Blog

During 2015, at a rapid clip, we expanded our capacity to support our national network.

Learn more about our new staff members, including our new Network Engagement Manager and our County Health Rankings & Roadmaps coaches.

Staff members based in our New Orleans and Washington offices

Erin Fitzgerald, Manager, Network Engagement

Erin Fitzgerald, MPH, supports NNPHI member activities including providing technical assistance, capacity building, programmatic support and educational opportunities. Prior to joining NNPHI, Erin worked as a Program Manager for the Healthy Communities Portfolio at the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI) where she managed a community driven obesity project.

Divine Mayaka, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Associate Program (PHAP) fellow

Divine Mayaka supports strategies and initiatives related to school health, bridging public health and health care, and climate change and health among other topics. Before joining CDC and NNPHI, Divine Mayaka worked as a Support Planner for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The CDC PHAP program is a competitive, two year training program.

Laura Prechter, Program Associate

Laura Prechter, MS, supports NNPHI’s role as the National Pipeline Award Program Office for the Pipeline to Proposal (P2P) Awards. Before joining NNPHI, Laura worked in the Office of Mayor Mitch Landrieu as part of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team, a department funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies to provide the city with the capacity and expertise to systematically innovate and develop solutions to top mayoral priorities.

County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Community Coaches

Community Coaches at County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R), a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, provide strategic guidance to communities that want to put the County Health Rankings into action for community health improvement. Each coach is part of a team that develops online tools to connect communities to evidence-informed strategies and foster peer learning, delivers technical assistance and training, and recognizes and celebrates health improvement.

Raquel Bournhonesque, MPH

Previously, Raquel was Co-Director (and Co-Founder) at Upstream Public Health a statewide non-profit based in Portland, Oregon. There she led a team dedicated to creating meaningful dialogue, engaging community, and using the tools of research and advocacy to support public health policies. She led the Oregon statewide campaign to pass legislation to require chain restaurant nutrition menu labeling and also worked on issues including: decreasing soda consumption, tobacco prevention, dental health, and equity issues.

Ericka Burroughs-Girardi, MA, MPH

Ericka served as the Health Equity Coordinator for the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, where she led the effort to establish a focus on health equity in Central Florida including the co-founding of the first food policy council and creation of the first award for health equity efforts in the region.

Ali Havrilla, MPIA

Ali worked as a Regional Planner for the New River Valley Planning District Commission where she had the opportunity to engage with many small towns and communities. Following that, she served the YMCA at Virginia Tech as Executive Director, successfully leading programs that strengthened the university-community partnership and coordinating the work of community volunteers.

Toni Lewis, MPH

Toni’s interest in working with communities began in Mercer County, New Jersey where she worked as a Project Director for the Greater Mercer Public Health Partnership. Her coalition work developed into the Mercer County Health Assessment and Improvement Plan with funding from New Jersey Health Initiatives a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Attica Scott, MS

Attica served on Louisville Metro Council from 2011-2014. She serves on the Board of Directors of Seven Counties Services, Building Hope Kentucky, La Casita Center, New Directions Housing Corporation, Women’s Network Commonwealth Policy Institute, and Shively Area Ministries.

Jerry Spegman, JD

From 2010 through 2014, Jerry consulted for several public health organizations, including the Office of Smoking and Health at CDC, the Health Impact Project, the American Heart Association, and the Kansas Health Foundation.

Janna West Kowalski, MS

Before joining CHR&R, Janna was responsible for public health workforce development in the Center for Public Health Practice at the Colorado School of Public Health. Janna also spent nine years working in local public health. She managed a team that coordinated chronic disease and tobacco prevention and control initiatives.