Simone has extensive training and over 15 years of experience in the delivery and management of health promotion and disease prevention programs at the federal, state, and local level. Simone has worked as a Public Health Prevention Specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this capacity, Simone assisted local health departments in developing, managing, and evaluating community-based health promotion programs. Simone led the development and implementation of a Community Health Advisor (CHA) Program in Hillsborough County, FL aimed at training lay health workers to promote health promotion messages in low-income and medically underserved communities. Simone earned a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) at the University at Albany School of Public Health and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Boston University School of Public Health. In addition, Simone is a scholar of the Public Health Leadership Institute of Florida (PHLIF) as well as the SUNY SAIL Summer Leadership Institute. Her skill set, training and diverse experiences have enabled her to tackle complex public health challenges. Simone considers herself both an educator and a community health advocate. Her research interests are focused on increasing the capacity of academic medical centers to effectively recruit, retain, and train a diverse healthcare workforce equipped to provide quality health services to an increasingly diverse patient population. In her current role at Upstate Medical University, Simone addresses community priority areas, through a mutually-beneficial community engagement process that harnesses the resources and expertise of the University and builds on the assets of the community, to tackle complex issues such as poverty, food insecurity, and disparities in maternal and child health. Simone firmly believes that such collaborative efforts can lead to sustainable, community-driven solutions.