Michael Balkenhol (MLIS, University of Pittsburgh ‘14) is the Engagement Coordinator at the Network of the National Library of Medicine All of Us Program Center (NAPC) based at the University of Iowa and University of Pittsburgh. Michael works with public libraries and other partners to engage communities with health information outreach and programming projects. Before joining the NNLM in 2018, he worked as a children’s and teen librarian at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh with a focus on community engagement, programming, and outreach. Michael can be reached at michael-balkenhol@uiowa.edu.
Barbara Bruxvoort builds community by connecting people with each other and to information through programming, staff mentoring and collection development. She has over 20 years of experience doing this work in public libraries on the San Francisco Peninsula, currently as Library Services Manager at the San Bruno Public Library. Barbara holds a Master’s Degree in Information and Library Science from San Jose State University, and a Bachelors' degree in Physics and Journalism from San Francisco State University. When not at the library, she enjoys Balkan music and dance, traveling to visit family and camping in Northern California.
Chase Glenn is a highly regarded public speaker, program director, and LGBTQ+ community advocate with over 15 years of experience advocating for LGBTQ-identified children, youth, and Adults. Chase has been featured in the media, on various podcasts, and in a web series, sharing his story and experiences as a trans man. He has served on various nonprofit boards and committees specific to his work in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as relating more broadly to his work in diversity, equity, and inclusion. An Illinois native and South Carolina resident since 2006, Chase holds a B.A. in religion from Belmont University and an M.A. in counseling from Webster University. Chase is a Furman University Diversity Leaders Initiative Riley Fellow, class of 2018, and a Liberty Fellow, Class of 2023. He and his wife, Colleen, live with their two children in the Charleston, South Carolina area.
Alyssa Grimshaw is the Clinical Research and Education Librarian at Yale University’s Cushing / Whitney Medical Library. She received her MS in Library and Information Science from Drexel University, MBA in Healthcare Management from Southern New Hampshire University, Advanced Postgraduate Certificate in Interprofessional Informationist from Simmons University and is currently an MPH candidate at Dartmouth.
Khiana Harris (she/they) received their MLS with a concentration in Informatics from Emporia State University in August. They are currently completing a certificate program in African-American Studies at the University of Kansas while applying to LIS PhD programs. While developing a theoretical background that speaks to liberatory practices, her research interests include but are not limited to pedagogy in LIS instruction, data literacy, and bibliometrics. Born and raised in Kansas, she lives there with a spouse and two cats.
Keith Herzog is the Associate Director of the NNLM National Evaluation Center based at the Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. With nearly 20 years of experience in evaluation, project management, and program administration, Keith’s current work is focused on inclusive and collaborative approaches to designing meaningful, feasible, and actionable evaluation plans that inform programmatic and strategic management efforts.
Maryanne E. Hirning, Director of the Clatskanie Library District (OR) Maryanne Hirning received her MLIS from the University of Washington in 2018. Before becoming director of the Clatskanie Library District in 2021, she worked at an academic library and a school library. Maryanne is passionate about providing as many opportunities and resources as possible to the rural community she serves. Watching the library become a vibrant and relevant gathering space has been the highlight of her time in Clatskanie.
Verónica Hoyo is the Executive Director of the NNLM National Evaluation Center based at Galter Health Sciences Library, Northwestern University. Her current work focuses on developing and executing evaluation and standardization plans that prioritize data-driven decision-making. She is passionate about disseminating knowledge to underrepresented populations and adapting survey research methods to become more inclusive and culturally responsive.
Jeff Klingler is President and CEO of the Central Ohio Hospital Council located in Columbus, Ohio. He reports directly to the the organizations’ Board of Trustees, comprised of the CEOs of Franklin County's four hospital systems, and collaborates with them on a regular basis to define association objectives. He is also the liaison between his organization, the community and business leaders, and other local constituency groups.
