The Executive DrPH in Public Health Leadership Class of 2009 DOROTHY CILENTI Deputy Director of Management and Operations NC Institute for Public Health In September 2007, Dorothy accepted a position with the NC Institute for Public Health in the UNC School of Public Health at Chapel Hill as the Deputy Director of Management and Operations. Prior to accepting the position with the Institute, Dorothy was the Local Health Director for Alamance County, headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina. She assumed this position in March 2005. Prior to working at the Alamance County Health Department, she served as Local Health Officer in Chatham County and Deputy Director of the NC Division of Public Health. She received her masters in public health and a masters in social work from UNC at Chapel Hill in 1989. Originally from New York, Dorothy completed her undergraduate work at Duke University and has lived in North Carolina since 1985. She and her husband Jim Griffin have four children. PAUL ERWIN Professor and Director Center for Public Health University of Tennessee Residence: Tennessee Current position: As of September 1, 2007 I am Professor and Director of a newly established Center for Public Health at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Prior to this recent appointment I served as the Regional Director, East Tennessee Region, in the Tennessee Department of Health. Education/Training/Experience: B.S., University of the South (Sewanee, TN); M.D. at the University of Alabama in Birmingham; MPH (in International Health) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health; Fellow in International Health, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. Boarded in Internal Medicine and Public Health/General Preventive Medicine; Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine. Scholar, CDC/University of California Public Health Leadership Institute, 1995. Member of NACCHO s APEX-CPH Work Group, later re-named MAPP Work Group, and served as Chair of the MAPP Work Group for three years. I have recently been re-appointed to the MAPP Work Group. I am married to Renee Hyatt, MD who works in a local indigent care clinic and serves as Medical Director for Maryville College. We have two children Jenny, 19, who is a Sophomore at Middlebury College in Vermont, and Noah, 13, who is into all things boy.
We live a stone s throw from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and enjoy hiking, biking, camping, fishing, and reading. SUSAN HELM-MURTAGH Director, Service Delivery Elevation Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina Susan Helm-Murtagh is Director of Service Delivery Elevation at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, and is responsible for the development and execution of the enterprisewide strategy for delivering customer services across all channels and product lines. She has over thirteen years of health care experience, including product management, account management, market analysis, strategic development, and software development. Susan joined BCBSNC in1995; prior to that, she was Regional Vice President of Sales and Marketing for The Trustmark Companies in Lake Forest, Illinois. Susan earned her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and management science from Duke University and her Master s degree in management, with concentrations in marketing and finance, from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She serves on several boards and committees, including Girls on the Run, UNC School of Public Health DrPH Program Advisory Committee, Blue Xchange (BCBSNC s formal mentoring program), and the TriCyclists Bicycle Racing Club. Susan is married; she and her husband, Rory, met while cycling in Italy in 2002. Traveling and cycling are shared passions; they recently returned from a cycling and trekking trip to Bhutan, and both compete regionally in cycling and running road races, duathlons and cyclo-cross. MARY KINCAID Senior Policy Advisor Constella Futures Mary Kincaid is a health policy advisor and gender specialist, with over twenty years of experience in program development. She holds a masters degree in economics from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she focused on development and health economics. During her seventeen years with Constella Futures (formerly Futures Group), Ms. Kincaid has managed country-level programs and provided technical assistance and training on gender issues and on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS policy to USAID Missions, local NGOs and government counterparts in Latin America and West Africa. She has conducted research and modeling on family planning, HIV/AIDS and gender issues in various sectors. She currently serves as Regional Manager for Latin America and the
Caribbean for the USAID Health Policy Initiative, a global health policy project, Coordinator of the Health Policy Initiative Gender Work Group, and a core trainer for the USAID Bureau for Global Health s Interagency Gender Work Group (IGWG). Ms. Kincaid has worked extensively in Latin America, including Bolivia, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru, as well as in Nigeria, Ghana and Indonesia. She speaks fluent Spanish and is a resident of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband and two young children. mkincaid@constellagroup.com AMY KIRCHER Indications and Warning Branch Chief Epidemiologist Office of the Command Surgeon NORAD - U.S. Northern Command Residence: Colorado Amy Kircher is an epidemiologist with the NORAD US Northern Command (N-NC) Office of the Command Surgeon. Her primary responsibilities include bioterrorism preparedness, disease surveillance and modeling, border health, and serving as an epidemiology consultant. During her time at N-NC, Ms. Kircher has built a coalition of interagency partners to model infectious diseases, supported the DHS national biosurveillance initiative, and served as the medical watch officer for the N-NC Command Center in support of disasters, National Security Special Events, and exercises. Ms. Kircher spent 3 months coordinating the NORTHCOM medical military response to Hurricane Katrina. Prior to coming to NORAD US Northern Command, Ms. Kircher worked at the Air Force Population Health Support Office, Minnesota Department of Health and has served as adjunct faculty at the University of St. Thomas and University of Texas at San Antonio. She holds a Masters in Public Health from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. Amy, her husband Jon, and 3 children reside in Colorado Springs where they enjoy spending time hiking and skiing in the mountains. TAM LUTZ Project Director/Junior Investigator Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board Residence: Oregon Ms. Lutz is a Lummi Tribal member with ancestral ties with the Quinault, Chinook, Cowlitz, Duwamish and Nooksack tribes. Ms Lutz has over thirteen years of expertise working in public health and health research for Indian communities. She has served as an Assistant Health Planner, Program Evaluator, Public Health Policy Analyst and is
