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Chair: Anne Evens
Director of CNT Energy at the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago. Former Director of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at the Chicago Department of Public Health, where she administered energy efficiency, radon reduction and lead abatement programs with an annual budget of $8 million. Prior to joining the Department of Health, Evens worked on public health and community development efforts in Mozambique, Mexico, and Nicaragua. She also worked with the Grass Roots Alliance for a Solar Pennsylvania. Anne is currently working toward a Ph.D. in Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has a B.S. and M.S. in Engineering from Cornell and an M.S. in International Development from the University of Pennsylvania.

Vice Chair: Megan Sandel, MD, MPH
Dr. Sandel is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. Her work has focused on asthma, lead, injuries, housing and child health. Cited as a respected authority in her field, Dr. Sandel often gives testimony to the connection between housing and child health in the United States and its effects on children. She has served as a principal investigator on grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development with the Boston Public Health Commission to study if housing changes improved the health of children with asthma. She has a K award from NIH on housing and stress in urban children, particularly how it pertains to the development of asthma and wheezing. In 2007, Dr Sandel was named the Medical Director of the National Center for Medical Legal Partnership.

Whitlynn T. Battle
Founder and director of Citizens Lead Education and Poison Prevention Organization and the Mothers’ Environmental Coalition of Alabama. Representative to the African-American Environmental Justice Network and advisory board member of the Southern Organizing Committee for Economic Justice.

Linda Couch
Deputy Director of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), which is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes. NLIHC performs original research on housing affordability in the United States, does public education to highlight the housing issues facing the lowest income people, and advocates in the U.S. Congress for federal solutions to these pressing issues. Linda has worked at NLIHC since 1995 except for three years at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, where she worked on affordable housing for low income seniors. Linda also has a background in state governmental affairs, working for a private consulting firm and as a fellow in the Connecticut General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Research. Linda has a Masters of Public Affairs from the University of Connecticut and a B.A. from George Washington University.

Winifred J. Hamilton, Ph.D., SM
Dr. Hamilton earned her graduate degrees from the University of Michigan, Rice University, and the Harvard School of Public Health, the latter in environmental health epidemiology. She is an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, with joint appointments in medicine and neurosurgery, and is director of the Environmental Health Section of the Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Research Center. She also holds a faculty appointment at Rice University in the Center for the Study of Environment & Society. Her primary research interests include "hot spot" analyses using geospatial modeling and statistical methods, and community-based participatory research. Dr. Hamilton has been program director of three regional pediatric environmental health symposia and is co-founder of the Houston Medical Center Recycling Collaborative. Dr. Hamilton has received numerous awards including the 2008 EPA Children’s Environmental Health Champion Award. She speaks regularly to various academic and community groups on environmental health topics.

Susan Holmes
Currently Senior Legislative Representative at Earthjustice in Washington, DC the nation’s largest environmental law firm. At Earthjustice, she works primarily on protecting endangered species and wildlife and defending and strengthening the Endangered Species Act. Before moving to Washington, DC, in 2002, Holmes was the Senior Regional Representative in charge of the Sierra Club’s New York City Office. Since the birth of her daughter in 2004, she has became particularly interested in issues affecting children’s health. While pregnant with her daughter, Holmes discovered that the water in the house was contaminated with lead and became active in the efforts reduce lead in the DC water supply. In 2005, she moved into a house contaminated with lead from old paint. After addressing her own daughter’s exposure to lead dust, Holmes became committed to helping others deal with lead hazards and to working toward better policies to control lead and educate the public.

Marie Lynn Miranda, Ph.D.
Professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University and faculty member in the Integrated Toxicology Program. Miranda also directs the Children’s Environmental Health Initiative, managing environmental research projects on health hazards in housing and children’s exposure to air and water toxics.

Patricia A. Nolan, MD
Dr. Nolan holds a faculty appointment as an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University and is co-director of the Community Health Clerkship. In addition, Dr. Nolan serves as the executive director of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute and principal investigator for a grant project funded through the National Network of Public Health Institutes to re-invigorate RIHPI and improve its sustainability. Dr. Nolan retired from her position as Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health in 2005 after serving two five-year terms. She has previously held public health leadership positions in Colorado, Arizona, and Illinois since beginning her public health career in New York City in the 1970’s.

Juan Parras
Executive Director of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (Tejas), Outreach Coordinator for Citizens League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN), Board Member of Galveston Houston Association for Smog Prevention (GHASP), and Advisory Board Member of the Sierra Club National Environmental Justice Committee. Former community organizer with the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Environmental Justice Clinic at Texas Southern University in Houston. Extensive experience working with low-income communities and immigrant and migrant workers on social justice campaigns.

Ed Petsche
Official with the Minneapolis Deparmtent of Health and Family Support. Former Lead Project Manager for the Greater Minneapolis Daycare Association (GMDCA), where he worked to ensure that in-home daycares are safe from lead and other health hazards, such as asthma triggers. Petsche serves as board chair for Project 504 in Minneapolis.

