Dr. Mike Prelip, MPH, DPA, CHES, Adjunct Assistant Professor and Field Program Supervisor, School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles. Dr. Prelip has worked in the Los Angeles community for more than 20 years. He has directed many community-based projects in the area of HIV prevention, adolescent pregnancy prevention, and substance use prevention. Through this work, he has developed and evaluated dozens of projects and has a clear understanding of the dynamics of program development within an organizational context. He has been responsible for the creation and maintenance of many community coalitions and collaborations.

Staff

Kirstin Chickering, MPH, is the Program Manager for HMRG. She received her Master of Public Health degree from UCLA. Ms Chickering manages all financial, personnel, contract, and administrative issues for the HMRG. Her public health research interests include international health, social marketing, empowerment of women, and community development.

Allison Drury, MPH, is a Project Coordinator for HMRG. Ms. Drury received her Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley with a focus in nutrition and physical activity. While at Berkeley she worked on the NHLBI funded Growth and Health Study which looked at the SES and racial differences in the development of childhood obesity in adolescent girls. Her expertise and interests include television production and writing, women's health, and the role of physical activity and nutrition in wellness and chronic disease prevention, particularly obesity and heart disease.

Rachel Flores is project lead for HMRG's Entertainment Industry Education Project. Rachel came to HMRG in 2003 after eight+ years in the non-profit field, where she specialized in producing educational programs that use popular entertainment to serve public health and promote social education. Previous assignments include Director of Education and Outreach Services for the Entertainment Industries Council, Inc., and Program Manager at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS), where she developed ATAS' first education program for elementary- and middle-school students. Ms. Flores received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Broadcast and Electronic Communications (major) and Journalism (minor) in 1996 at San Francisco State University, where her emphasis of study was media theory and criticism. In fall of 2004, she begins studies for her Master of Arts Degree in Social Sciences and Comparative Education at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies.

Cathy Lang, MPH, is a Project Coordinator and Web Site Developer for HMRG. Ms. Lang received her MPH at UCLA in 1999, in the area of Community Health Sciences, with an emphasis in Health Education and Promotion. She is currently a doctoral student at the UCLA School of Public Health. Her main interest is evaluating the impact and effectiveness of using interactive and multimedia-related forms of health education materials. She has experience in designing and creating interactive multimedia computer programs and web sites for various subject-areas, as well as using web-based surveys for evaluation. She regularly consults on technological/computer-related projects and trains people to use computer software programs to create health education materials.

Affiliated Faculty/Staff

Abdelmonem Afifi, Ph.D., Dean Emeritus and Professor of Biostatistics Department.

Linda Bourque, Ph.D., Professor of Community Health Sciences Department and Associate Director of the Center for Public Health and Disasters

Jess Kraus, M.P.H., Ph.D., Professor of Epidemiology Department and Director of Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center

Snehendu Kar, Dr.P.H., M.Sc., Professor of Community Health Sciences Department

Virginia Li, Ph.D., Professor of Community Health Sciences Department

Donald Morisky, Sc.D., M.S.P.H., Sc.M., Professor of Community Health Sciences Department

Steven Rottman, MD, FACEP, Adjunct Professor of the Geffen School of Medicine and School of Public Health, as well as the Director for the Center for Public Health and Disasters

Kimberley Shoaf, DrPH., Adjunct Assistant Professor of Community Health Sciences Department and Assistant Director of the Center for Public Health and Disasters

HMRG Alumni

Clint Cavanaugh, M.D., Project Coordinator for HMRG. He worked on the Latina 50+ Flu Campaign process analysis. This was a California statewide campaign which focused on targeting Latina women over the age of 50 to get immunized for influenza. The evaluation focused on the effectiveness of material dissemination and agency feedback on the materials themselves. Mr. Cavanaugh is currently in the MPH/HP program. His interests lie in international health policy.

Mehrnaz Davoudi, MPH, Project Manager/Evaluator for HMRG and co-creator of the anti-tobacco media literacy curriculum, Project E.M.P.A.C.T. Ms. Davoudi received her MPH degree in Public Health Education and Health Promotion from the UCLA School of Public Health. Her expertise lies in program evaluation, message and curriculum development, and media literacy. She managed and evaluated multiple projects addressing topics such as media literacy as a method for tobacco prevention, surveillance of disasters in the media, development of bioterrorism messages, and parenting education as a method of increasing children’s healthcare access and utilization. Before joining HMRG, Ms. Davoudi worked as a health educator for Planned Parenthood and was an assistant educator at the High School Diploma Program in San Diego. Her interests lie in education, community development, media literacy, program evaluation, and international health.

Rachel Gonzales, MPH, Consultant and Co-Creator/Co-Director of the media literacy curriculum, Project E.M.P.A.C.T. Ms. Gonzales has extensive experience in health education and promotion within a multicultural context, program development, implementation and evaluation in international and local settings, and media literacy and normative education.

Jennifer Chantal McDonnell, MS.Ed was the project lead on the Diabetes During Your Pregnancy CD-ROM, media coordinator for the Bioterrorism Training and Curriculum Development Program, and works with the Pacific Public Health training Center. Ms. McDonnell received her Master of Science in Education, with an emphasis in Instructional Design and Educational Technology, from the University of Southern California. Her expertise includes educational technology, instructional design, content development, training, and project management.

Amy Myerson, MA, Project Coordinator/Research Analyst for HMRG. She oversaw the administration and evaluation of the Media Campaign to Prevent Alcohol Use During Pregnancy and the Diabetes During Your Pregnancy RCT projects. Ms. Myerson received her Master of Arts degree in Social Psychology from Ohio State University in 1999. Her expertise lies in qualitative and quantitative analysis, IRB compliance, and program evaluation in the areas of psychology, education, and public health.