Staff Directory
Name: Emily Bhargava, Director
Email: ebhargava@healthier-communities.org
Telephone: 617-441-0700 ext. 206
Education: Masters in Medical Anthropology
Current Work: In addition to coordination and administration for the Regional Center, I am involved in working with CHNA 17 on an initiative to incorporate the social determinants of health into the CHNA’s planning process, and I convene quarterly Inter-CHNA meetings of the five CHNA's in the Metrowest region. I am the project coordinator for the Waltham Wellness Initiative, and I am involved in OPEN, the Overdose Prevention and Education Network in Cambridge. I am a member of the state’s Epidemiological Workgroup and a member of the Department of Public Health’s CLAS coordinating committee to adapt the Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services standards to non-hospital settings. I am also coordinating a year-long pilot project to adapt Walk in My Shoes, a healthcare access simulation developed by Community Catalyst, into a kit that can be used by community organizations to address health disparities.
Background and Interests: Having worked in Public Health for many years, particularly with Latino communities in Boston and abroad, I am interested in finding ways to make prevention and health promotion programs relevant and impactful for the many populations that make up a community. Not only along ethnic and language lines, but along many other lines, communities are varied in terms of health beliefs, health practices and health needs. This has spurred my ongoing interest in health equity, cultural competency, inclusion and program design and evaluation.
Name: Stacy Carruth, Community Health Specialist
Email: scarruth@healthier-communities.org
Telephone: 617-441-0700 ext. 205
Education: Masters in Public Health
Current Work: I work with the substance abuse prevention coalitions in Cambridge, Weymouth and Quincy. My experience with these groups includes: coaching to coalition members on group processes and developing workplans; providing templates and tools; supporting the development and planning of social marketing campaigns; sharing best practices and recent research from the prevention field; connecting groups to other Metrowest communities doing similar work; and providing trainings on topics related to substance abuse prevention. I also support Cambridge and Quincy in their work to reduce fatal and non-fatal overdoses in their communities. My work experience includes legislative advocacy and policy change. Since starting at the Regional Center, I have worked with a collaborative to support legislation to ban alcohol ads on state-owned property in Boston. In addition to substance abuse prevention work, I also worked with the CHNA 7 (formerly the Community Health Coalition of Metrowest).
Background and Interests: I have an interest in and experience with Community Based Participatory Research. I wrote and was awarded seed funding to work on developing research questions around alcohol advertising in Greater Boston. This work has also given me the opportunity to learn more about legislative advocacy in Massachusetts, and I’m eager to share what I’ve learned with others. I also enjoy developing training curricula and materials development and I have experience developing educational interventions. I have also had experience teaching and living abroad, and I enjoy working with diverse populations. I have a master’s degree in public health from Boston University and I joined the Regional Center for Healthy Communities (Metrowest) in January 2007.
Name: Laura Cody, Community Health Specialist
Email: lcody@healthier-communities.org
Telephone: 617-441-0700 ext. 210
Education: Masters in Public Health, Boston University
Current Work: I am the key RCHC staff member providing support to Impact Quincy (primarily on their underage drinking prevention work). I also work with groups in our region who are using healthy communities principles and coordinate support with Peter Lee at the MassPartnership for Healthy Communities. I have been closely involved with Healthy Waltham’s wellness initiative focusing on school gardens and fruits and vegetables in schools to improve health. At the Regional Center, I work on many aspects of evaluation - both our internal evaluation process and encouraging and assisting community groups with their evaluation efforts. I enjoy thinking about evaluation from the ground up: logic models, developing questions, finding data, and interpreting results.
Background and Interests: In addition to my general background in public health and focus on evaluation, I have worked in the areas of domestic violence (including teen dating violence); bullying; healthy weight; screening brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT, motivational interviewing); emergency medicine; and natural childbirth and breastfeeding. I am particularly interested in the topics of adolescent health including youth development and the intersection of public health and health care.
Name: Jessica Goldberg, Community Health Specialist
Email: jgoldberg@healthier-communities.org
Telephone: 617-441-0700 ext. 201
Education: Masters in Social Work; Masters in Public Health
Current Work: I am the lead RCHC staff person providing technical support to Impact Quincy on their underage drinking prevention initiatives, to the Watertown Youth Coalition, and to Weymouth's Drug Free Communities initiatives. I also help coordinate the logistics for the Center's inter-coalition meetings.
Background and Interests: As a public health social work professional, I am passionate about uncovering and addressing the social, economic, and structural root causes of health disparities within communities. I am particularly interested in promoting systems-level change in resource constrained environments, international health, the intersection of health, human rights and social justice, and advancing evidenced-based practice through program evaluation.
Name: Bill Holden, Office Supervisor & Librarian
Email: bholden@healthier-communities.org
Telephone: 617-441-0700 ext. 200
Education: Masters in Library and Information Science, Florida State University.
Current Work: I'm the Librarian, Office Supervisor and Coordinator of Administration and Financial Operations for the Regional Center (Metrowest).
Background and Interests: I was the LGBT Studies Librarian and Rare Book Cataloger at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia where I was involved in various outreach programs centered on campus diversity, including co-chairing the Presidents Commission on LGBT Concerns. My work has focused on community building and collaboration around LGBT issues both current and historical. I've authored 5 bibliographies centered around LGBT issues in Religion. Prior to becoming a librarian, I spent many years working in the corporate arena in accounting and office management.
Name: Stephanie Nitka, Community Health Specialist
Email: snitka@healthier-communities.org
Telephone: 617-441-0700 ext. 209
Education: Master's in Education
Current Work: I provide technical assistance and coordination for two CHNA's that we represent.
Background and Interests: I have dedicated my career to creatively engaging youth and communities, helping to give voice to the issues that are imprtant to them. I have a pssion for building strong community partnerships and bringing together organizations to collaborate on unique projects. In recent years, I've become interested in using the arts as a tool for community building.
Name: Elizabeth Theriault, Community Health Specialist
Email: etheriault@healthier-communities.org
Telephone: 617-441-0700 ext. 204
Education: Masters in Social Work ; Masters in Public Health
Current Work: I provide technical assistance for the 3 CHNA's that we represent.
Background and Interests: My background and training is in social work and public health. I worked for several years in New Zealand on issues such as sexual and reproductive health, violence prevention, and offender rehabilitation. More recently I worked in London, England providing substance abuse treatment for individuals and developed a community outreach and education program that focused on harm reduction. My other areas of interest are HIV/AIDs, youth development and leadership, program evaluation, and coalition building.