kevin Phillips was participating in the level 2 apprenticeship program at a child and adolescence clinic. At the clinic I helped develop a model for the Parent & Family Support Specialists role. After experiencing some of the challenges that can come with being a paraprofessional in today's clinics, I decided to help prepare the next generation of paraprofessionals entering behavioral health. My primary role today is training Parent & Family Support Specialists, but I am also actively involved in training Recovery Support Specialists and connecting our curriculum to real world examples.
Presentation title: Promotoras, Peers, and Family Support Specialists: Opportunities for Rural Arizona
Kristen Ogden, RN, is the Director of Quality Improvement with The Compliance Team. She was brought to the team from an organization in Missouri where she served as Director of Clinic Quality and Accreditation and Clinic Administrator among many other titles, over 12 RHC's for 15 years. Being raised in a small rural community and having broad experience as a nurse leader, she recognizes the need for advancing healthcare access and eliminating barriers. She is dedicated to helping clinics improve quality care and patient outcomes in rural communities nationwide.
Presentation title: Swing Bed Quality
Louisa O’Meara MPH, is a Senior Research Coordinator at the Center for Health Equity Research at Northern Arizona University. Louisa holds expertise in the areas of Community Health Workers and Community Health Representative (CHR) workforce sustainability and interventions, Indigenous community health, social determinants of health, and community-based participatory research and evaluation. In partnership with CHR programs and American Indian health policy entities, Louisa conducted seminal CHR workforce studies. She currently co-leads grant evaluation for the CDC funded CHR Workforce Integration in Tribal Health Systems to Address COVID-19 (CHRs WITH uS!) project aimed at addressing the social determinants of COVID-19 and community resilience through CHR integration into public health and health care teams. Louisa loves to cook and read, and in her spare time she enjoys playing with her two young boys.
Presentation title: Developing a Diverse Rural Healthcare Workforce: Recruitment, Retention and Clinical Training
Christy Pacheco, DNP, FNP-BC is a Family Nurse Practitioner, University of Arizona College of Nursing RHPP Director, and Assistant Clinical Professor in the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program. Dr. Pacheco is involved in a range of academic, clinical, QI, and interprofessional activities. Her focus is improving quality and access to care for rural and medically underserved populations, holding numerous leadership positions in her program work. In clinical practice in Northern Arizona for over 20 years, she has had the privilege of living and working on the Navajo Nation with the IHS, as well as working in community health centers and health department.
Presentation title: Practice-Based Research & QI for Workforce Development and Improving Health Outcome
Amy Pacheco Mata is the Program Coordinator for Vacunas Para Todos at Southeast Arizona Health Education Center. Over the past year, she has worked as a Community Health Worker with a strong passion for providing education in rural communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Dietetics from the University of Arizona, Amy is ready to pursue her dream of becoming a Physician Assistant in the medical field. She’s deeply committed to investing in her education and working hard to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to become a compassionate and highly skilled future healthcare provider.
Presentation title: Proyecto Juntos- A CHW lead initiative to address vaccine hesitancy in rural, underserved Southeast Arizona
Matthew Roach is the Vital Statistics Manager at the Arizona Department of Health Services. He has been with the department for 11 years and oversees public health statistics reporting on births, deaths, and other health measures. Mr. Roach holds a Master of Public Health Degree in Epidemiology from the University of South Florida. Prior to his current role he was the agency data steward and also managed several environmental health programs including climate and health, environmental public health tracking, and environmental toxicology.
Presentation title: How to Design the AZ Social Vulnerability Index Data Dashboard
Bianca SantaMaria is a Health Education and Promotion Professional at The University of Arizona, Center for Rural Health. Ms. SantaMaria evaluates the Overdose Data to Action grant and coordinates activities for the AHEAD CDC COVID-19 grant, Advancing Health Equity, Addressing Disparities. She facilitates Naloxone trainings in English and Spanish and provides technical assistance to rural counties in Arizona. Ms. SantaMaria is interested in medical informatics, healthcare systems, and preventative measures. Born and raised in Tucson, AZ, she completed her undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Arizona. Ms. SantaMaria hopes to pursue her PhD and continue to serve her community.
