Alumni
What Our Alumni Are Doing...
Brenda Baughman, M.S. in health education Brenda currently works as an assistant principal at the high school level. Previously she worked as a health educator for grades 7-12, and as a physical education instructor. As a health teacher, she was head of the department. She did the ordering, came up with a yearly budget, oversaw materials, represented the department to the administration, worked on textbook adoption and curriculum development, and worked on integrating CIM standards and testing into the curriculum. Presently, she oversees the health and physical education departments, and is responsible for teacher and classified evaluations, student discipline for one-third of the student body, state testing, registration, and supervision at activities and sporting events. Brenda always enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with current information because health information changes as new research takes place. She also enjoyed the student's reaction to the class. It was exciting to see students act on personal goals and make positive changes in their lives. Brenda really enjoyed rewriting the health curriculum and going through the steps involved in textbook adoption. As a teacher, she also chose at least one unit or lesson a year to change completely. Her last year in the classroom she had several hands-on projects and tried to use a wider variety of assessment strategies. Lisa works as a health and physical education division chair at Clark College. She oversees the health and physical education division and teaches health and physical education classes. Her day includes preparing for and meeting with classes, evaluating faculty, dealing with facility and staff issues, and developing new curriculum. She is currently trying to coordinate with four-year colleges and universities about the transferability of Clark College students into their programs. Lisa enjoys working with students and having them take steps toward enriching their lives through healthier choices. Her degree has provided her the skills to deal with behavior change, program development, environmental health, and epidemiology. Jessica Guernesy Carmago, M.P.H. Jessica currently works for the Multnomah County Health Department in the HIV and hepatitis C community programs as a health educator. She is responsible for developing and implementing best practices that reduce the spread of HIV/STDs and viral hepatitis through county- and community-based programming. This programming includes sexual risk reduction and drug use risk reduction (e.g. needle exchange) mobilized through individual-level interventions as well as group-level interventions with those at highest risk. Much of Jessica's work takes place in collaboration with the Multnomah County Health Department STD clinic and Multnomah County Corrections Health. Prior to Jessica's current job she worked as the supervisor for street-based services at Willamette Bridge/Janus Youth Programs, overseeing a volunteer-based, homeless youth outreach program as well as youth-focused entrepreneurial ventures. Much of her Portland public health experience has been focused around the philosophy of harm reduction among drug users, including working at the needle exchange at Outside In, a clinic that offers medical and naturopathic services (among other things) to marginalized communities. Jessica has helped place several interns from Portland State University at the health department and will continue supporting students interested in the field. Laura works as a health education instructor. She conducts weight loss management classes to groups, works with indvidual clients on weight loss management issues, maintains weekly contact with patients to follow up on their progress, and stays abreast of current issues related to weight management. She works at home for the majority of her time, making contact with current patients and coordinating materials for classes. She also teaches one to two classes per week and works with individuals privately one day per week at clinic site. Laura enjoys the ability to guide individuals towards making choices that will impact their health for a lifetime. Her degree in health education has provided a great deal of knoweledge related to program design, implementation, evaluation, epidemiology, and the general foundations of pubic health practice. Amy works as a project manager II at Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research. She manages the daily work of a health delivery/health behavior study related to asthma. Her responsibilities include project planning and implementation, grants/contract management, staffing the project and supervising the work they do, developing and monitoring quality-assurance procedures, and assuring compliance with all IRB regulations. She spends most of her time on a single asthma study taking place at four clinical sites in Portland, California, and Hawaii. A small portion of her time is spent as a proposal manager, coordinating the assembly of proposals for new research and getting them out the door. Amy enjoys being a part of the creative process of designing study protocol and planning for implementation. Her degree gave her the knowledge to participate in designing a study and being able to identify issues that need to be addressed during this process. Joyce DeMonnin, M.P.H., C.H.E.S. Joyce coordinates the Elder Safe Program for Washington County (Oregon), which she founded in 2000. The Elder Safe Program is a dynamic partnership among the Washington County Sheriff's Office, the District Attorney's Office, and Disability, Aging and Veterans' Services that prevents or mitigates the impact of elder crime and abuse. The program began in the spring of 2000 with funding from the Victims of Crime Act to design, develop, and implement a victims' assistance program for people aged 65 and older. In addition to the initial services, the program now offers elder crime prevention, public, and law enforcement education. In addition to direct victim assistance, Elder Safe also coordinates the Elder Abuse Multidisciplinary Team, which formed in 1999. In May 2003, the Archstone Foundation gave Elder Safe an award for program excellence and innovation. Joyce has been invited to give a poster presentation on the program's success and model at the 2003 American Public Health Association international meeting. Noelle Dobson, M.P.H. Noelle is program manager for Active Living by Design (ALbD), a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, that examines how community design and the built environment impact our ability to incorporate physical activity into our daily lives. Three