SOPHIA LEADERSHIP
Executive Leadership Team
Sandra Whitehead, President
Professor and Program Director, George Washington University Sustainable Urban Planning Program.
Sandra has worked on over ten HIAs on a range of topics including climate change, food access, transportation, and brownfield redevelopment. She has trained over 300 public health and planning professionals to conduct HIAs and has worked extensively with communities to implement Health in All Policies (HiAP). At George Washington, Sandra teaches applied courses including the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) class, HIA and health assessment methods.
Contact Sandra by e-mail sandra@hiasociety.org
Katie Hirono, Past President
Principal Consultant, Health & Social Impact, RPS Consulting UK (a Tetra Tech Company)
Katie Hirono is a Principal Consultant at RPS Consulting UK & Ireland; Affiliate at Johns Hopkins University; Adjunct Fellow at UNSW Sydney; and former President of SOPHIA. She has over 14 years’ experience working in the US, Australia and the UK and has contributed to numerous (50+) HIAs throughout her career. Katie works with the private and public sectors to integrate health into decision-making, including for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for major infrastructure schemes. She also advises professional bodies on good practice and has led capacity building on HIA for Public Health Authorities. She is also a health equity researcher and holds a PhD in global health policy from the University of Edinburgh.
Vice President Member Services, vacant
Audrey Boerner, Secretary
Project Manager, Eau Claire City-County Health Department
Audrey is a project manager at the Eau Claire City-County Health Department (Wisconsin) and is part of a diverse team that is working to increase the use of health impact assessment and promote health in all policies in the Eau Claire Community. She previously worked for the Institute for Wisconsin’s Health as an HIA Specialist and led a team on the state’s first regional HIA, which was awarded the Wisconsin Public Health Association Excellence in Public Health Research award. Audrey’s HIA experience has centered on natural resources and built environment issues. Her work also includes developing and supporting community health coalitions, supporting the use of data in decision making, environmental public health initiatives, and grant writing. She has conducted trainings locally on community health data, health impact assessment, and built environment issues.
Oma McLaughlin, Coordinator
Research Coordinator, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington
Oma is the SOPHIA Coordinator and works out of Seattle. She has worked at the community level providing evaluation services to local nonprofits and has worked at an NGO focused on women's health issues in developing countries. She is a research coordinator in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Washington. Oma has an MPH degree from the University of Washington.
Contact Oma by e-mail at coordinator@hiasociety.org
Steering Committee Members
Marcus Chilaka
Assistant Professor of Public Health at the University of Bradford, UK
Marcus is passionate about public health and contributing to people’s health and wellbeing (in the widest sense) through teaching, research and management techniques. His main research interests are in health impact assessment, health needs assessment, and the wider social and environmental determinants of health. Marcus has done a number of training and consultancy projects in health impact assessment – covering policies, the built environment, development projects and sustainable waste management. He has also contributed to the human health sections of several environmental impact assessment (EIA) Statements.
Prasanthi Prasad
Prasanthi is the Executive Director of Wilderness Louisville, the non-profit supporting the Natural Areas Division of Louisville Parks & Recreation. She has worked at the intersection of policy, social justice, environment, and health, previously serving as Development & Finance Director at a local Louisville nonprofit and as a health policy analyst at the Louisville health department. At the Louisville health department, Prasanthi prepared multiple HIAs for local organizations.
Anna Ricklin
Health in All Policies Manager, Fairfax County Health Department
Anna Ricklin is a passionate advocate for healthy communities. She currently serves as the inaugural Health in All Policies Manager for the Fairfax County Health Department (VA), where she acts as a health ambassador across county agencies. In this role, Anna promotes the integration of public health objectives into county plans, policies, and building projects. She also co-leads the Department’s Health Equity Team, charged with centering equity in the transformation of internal processes and external operations. Formerly, Anna managed the American Planning Association's Planning and Community Health Center, where she directed applied research and place-based initiatives to advance healthy planning practice. Anna began her career at the Baltimore City Department of Transportation, which built her expertise in health impact assessment, active transportation planning, and cross-sector collaboration. Anna studied anthropology as an undergraduate and holds a Master of Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Falls Church, VA.
Emily Suter
University of Illinois at Chicago
Emily, PhD, MPH, MSP (she/her) is researching Health in All Policies (HiAP) implementation in local governments. Her research interests include advancing policy, environmental, and systems (PSE) change, emphasizing cross-sector collaboration and health equity. Emily is a pracademic with experience leading program, policy, and system change efforts in local and state health departments and non-profits. She has facilitated health impact assessments, community health assessments, community health improvement plans, and strategic planning processes throughout Florida. Her credentials include a PhD from the University of Illinois, Master of Public Health, a Master of Science in Planning, and an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Psychology from Florida State University.
Shannon Velasquez
Built Environment Coordinator, Tennessee Department of Health
Shannon began working as the Built Environment Coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Health, Office of Primary Prevention in April of 2019. In this role, she leads built environment focused HiAP efforts across the State of Tennessee, providing operational direction for the State’s seven regional Healthy Development Coordinators and managing the State’s Healthy Built Environments grant program. Shannon has a B.S. in Biology (minor in Russian Language) from the United States Air Force Academy, an M.S. in Biology from Middle Tennessee State University, and is Certified in Public Health (CPH) by the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE).
Ben Woelk
Bio coming soon!
Kerry Wyss
Director, Environmental Health, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO)
Kerry leads ASTHO’s program implementation and policy development and analysis on environmental health issues such as health in all policies (HiAP), HIA, safe water, and food safety. Since 2008, Kerry has managed ASTHO’s grants to state and local health departments to conduct HIA capacity building activities, collaborated with a broad spectrum of HIA partners across the country, and participated in many HIA and HiAP projects and presentations as a result. Together with her team, Kerry has developed numerous resources related to HIA and HiAP, including policy guides, program reports, and research briefs. Kerry currently leads ASTHO’s monthly HIA practitioner calls and ASTHO’s HiAP advisory groups. Kerry received her Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University where she focused on children’s environmental health and health policy.