As a program manager with the School-Based Partnerships program at Public Health - Seattle & King County, I support the implementation of evidence-based medical and mental health services in 30+ school-based health centers in King County. I use program data and strategic planning to help advance equity-driven policy and systems change efforts to improve quality, access, and delivery of health services. Further, I support effective partnerships and collaboration with government and community partners to implement our program's vision: Access to high quality health care for all students within the public schools. To learn more, please visit our blog at: www.kingcountyschoolhealth.com

As Affiliate Faculty at the University of Washington in Health Systems and Population Health, I taught an undergraduate Food and Nutrition course and I regularly partner with Master's in Public Health students on their thesis/capstone research projects.

I led a short term project to help establish a roadmap for building relationships and sharing public health data between local health jurisdictions and the Accountable Community of Health in the North Sound. The overall aim of this project was to amplify and accelerate the ability of the public health and health care sectors to improve coordination, reduce costs, and address health disparities.

I taught graduate-level Public Health Community Nutrition courses. I was responsible for all aspects of course development and implementation including lecture preparation and presentation, course assignments, course webpage, exam writing, student support, and student project development. I also mentored the students’ development of eight model grant program proposals to address real community funding needs around nutrition.

As the Healthy Eating and Active Living Program Manager at Public Health - Seattle & King County, I oversaw all aspects of managing, implementing and expanding a high-profile public health program. In this work, I supported policy and program efforts including grant development, program and policy development and implementation, program evaluation and reporting, staff supervision, and community partnerships. I ensured that projects and policies were based on evidence/promising practices.Specific policy and programmatic efforts led by the health department that I supported included the Kellogg Foundation-funded King County Food and Fitness Initiative, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded Communities Putting Prevention to Work and Community Transformation Grant, and King County Board of Health Initiatives on Trans Fat, Menu Labeling, and Healthy Vending Guidelines. I actively led or participated in a number of community-based policy efforts such as the Local Farms, Healthy Kids state legislation, the establishment of both a Puget Sound Regional Food Policy Council and a Washington State Food Policy Roundtable, the adoption of state healthy food guidelines by Washington's Governor through an Executive Order, and several Seattle-based policy efforts to improve the local and regional food systems including the Local Food Action Initiative and Seattle Food Action Plan.I was chosen as a Food and Community Fellow 2009-2010, a competitive, nationally recognized effort to support communications to advance healthy food systems efforts funded primarily by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. I have significant experience with providing high-quality communication and recommendations to policymakers, grantmakers, practitioners, and the community.

I served as an Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Food and Community Fellow. I integrated my work in this national food policy fellowship with my position at Public Health – Seattle and King County. My work as a fellow was to use an array of communication methods to influence food and health policy issues. I used diverse written and oral communication channels to promote organizational and public policy efforts that advance linkages between public health and food such as sustainable food and farming systems, access to healthy foods, children’s health, and equity in all aspects of the food system.

As the Program Manager at the University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials Group, I oversaw a National Institutes of Health-funded project, Youth Take Heart, to develop and evaluate a middle school science curriculum to promote heart health. In my time managing the project, our team successfully developed curriculum and worked cooperatively with teachers in King County, scientists, and community leaders to align the curriculum to Washington State education standards. In addition to programs in middle and high school science classrooms, we created outreach programs to promote heart health for students and their families. As a scientist, I provided content expertise for the curriculum and outreach program materials. This was a fast-paced, federally-funded demonstration project and as a manager, I was successful in ensuring that program goals were met. I developed the program's annual plan and the project evaluation (with external evaluator), monitored grant expenditures, and pursued additional program funding.