The management and affairs of the Alaska Public Health Association are under the direction of the Board of Directors. The Officers for the organization are the President, President-Elect, Immediate Past President, Affiliate Representative to the APHA Governing Council, Secretary and Treasurer. The President-Elect is elected prior to the annual meeting of the organization. The Secretary and Treasurer are elected from the twelve elective members at the first Executive Board meeting following the annual meeting. Term of office for the Executive Board Members is three (3) years each.
2011 Board of Directors
Jennifer Meyer, President
Term Expires: 2012
Jennifer began her public health career in 1994 after college with a focus on HIV/AIDS prevention care and treatment, community development and health promotion. She has had the opportunity to work with clients and communities in limited resource settings, as well as various cultural and linguistic backgrounds both domestically and abroad. Later she studied nursing and worked in emergency departments. However, her interest in population health, social justice and community development led her to continue her public health training obtaining an MPH in International Health from the University of Washington in 2002. She moved to Alaska in 2004 and was a resident of Bethel working at the Bethel Regional Public Health Center as a public health nurse. In 2009, she moved to Anchorage, and now works for the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Rural and Community Development as an Assistant Professor teaching Allied Health courses.
Health Summit Chair
Term Expires: 2013
Sheila Soule, M.Ed. is the Special Projects Director for Health Programs at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. She holds a Bachelors degree in Sociology and a Masters degree in Gerontology and Adult Education from the University of Central Oklahoma, and is a current student in the Masters in Public Health program at UAA. Before moving to the Health Programs office, Ms. Soule was the project coordinator for the Alaska Geriatric Education Center at UAA, and has worked with seniors in a variety of settings, from direct service in long-term care to higher education in geriatrics and gerontology. She also sits on the Municipality of Anchorage Senior Citizens Advisory Commission, Day Break Adult Day Center Advisory Board, and the Alaska Geriatric Education Center Statewide Advisory Board.
Sandra Woods, Past President
Term Expires: 2011
Sandra Woods is currently the Nurse Consultant for Staff Development with the Section of Public Health Nursing. Sandra received her BSN in 1985 from the University of Oklahoma, and an MS from UAA in 2003. Sandra seved on active duty with the US Army Nurse Corps from 1985 to 1993 living in both Europe and the US. She moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1994 with her husband and daughter, and joined Public Health Nursing in November 2001 as the Nurse Consultant for Preparedness Training. In February 2009, she accepted the position of Staff Development Nurse Consultant. Through her work, she traveled throughout the state, from Dutch Harbor/Unalaska to Barrow, and from Ketchikan to Hooper Bay. Sandra and her daughter traveled with a youth group mission team to Mexico in 2006 and 2008 to build houses through Amor Ministries. In 2010, Sandra and her daughter traveled to Eagle as a part of a youth mission trip to assist in disaster recovery operations.
Regan Mattingly, Affiliate Representative to the APHA Governing Council
Term Expires: 2013
Regan lived in Fairbanks for 8 years and for the last 21 years, has resided in Anchorage. He graduated from Dimond High School and then obtained a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in International Political Economics from the University of Alaska, Anchorage.
Regan began working with the Alaska Legislature as the Government Relations Director for the Union of Student at the University of Alaska in 2005. After graduating from UAA, Regan began working for the Alaska Primary Care Association (APCA) as the State Affairs Coordinator. In this role, Regan has worked to develop Legislative Priorities and Resolutions by working with all APCA stakeholders to determine what state policy issues are most important to the APCA membership which includes Community Health Centers and other safety net providers.
With over five years of experience working with state and federal policy makers, Regan has developed valuable legislative expertise that will be beneficial to achieving ALPHA’s public policy goals. Regan is enthusiastic, hard working and well prepared to support the advancement of public health to promote improved health and quality of life for Alaskans.
Leif Albertson, Director
Term Expires: 2013
Leif Albertson is the UAF Cooperative Extension Agent for the Bethel-Yukon Kuskokwim District. At the Cooperative Extension Service (CES), Leif works to interpret and extend relevant university, research-based knowledge in an understandable and usable form to the public. As UAF faculty much of his current work focuses on environmental health and housing issues in rural/remote Alaska. Prior to the Cooperative Extension Service, Leif worked for the State of Alaska Division of Public Health and the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation. Leif is an active volunteer with the Bethel Fire Department. Leif grew up in Anchorage and has resided in Bethel since 2002.
Gretchen Clarke, Director
Term Expires: 2011
Gretchen Clarke, MPH has most recently worked as the Community and Workplace Coordinator for Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s Steps to a Healthier SE Alaska, which uses a community planning and capacity building model to increase access to fruits and vegetables, physical activity and clean air. Gretchen works with communities, schools and workplaces to make the healthy choice the easy choice through policy and environmental/organizational changes. She has lived and worked in bush Alaska since 2001 and currently resides in Sitka with her husband and their four-legged, furry children. Gretchen received her undergraduate degree in biology from Emory University and her Master of Public Health, Epidemiology from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
David Driscoll, Director
Term Expires: 2013
Dr. Driscoll is Director of the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies and Associate Professor at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. He has published widely on the application of interdisciplinary and mixed method research designs to assess and mitigate social and physical determinants of population health. Dr. Driscoll conducts research that combines anthropological and epidemiological methods to develop and evaluate evidence-based risk communication, health promotion, and disease prevention interventions for culturally-distinct communities across Alaska and the circumpolar north.