Presentation title: Promotors, Peers, and Family Support Specialists: Opportunities for Rural Arizona
Susy Salvo-Wendt is a proven leader in grant management and telehealth/telemedicine program development for over 13 years, with extensive knowledge in healthcare operations and reimbursement options for telehealth. She uses her entrepreneurial experience along with sound judgement in financial planning and project implementation. She is known for driving innovative solutions to improve patient care while lowering costs using evidenced based solutions. She is a trusted collaborator and confident communicator able to build relationships across all organizational levels. Ms. Salvo-Wendt has extensive knowledge in grant development and implementation (project manager of a 15.1 million CMS Innovation Round 2 grant and collaborates on a variety of policy and legislative initiatives. She is currently the Project Director of a RCORP-OUD/SUD implementation grant that will utilize telehealth options. Ms. Salvo-Wendt’s has been volunteering for Suicide Prevention activities for over 15 years. She has 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren.
Presentation title: Implementation of Peer Support Specialists in a Rural Hospital and Healthcare System
Dr. Valerie Schaibley earned a PhD in Human Genetics from the University of Michigan, studying patterns of spontaneous mutation in the human genome. Prior to joining UA, she worked in a precision medicine start-up company for several years in a variety of roles from genetic testing product development to scientific communication strategies. Currently, Dr. Schaibley is the Associate and Research Director for the UA Genetic Counseling Graduate Program and an Assistant Professor in Cellular and Molecular Medicine. At the UAGCGP, she works with program leadership to oversee program operations, teach graduate-level courses and manage and mentor student research.
Presentation title: The University of Arizona Genetic Counseling Graduate Program: Addressing the Gap in Clinical Genetic Services in Arizona
Dr. Lillian Upton Smith is the Dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Northern Arizona University. Dr. Smith builds programs and partnerships through engagement, authentic assessment, improvement planning, and workforce development. Previously, Dr. Smith served as the Divisional Dean and Professor in Public Health and Population Sciences at Boise State University. In her earlier career, she held a variety of leaderships roles in schools of public health at the University of South Carolina and West Virginia University. She received her MPH from Emory University in 2001 and her DrPH in 2004, from the University of South Carolina.
Presentation title: Developing a Diverse Rural Healthcare Workforce: Recruitment, Retention and Clinical Training
As the Data Equity Coordinator for ADHS for the past two years, Holly Starr works with a wide range of staff at the agency and partners across the state to increase the knowledge and use of data equity principles. Holly leads collaborative projects that make public health data systems and products more representative of and easier to access for communities that are often left out of the data. She was born and raised in Arizona and entered Public Health from the fields of Social Work and Program Evaluation.
Presentation title: How to Design the AZ Social Vulnerability Index Data Dashboard
Carla Sutter holds her master's in social work. She has concentrated her career on end-of-life tools and conversations and has served as a trainer/facilitator on advance directives and POLST documents. At Contexture she has focused on engaging healthcare and community organizations along with consumers directly on enhancing goal concordant care through advance care planning and the resulting documents. Her thesis: Developing ethnic and cultural competence in Social Work practice has guided how she approaches advance care planning, to ensure that conversations are able to honor the needs of the many cultural and faith communities across the state.
Presentation title: Contexture - Arizona Healthcare Directives Registry
Michal Tavrovsky brings over 15 years of her career in product design and startup business development and management experience. At MenHealth, she has been in charge of managing the product redesign of the patient app, full development of the physician platform, and upcoming product pipeline. She also leads the company's commercialization efforts, building partnerships with urology groups, military hospitals, clinics, and universities. Prior to joining MenHealth in 2019 as a co-founder, she mentored and accelerated startups through accelerator programs and pitch events, and trained founders how to launch companies through JFE Network, an organization that she co-founded in 2009. Portfolio highlights include Tradle, HomeRoots, Greetly, and Snappy Gifts, the number 1 fastest growing company in the Northeast.