currently a Research Project Director and Junior Investigator at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB). The two studies Ms Lutz direct are the Toddler Obesity and Tooth Decay Prevention Study (TOTS) and Primordial Prevention of Childhood Overweight in American Indians (PTOTS) both longitudinal studies, that partners with northwest tribes. Tam serves on a number of Maternal Child Health (MCH) and American Indian work groups and boards including the Indian Health Service Maternal Child Health workgroup, the Health Native Babies Work group, the Oregon PRAMS workgroup, the Native Researchers Network, and the APHA American Indian and Alaskan Native Native Hawaiin Caucus. Tam completed both her Master of Public Health and Master of Health Administration and University of Washington's School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Tam her husband Ed and children Josephine (7) and Rowan (5)live in Beaverton Oregon and she enjoys spending time exploring the outdoors with their kids and visiting with their large extended family. JEAN O CONNOR Deputy Strategy and Innovation Officer CDC s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Emergency Response Adjunct Assistant Professor Emory University Residence: Georgia Jean C. O'Connor is the Deputy Strategy and Innovation Officer for CDC s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response where she is responsible for strategic planning and policy development for the agency s preparedness programs. Previously, she worked with organizations including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, CDC, NIH, and DOJ on the applied analysis and evaluation of state and local public health laws related to health insurance, infectious disease, obesity and physical activity, and tobacco control. She started her career in public health policy with the Governor s Office of the State of Georgia identifying and advocating for policy options for increasing access to public and private health insurance and health services, an issue that remains one of her passions. Jean received her Doctor of Law, Master of Public Health, and Bachelor of Science degrees from Emory University in Atlanta. She is a founding board member of the Public Health Law Association and Past President of the Rollins School of Public Health Alumni Association. Jean teaches public health law, advocacy and policy analysis at Emory University as an Adjunct. She and her husband enjoy running and spending time with their daughter.
GISELE PEMBERTON Director, National Center for Training, Support and Technical Assistance PROCEED, Inc. Residence: New Jersey "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." Ms. Pemberton is a public health leader with over a decade of experience in building sustainable and responsive public health programs that respond to the needs of countries and communities. For the past decade, Ms. Pemberton has worked as a practitioner and administrator in the field of HIV/AIDS, both domestically and internationally. Her passion for public health and social justice, combined with her expertise in the areas of program management, organizational development, capacity building, strategic partnerships, and leadership development, has helped to distinguish Ms. Pemberton as a leader in her field. Ms. Pemberton is currently employed at PROCEED Inc. as the Director of the National Center for Training, Support and Technical Assistance. Prior to holding this position, Ms. Pemberton worked with the University of Medicine and Dentistry s FXB Center s Global AIDS Program where she served as the Caribbean Program Manager, with special projects in Africa. Ms. Pemberton earned her Masters of Public Health from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ and is also a Certified Health Education Specialist. She is currently a student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill s, School of Public Health where she is pursuing a doctoral degree in Public Health Leadership. REGINALD SILVER Executive Director Reproductive Endocrinology Associates of Charlotte Reginald holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina and a Masters of Business Administration from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Reginald is currently employed as the Vice President and Executive Director for Reproductive Endocrinology Associates of Charlotte. Reginald s work experience includes stints in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and independent consulting. Reginald s interests include spending time with his family, martial arts, tennis and advising youth on financial planning and career opportunities. He and his family created a scholarship fund to assist with expenses for youth who are pursuing college educations.
CHASTITY WALKER Associate Director Office of Program & Policy Information, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control CDC Residence: Georgia Chastity L. Walker is currently Associate Director, Office of Program and Policy Information (OPPI) in the Office of the Director, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and participates as a member of the senior DCPC management team. As the Director, Office of Program and Policy Information, she has primary responsibility for the coordination and integration of policy and information activities within DCPC. The OPPI team is charged with: the development, production, and evaluation of DCPC public health program information documents, public communication tools and program promotion strategies, website development and maintenance, Congressional briefing reports and documents, legislative materials, and media inquiries regarding cancer public health activities; and identification, tracking, and analysis of legislative actions related to cancer public health activities. In this capacity, Ms. Walker is able to influence the agenda of comprehensive cancer control efforts on a national level with states, tribal organizations and national partners. Chastity has both a personal and professional commitment to improving the socioeconomic and health status of low-income persons, particularly those of color. Her work in the area of disparities in cancer prevention and control over the past several years has allowed her to explore and address issues from both a programmatic and policy level. Ms. Walker also works as a contractor with SEED, Inc. (Sparking Efforts to Eliminate Disparities, Inc.) a not for profit public health community organization which addresses health disparities within underserved populations through innovative health education, program development, implementation, evaluation and epidemiological approaches. She most recently contributed to the follow-up study and evaluation of a REACH 2010 program. In her spare time she is active in her community as a board member of her homeowner s association and in her church. Chastity completed both her Master of Public Health degree in the area of Health Policy and Management and Bachelor of Social Work from the University of South Florida.