Sarah Hargrave, Director
Term Expires: 2012
Sarah Hargrave, RN, MS is the Regulatory Specialist with Bartlett Regional Hospital where she is responsible for coordination and reporting of accreditation activities, and related quality improvement initiatives. Sarah has served in several leadership positions related to quality in both acute care and public health settings. Specific interests include health equity and social justice, and the role of the nursing profession in improving the health status of populations. Sarah received her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Pacific Lutheran University and her Master’s of Science with a focus in Public Health Nursing from the University of Colorado Health Science Center. She resides in Juneau with her husband and two children.
Vanessa Hiratsuka, Director
Term Expires: 2011
Vanessa Hiratsuka, MPH is a Researcher at Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage. She graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in Human Biology with an emphasis in the ethics of health policy from Stanford University in 1999. Since 1999, she has worked in the field of public health in Anchorage on health promotion and disease prevention projects aimed at improving healthy behaviors in the Alaska Native adult population. In 2007 she completed her Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis in rural development and research methods through the University of Alaska Anchorage. Vanessa is currently a student with Walden University working towards a Ph.D. in public health with a specialization in community health promotion and education. In her free time, Vanessa enjoys sewing and knitting projects as well as camping and fishing with her husband and two children.
Doreen Leavitt, Director
Term Expires: 2012
Doreen Ayalhuq Leavitt is an Inupiaq Eskimo from Barrow, Alaska. She obtained her bachelors of arts in nursing from Carroll College in Helena, Montana in 2001 and began her career as a public health nurse for the North Slope Borough Health Department in 2001.Doreen is currently the Deputy Director of Health and Social Services for the North Slope Borough.
Mrs. Leavitt is a current student in the University of Alaska Masters of Public Health Program and is expected to graduate in 2012. Her concentration is circumpolar health. Other activities include the University of Alaska Master's in Public Health Student Advisory Council, North Slope Borough School District School Advisory Council 2005-2008, EMT II and ambulance crew leader for the North Slope Borough Volunteer Fire Department 2004-2008, and Pathways Into Health Student Advisory Member. Other activities include actively participating in her Inupiaq culture through subsistence activities such as whaling, camping and fishing.
Masayo Nishiyama, Director
Term Expires: 2012
Masayo the Nurse Manager at the Juneau Public Health Center where she directs field based services, providing home visiting services to high risk families and collaborating with community agencies. Last year, Masayo received a public health nursing grant from the Alaska Nurses Foundation to promote the importance of well child care in Juneau, focusing especially on uninsured and underinsured children. Masayo has worked as a public health nurse at the Juneau Public Health Center since July 2007. Before that, she earned her Master of Science in Nursing (International Nursing) and Master in Public Health (global health) from Emory University. For her graduate thesis work, Masayo spent part of two summers researching nursing skills competency in the Republic of Georgia.
Shah Roohi, Director
Term Expires: 2013
Shah is a Registered Nurse with a Master’s in Public Health, and has 20+ years of experience in the health field. He is currently the Regional Officer in Charge for the CDC Quarantine Stations in the Western United States. In this capacity, he conducts cross agency public health preparedness and response planning, carries out trainings, and implements the mission of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ), Quarantine and Border Health Services Branch (QBHSB), which is to prevent the introduction and spread of communicable diseases into the United States. Prior to his current position, shah served as the Senior Advisor for International Affairs in the Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (COTPER) at CDC. In this capacity, he provided strategic and operational advice on international affairs issues. Before working at CDC, Mr. Roohi served as a Program Director at the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) where he managed a variety of surveillance and epidemiology projects for this national association of public health epidemiologists.
Kathy Stanton, Director
Term Expires: 2011
Kathy is the Immunization Coordinator for the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) in Bethel, AK. She joined the US Public Health Service in 2009. Kathy moved to Alaska from Philadelphia in 1992. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from UAA in 1995. In 1998, she moved to Bethel where she worked for the State of AK as a Public Health Nurse for 10 years. Then in 2008, she began working for YKHC. She enjoys traveling and working with the villages to improve the health of the people of the YK Delta. Kathy also serves on the board of the Vaccinate Alaska Coalition. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and taking her dog “Boozer” for long walks on the tundra.
Term Expires: 2013
Tina Woods is the acting Director of Behavioral Health for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. She is Unungan (Aleut) originally from St. Paul Island, AK. She is the proud mother of a 10 year old daughter- Jasmine and a 5 month old son- Hunter. She is married to Daniel Woods, Koyukon Athabascan of Rampart. She is currently a full-time doctoral student in the Clinical-Community Psychology Ph.D. program with a Rural Indigenous Emphasis. Prior to this, Tina was the Wellness Program Director for the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association for five years. Her passion revolves around culturally responsive behavioral health care for all Alaska Native people with a special focus on talking circles, mind, body, and spirit.
Tammy Zulz, Director
Term Expires: 2011
Tammy Zulz, MPH, is a Surveillance Epidemiologist at the Arctic Investigations Program, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. She has a BA in English from the University of Washington and an MPH from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Tammy’s work is focused on the prevention of infectious disease in circumpolar populations not only in Alaska but across all Arctic regions. Other public health interests include global health, cancer epidemiology and social justice. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the American Society for Circumpolar Health. Tammy was raised in Fairbanks, has lived in Valdez and currently resides in Anchorage. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cultural events, cooking and a variety of outdoor activities.