Elyse Pivnick, MCP
Vice President of Environment and Community Health Programs at Isles, Inc. in Trenton, NJ. Pivnick has over 25 years of experience in community outreach and planning in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She has previous experience as the founding executive director of a community-based organization, as project coordinator for the community development program in the City of Philadelphia, and as project manager for a civil engineering firm in Austin, Texas. While in Texas, she served on the city's Environmental Commission for several years. Pivnick currently oversees an interdisciplinary set of environment and community health programs including healthy homes, healthy schools, community gardening, open space development, environmental education, exercise, and nutrition. Pivnick received her Masters Degree in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a board member of the New Jersey Environmental Federation and the leader of the Trenton Coalition for Healthy Schools.

Stephanie Pollack, Esq.
Former Vice President of the Conservation Law Foundation and author of Massachusetts' landmark lead poisoning prevention law.

Joseph T. Ponessa, Ph.D.
Dr. Ponessa recently retired from Rutgers Cooperative Extension after serving 25 years as the Housing, Indoor Environment and Health specialist. In that position, he worked on curriculum development and outreach education, serving both lay and professional audiences. Areas of specialization included the indoor environment and its impact on health; management of building moisture problems and building science/construction technology. Topics receiving special attention include radon, lead poisoning prevention, mold and moisture problems in buildings, and asthma trigger management, particularly in schools and childcare facilities. Ponessa's curriculum on asthma trigger management has been modified and adopted for use by HUD as an instructor training tool in its Healthy Homes for Healthy Kids program. He also helped develop the Healthy Indoor Air for America’s Homes project, an EPA-sponsored curriculum now used in 37 states and two territories. Ponessa has consulted for The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Centers for Disease Control on Housing-Environmental Health issues. He currently teaches a course in Building Science / Moisture Management Principles for New Jersey Building Code Officials and architects.

Dhitinut Ratnapradipa, Ph.D.
Dr. Ratnapradipa is an environmental public health educator and faculty member at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Dr. Ratnapradipa previously was a Principle Public Health Promotion Specialist on the Healthy Home and Environment Team and he supervised the Health Promotion and Emerging Risks Program (Formerly the Office of Environmental Health Risk Assessment), Rhode Island Department of Health, where he and colleagues received EPA Merit Awards for the Chemical Safe Schools and Mercury Reduction Programs. While at the Rhode Island Dept. of Health, Dr. Ratnapradipa managed the state’s contract with the Regional Center for Poison Control and Prevention Serving Massachusetts and Rhode Island and served on its advisory board. Dr. Ratnapradipa was also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Community Health at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He has an ongoing interest in environmental health research; he is a principle and co-investigator of several studies including Biomonitoring: Cord-blood study, Fish advisory among selected populations, Environmental health awareness in the community, and Asthma plan in Southern Illinois.

Madeleine Shea, Ph.D.
Madeleine Shea is a champion of policies and programs to benefit economically and socially vulnerable children and families. Her degrees include a BA in Economics from Trinity College, an MA in Management from Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in public policy from UMBC in 1997 where she researched the politics and cost/benefits of European Union workplace supports for low income families with young children. In 1997, Dr. Shea directed United Way research to refocus on outcome-based approaches to community and family strengthening. From 1998 – 2006 she directed a shift to evidence based prevention programming and served as the Deputy Director of the Maryland AIDS Administration. In 2006, Dr. Shea joined the Baltimore City Health Department as the nation’s first Assistant Commissioner for Healthy Homes. She and her Division have built partnerships, strategies, programs and policies to prevent childhood lead poisoning, asthma, and home injuries. She is a Commissioner on the Mayor’s Sustainability Planning Commission and is a Trustee of the Baltimore Medical System, Inc. Dr. Shea serves on numerous public health workgroups and advisory boards and has consulted and testified widely on children’s health, community development, urban health and evaluation topics.

Bailus Walker, Jr., Ph.D.
Associate Director and Professor of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at Howard University Cancer Center and a prominent public health educator and administrator. Past Dean of the College of Public Health at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, former Commissioner of Public Health for the State of Massachusetts, and former health director for the State of Michigan.

Donele Wilkins
Has over two decades of experience in occupational and environmental health as an educator, consultant, trainer, administrator, and advocate. In 1994, she co-founded and currently serves as the Executive Director of Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, a nonprofit organization addressing urban environmental issues in the City of Detroit. Wilkins is an appointee of the Detroit City Council to the Detroit Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Member of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Environmental Advisory Committee, Co-Chair of the National Black Environmental Justice Network, and Board President for the Colin Powell Public School Academy. She has served as a special member to the Pollution Prevention Subcommittee of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and many other committees and forums.

Jean Zotter, Esq.
Asthma Director for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Former Executive Director of the Boston Urban Asthma Coalition, an advocacy organization that focuses on improving asthma control in Boston. Zotter co-founded the Boston Urban Asthma Coalition while working at Boston Medical Center’s Family Advocacy Program as an attorney. Zotter worked with the Family Advocacy Program for 6 years and served as the Director for her last two years.