ALbD projects in the Portland Metro area provide the opportunity for citizens and community leaders in transportation, public health, land use, urban planning, parks and recreation, and community service to apply a diverse set of strategies for promoting active living through improved community design. The projects highlight different strategies such as influencing the early stages of urban design and transportation planning to incorporate active living principles, enhancing a local trail to promote active living and connect neighborhoods to natural environments, and taking advantage of neighborhood improvements to transit, pedestrian, and cyclist infrastructure to encourage physically active modes of travel. Noelle is also chair of the board for Upstream Public Health, a nonprofit advocacy group currently working to improve school nutrition environments. Amber is currently working for the Washington County Health Department as a communicable disease/epidemiology health educator and half time as an environmental health specialist. Kelly works as a public health educator for the Oregon Immunization Program, Department of Human Services. After receiving her M.P.H. from Portland State University, she set off for Atlanta, Ga. for a three-month internship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She interned in the Office of Communication, working on special research projects relating to communicable disease health education for kids. She currently works for the Department of Human Services Immunization Program as a public health educator. Specifically, she works on the Vaccines for Children Program, which ensures that children who may otherwise not be able to afford vaccines can get them for free from the state. She enjoys her job and finds herself continually learning and growing. She also works with a fantastic group of people, which makes it all the more fulfilling. Laura Hammond, M.P.H., C.H.E.S. Laura works in a post-M.P.H. fellowship position at the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center: Health & Wellness Consortium. The center conducts research and training to support the health and wellness of persons with long-term disabilities. Recently she worked on creating and implementing a training curriculum for health care providers that addresses health and wellness for teens living with disabilities. She has also had the opportunity to participate in a national conference on the future of health and disability research and to work on co-authoring a chapter on the role of health promotion for people living with disabilities. It has been exciting for her to learn more about the disabilities studies field and its emerging relationship with public health. She has found that the knowledge and experience she gained in the M.P.H. program has been especially valuable because there is a growing national emphasis to make health promotion practices accessible and applicable to the lives of people living with disabilities. Lisa is the AFIX coordinator for the Oregon Immunization Program. The AFIX program is a continuous quality improvement initiative aimed at increasing immunization providers and coverage rates. Her responsibilities include coordinating the AFIX program for the Immunization Program, including both childhood and adult populations. This includes collaborating with managed care plans, Oregon's Immunization ALERT registry, private immunization providers, and local health departments. This also includes planning and evaluation of the AFIX program. Additionally, she is responsible for tracking all AFIX participants through their progress in the process, as well as tracking data on immunization rates. She also visits private immunization clinics and provides technical assistance regarding improvements in immunization rates. Her days consist of visiting immunization clinics and conducting discussions and brainstorming sessions on how they can improve their rates, marketing AFIX to potential immunization providers, and managing the process of funneling providers through the AFIX process. She also serves on a national workgroup with AFIX staffers from other agencies. She enjoys constantly learning about the complicated world of immunizations. Her degree has given her a better understanding of our health delivery system and she has used health education theory to help with the planning and evaluation portions of her job. Kylie works as a tobacco prevention health educator at Multnomah County Health Department. She provides technical assistance to county colleges and universities regarding tobacco prevention policies and practices. She also works with young adults to teach them how they are targeted by the tobacco industry and to empower them to create tobacco-free environments on their campuses and in the community. In addition, she provides and monitors a teen tobacco prevention contract with the Portland Public School District. Much of her time is spent coordinating tobacco prevention projects as well as developing and delivering presentations and workshops with youth and young adults. Kylie enjoys making contact with people and sharing information that helps them understand the tactics of the tobacco industry and how they can work to reduce tobacco access, tobacco marketing, and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in their communities. She likes working within a team setting, with people she can rely on for help and support. She feels like she is making a difference in people's lives, even if the results aren't immediately tangible. In addition, Kylie regularly works with interns from the OMPH program. Marshall Meyer, M.S.T. in health education Marshall is a health education instructor at Portland Community College. His responsibilities are classroom instruction�which includes courses in personal health, health and fitness, community health, men's health, first aid and CPR. He also has other department and campus responsibilities, which include reviewing curriculum, textbooks, and selection of other classroom material. This year he is serving as chair of the Subject Area Committee (SAC) for all health educators in the PCC system. Marshall's day consists of teaching two or three classes, holding office hours for students, spending time reviewing student assignments, planning and working online, developing ideas and doing subject research. A master's degree is required to work at PCC, so his degree was essential. In the spring term, Marshall and his students will be specifically working with the American Red Cross to provide training for students to be trained in disaster education and, in turn, provide that information to local elementary students. Working with students is by far the most satisfing part of his job, especially when health instruction and knowledge make a positive impact on the health of his students. Beth works at Yamhill County Public Health Department as a tobacco education and prevention coordinator/public health educator. Her job responsibilities are broad and diverse. She is responsible for:
Beth enjoys the diversity of her job, working within a public health structure, and working with the people. Some of the skills that Beth utilizes from her public health education are program planning, grant writing, public speaking, and epidemiology. Laura is currently working for Camp Fire USA, Mt. Hood Council, a nonprofit in Clackamas County. She is the director of the Teen Parent Program, overseeing staff that provides intensive home-visiting services and other ongoing support services to high-risk pregnant and parenting teens in the county. Rae Rosenberg is working as a research associate at Oregon Health & Science University coordinating a number of injury prevention projects. She is the state chapter director for the Think First Injury Prevention Program, bringing injury prevention messages into schools around Oregon. She is also working at the community level to prevent injuries in youth ages 0-14 with the Injury Free Coalition for Kids of Portland. Rae is also the project manager for the ABLE BODIES balance improvement program for older adults, which provides exercise classes in retirement and assisted-living facilities around Portland. Laura is the state coordinator of the Oregon Alliance Working for Antibiotic Resistance Education (AWARE). This CDC/Oregon Health Services initiative provides antibiotic prescribing guidelines and coordinates educational activities aimed at reducing the rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions for upper respiratory infections. Her responsibilities include:
By facilitating ongoing dialogue among health care providers and a variety of community stakeholders, she aims to maximize opportunities to share statewide resources and expertise regarding this important emerging public health threat. Her degree has helped her to plan and carry out education outreach, and also helped her connect to a diverse group of community partners. For more information about Oregon AWARE, visit http://egov.oregon.gov/ DHS/ph/antibiotics. Kari retired from Portland Public Schools in 2002 as project director for the Tobacco Prevention Program. She continues to work part-time in three different health-related areas:
Kari enjoys networking with other health educators. She is excited that there are now curricula that are proven to be effective, when used with fidelity, in reducing youth risk behaviors. The skills and knowledge she has obtained from her degree include research and evaluation skills, wellness orientation for prevention, knowledge of community resources, and environmental science issues. Kirstin is currently the public information officer for the Berkeley City Health Department and coordinates the communications and education section for the Public Health Emergency Response Program. Megan Trautman, M.P.H. Megan is a Health Educator for the County of Sacramento's HIV/Communicable Disease Prevention Program. The program works with local community-based organizations to prevent the spread of HIV through testing and outreach. Megan is responsible for STD outreach in Sacramento County, doing outreach presentations on HIV and other STDs, training and technical assistance for local groups, surveys and evaluation of current projects, and participating in community coalitions. Currently, she is creating a radio advertisement targeting youth and STD prevention. Anna Vail is currently attending Oregon Health & Science University in the School of Nursing's Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Graduate Entry Program. Since graduating from PSU, Anna has worked with homeless adults and youth as the health programs coordinator for the Outside In Clinic in Portland and as the Injection Drug User Program coordinator for the Oregon DHS Public Health Services HIV Prevention Program. Upon graduation from OHSU Anna intends to continue working with underserved and high-risk communities, domestically and abroad. Graci Van Ness,
M.P.H. Graci works as an epidemiologist for the Multnomah County Hepatitis C Registry Study and the GI Chronic Disease Liver Study. Both of these studies are established surveillance systems for liver disease. These studies are collaborative research projects between Oregon Health Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This project is being conducted in only two other sites in the U.S.: Yale University and Alameda County, California. Graci serves as primary contact for the Multnomah County studies and is responsible for project management, medical record abstraction, tracking and interviewing research participants, and assuring the quality of the data collection. Her degree has given her a better understanding of epidemiological research. Additionally, Graci's work as a health education instructor at Portland Community College teaching women's health and personal health courses required that she have a master's degree.
HelenaWolfe@oregonstate.edu Helena is working as an instructor for Oregon State University Extension Service in the Family and Community Development department. As managing faculty for her unit, she is responsible for implementing the Oregon Family Nutrition Program (OFNP), a USDA Food Stamp Nutrition Education program, on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) near Pendleton, Oregon. Her duties include developing partnerships with other agencies that serve low income families; and as the program develops, recruiting, training and supervising education program assistants and volunteers. Most of Helena's time is dedicated to teaching nutrition, cooking, meal planning, food budgeting, food safety, garden-enhanced nutrition, and other "hands on" nutrition-related classes on the reservation. The youth program includes preschoolers in the tribal Headstart and day care programs, elementary school-age students in the after-school and summer recreation programs and at Washington Elemetary School in Pendleton, and students in health and PE classes at Nixyaawii High School. She also offers classes to adult community members. She enjoys the diversity of this position, being part of the CTUIR Wellness Program, and integrating into the tribal culture. In addition, Helena represents Umatilla County Extension on the Umatilla County Local Foods Committee, and volunteers with the Pendleton Farmers Market.
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