A Dinner Time Chat on Careers for Community Health Educators

Ranelle L. Brew, EdD, MS, CHES teaches as an Associate Professor for the Public Health program at Grand Valley State University where she serves as the Chair of the Department and Program Director. She has worked in public health for over 20 years clinically, within the public school system, in geriatric health, fitness, and currently in higher education. Dr. Brew's research includes diversity pipeline programming, breastfeeding, accessibility, and global health. As co-director, she runs an annual summer health professions camp entitled, sHaPe Camp, which won a 2018 Hometown Health Hero Award, and the 2020 national Society for Public Health Education, Clarence E. Pearson Award. Dr. Brew travels annually with students on global experiential learning trips. She is a Past-President for the Michigan Public Health Association, Immediate Past President for the Great Lakes Chapter of the Society of Public Health Education, and as an active member of both the American Public Health Association, and Society of Public Health Education (SOPHE).

Naa-Solo Tettey, EdD, MPH, MBA, CPH, MCHES®, is a tenured Associate Professor of Public Health at William Paterson University and the creator and director of the HeartSmarts cardiovascular health education research program at New York Presbyterian Hospital. HeartSmarts aims to improve health disparities related to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and hypertension in the African American community. Dr. Tettey is an expert in faith-based health education and has been featured in The New York Times, ABC News, and The Harlem Times.  Dr. Tettey is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES), Certified in Public Health (CPH), and an American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Certified Wellness Coach. She is a member of The Office of Minority Health Professorial Advisory Council (PAC), and the Research Group on Disparities in Health, Teachers College, Columbia University. Her work has been featured in the media, including the New York Times, ABC News, New York 1 News, the Harlem Times, and the Daily News.

Alberto Jacinto, M.S., and PhD candidate in the Department of Public Administration and Policy in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D. C. His research interests include public management and education policy. His doctoral dissertation, Essays on the Public Sector Labor Supply, investigates determinants of entry into as well as turnover among the public sector workforce, with a focus on teachers and representativeness of the public sector workforce. Alberto will begin a postdoc in the Department of Educational Psychology & Leadership at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX this coming fall. He received his M.S. degree in Community Health Education in May 2017.at Teachers College, Columbia University. In New York, he worked with the Latino Commission on AIDS as a Research and Evaluation Assistant, as well as a Senior Rapid HIV Test Counselor.He obtained his BS from Texas A&M  University, where he majored in Psychology, with a minor in Neuroscience, and an additional minor in Gender Studies

Stephane Labossiere, M.S., CHES, is a Research Coordinator at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City where he manages all administrative, operational, dissemination of activities and reporting for department research projects. He has interned with the United Nations, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and for the American Federation for Aging Research—as well as a Clinton Health Matters Initiative Intern at the Clinton Foundation. He published (2017) on aging and health disparities in The International Journal of Health, Wellness, and Society. He conducted global public health work in Haiti, India, and Colombia. In 2019, he worked as a Community Outreach Coordinator with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Pix 11 News, The Daily Wire, and Politico.com for outreach work during the COVID-19 pandemic. He holds the M.S. degree (2016) in Community Health Education from Teachers College, Columbia University; and, MS in Health Care Management (2018) from the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School

Dr. Choumika Simonis (MD, MS) is an Internal Medicine Resident at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center. She earned her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and M.S. degree (2015) in Community Health Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She graduated (2020) from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, having had wonderful opportunities to gain experience in health education both in the United States and abroad. For example, she worked in Haiti as a Maternal and Child Nutrition Intern with the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti; and as an English Teaching Assistant via a Fulbright Fellowship in Indonesia. Her experiences provided invaluable insight into the importance of health education in communities where health disparities negatively affect vulnerable populations, and illustrated how preventive medicine, health education, and health equity play central roles in improving health outcomes in underserved communities. She loves to teach and realizes being a teacher and physician are not mutually exclusive. Teaching will always be a part of her lifelong work.

Alison Trainor, M.S. graduated with this degree in Community Health Education (Feb. 2001) from Teachers College, Columbia University, being promoted to Project Coordinator at the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, There, she has worked on studies on mental health care for ethnic/racial minorities, clinician stress, COVID-19 and PTSD, and cardiovascular health She graduated from Michigan State University (2017) with a BA in Spanish with minors in Health Promotion and Latin American & Caribbean Studies. She seeks to connect the underserved to quality healthcare: i.e., sexual/reproductive health, LGBTQ+ health, and women’s health. She interned with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Bureau of STI’s Sexual Health Clinics. She enjoys connection with the Latinx population in Washington Heights, NY where she lives and works. She will receive her CHES this April, 2021.

Laura Williams, M.S. (Teachers College, Columbia University) serves on the PeriOp Quality Education Team, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She is responsible for patient experience and electronic medical record (EMR) quality, performs regulatory and quality determinations of EMR for all of the clinical practices at the hospital's main campus, and financial approvals for each practice's medical record submissions prior to elective surgeries. To increase/ensure positive patient experiences, she conducts telephone sessions to address patient concerns prior to elective surgeries. The patient experience efforts of the PeriOp Quality Education team boost Press Ganey scores for the hospital's clinical practices. Consulting work compliments her Quality Education role. She became a Health Education consultant in 2017 upon receipt of a scholarship from the National Patient Advocate Foundation–which initiated advocacy and work with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. She also consults for INOVA Heart Failure Collaboratory Think-Tank and OCHIN Patient Engagement Panel. Laura reviews public health initiatives, peer-reviewed studies, and calls to action for medical research