Presentation title: Enhancing Access to Urological Care For Rural Populations
Rocio Torres, MPH (she/her), is part of the AzCRH-ADHS CDC COVID Disparities Initiative, known as AHEAD AZ (Advancing Health Equity, Addressing Disparities in Arizona). In her role as program management assistant, Rocio leads community outreach and education activities about COVID-19 mitigation and preventive services, social determinants of health, workforce trainings, and substance use and opioid use disorder. Ms. Torres supports partners to address barriers to vaccination, testing, wellness, and treatment among disproportionately affected populations through effective culturally and linguistically tailored programs and strategies.
Presentation title: Collaborative community engagement in rural communities to address the opioid crisis
Laura Umphrey is Associate Dean for the College of Health and Human Services and Professor of Communication at Northern Arizona University. She conducts research on how communication characteristics and qualities affect wellbeing.
Presentation title: NAU Dreamcatchers: Fostering a Growth Mindset to Encourage Native American Students to Pursue Careers in Healthcare
Susan Voirol has had the privilege to work with, and on behalf of, diverse individuals in a variety of roles for over 20 years in Arizona. She led the Statewide Employment First efforts as the Director of Employment and Transition Initiatives at the University of AZ/Sonoran UCEDD, was a Transition Specialist for the AZ Department of Education, a Transition Coordinator for a local school district, and a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. Currently she holds the role of Collaboration Synergist, at Diverse Ability Incorporated. This position affords her the opportunity to engage in expanding the organization’s goals related to youth initiatives, building community partnerships and programs, and assuring we are addressing, supporting, and improving outcomes for individuals, families, and communities across Arizona.
Presentation title: Engaging Arizonans to Make a Meaningful Impact
Michele Walsh is the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Associate Director for Family, Consumer, & Health Sciences, and Professor of Human Development & Family Science in the Norton School of Human Ecology. She established and led the Community Research, Evaluation, and Development (CRED) team who conduct community-based research and evaluation that promotes the health and well-being of children, youth, and families throughout Arizona. Dr. Walsh received her Ph.D. in Program Evaluation and Research Methodology and developmental psychology at UArizona. She has been a visiting Professor at the University of Mannheim, Germany and was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, England.
Presentation title: The Role Of The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension In The Rural Health Ecosystem
Carin Watts is the Health Disparities Program Manager for the Arizona Department of Health Services. As part of her role she serves as a subject matter expert and program manager for Arizona’s Community Health Worker initiatives, working to develop a statewide infrastructure to promote the advancement and sustainability of the Arizona CHW workforce. Carin began her public health career as a CHW volunteering in rural and underserved communities and has since worked in nonprofit and local and state government. She earned her Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Public Health, focused on public health policy and community health and capacity building.
Presentation title: Arizona's Community Health Worker Voluntary Certification
Georgia Weiss-Elliott is a Participatory Evaluation Specialist with the Arizona Prevention Research Center in the Participatory Evaluation Institute who works closely with partners in Yuma County on issues related to Health Literacy, Community Health Workers, and mitigating the effects of Covid-19 amongst vulnerable populations. She holds a masters in Geography from the University of Arizona.
Presentation title: Arizona Prevention Research Center (AzPRC)
Amy Wing, PA-C, graduated with a Master of Medical Science degree from Midwestern University Glendale campus in 2004 and recently completed requirements for graduation from the A.T. Still University Doctor of Medical Science program. She completed undergraduate degrees in human nutrition and exercise science with a wellness concentration. Her background is in adult and adolescent primary care, with an interest in integrative/functional models of care. She has been an assistant professor and clinical coordinator with the A.T. Still University Arizona PA program for the past 4 years. Through this work, she has gained awareness of widespread misperceptions regarding the preparation and mentoring needs of newly graduated PAs and NPs, which motivated her to pursue this topic for her doctoral Capstone. Her goal is to facilitate support for NPs and PAs in the workforce such that their contributions are maximized, with consideration for personal and professional well-being to ensure job satisfaction and retention.
Presentation title: Understanding Support Needs of the APP Workforce