Haley Lagasse (she/her) is the Director of Library Services at the North Bend Public Library on the southern Oregon coast. Haley has worked in public libraries for 20 years, starting as a teen and working her way up in various organizations, both rural and urban. She has an MLIS from the University of Alabama. She enjoys her current position because it’s an opportunity to lead staff and organizational planning, while still having regular interactions with patrons. Haley enjoys spending time outdoors with her miniature schnauzers, Jack and Jerry, and her favorite book is Anne of Green Gables.
Katie Leath is a passionate health communicator with nearly a decade of experience in making health information easy to read, understand, and use. She leads the team of health literacy and plain language experts at the UAMS Center for Health Literacy. She lends her health communication expertise to help create and edit health-related materials for patients and consumers at UAMS and beyond. Before joining the UAMS Center for Health Literacy, Katie worked in various public health roles including administration, communications, and research and evaluation. Katie earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing with a minor in graphic design from the University of Central Arkansas. She graduated with honors from UAMS with a master of public health degree and from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a master’s degree in applied communication studies.
Michelle Lesniak is the Library Director at South Butler Community Library in a rural area of Western Pennsylvania. Throughout her seven years at the library, she has made continual improvements to the existing facilities and grounds in order to create dynamic, flexible spaces that can accommodate a diverse program of indoor and outdoor events. Michelle’s passion is engaging community members with interesting displays, speakers, and workshops on a broad range of topics designed to appeal to visitors of all ages and create an environment where everyone feels welcome and wonders what they might see during their next visit to the library. Residents recognize the library as a hub for discovery, lifelong learning, and a community center where they can interact with many community partners. Michelle credits her broad vision of what a community library can be to her unique educational background, extensive volunteerism, and decades of professional experience in the areas of accounting, information systems, training, and Library Science.
Robin Levin is a Fort Washakie School/Community librarian and has been working among the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes since 1981. Her work has included many awards and recognition for the outreach to Wind River Indian Reservation patrons, young and old. Covering a remote, Wyoming landscape requires miles of driving to reach as many families as possible, promoting literacy and healthful life choices.
Margot Malachowski is an Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Network of the National Library of Medicine in Region 7. Region 7 serves Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Margot has worked in public, hospital, and academic libraries since 1996.
Miranda Margetts is an Assistant Research Professor with the Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity at Montana State University, where she is a member of their Community Engagement Core and research faculty. Miranda also has a research affiliate position with the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale University. She is currently involved in several National Institutes of Health funded research projects related to women's reproductive health care, and cancer prevention. She received her PhD from Montana State University, LLM from Australian National University, and LLB from the University of Queensland.
Lillian McDonald is the Senior Managing Director. She was recognized for her outstanding public service during the COVID-19 pandemic. TPT NOW and Its cultural media HUB broadcast twenty-eight (28) press conferences in real-time supporting updates from Governor Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Health. Before her work at TPT, Lillian was the founding executive director of a non-profit specializing in multilingual and multimedia programs and a broadcast journalist for radio and television stations in the Midwest including WHO Radio-(Iowa), KARE-11 and FOX-9 in Minneapolis. She has also served as a Public Information Officer for FEMA. And joining Lillian is Sydney Gisvold, Social Media & Content Coordinator for TPT NOW. She is responsible for TPT NOW's graphics and video content on broadcast and social media.
John McKenzie is the Executive Director of the Division of Academic Innovation at The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth. In this role, he leads teams that develop online and face-to-face courses, skill- and competency-based microcredentials, and accredited continuing education experiences for both internal and community audiences. John collaborates with faculty for face-to-face, blended, and online course design and development. He also guides the strategy for the adoption and implementation of instructional technologies at UNTHSC. Prior to his time at HSC, he was a professor of Communication for a number of years, teaching at UT-Austin and Lakeland University (Wisconsin). During his time leading the program at Lakeland, the Communication major grew to be one of the top 10 academic programs at the university for recruitment in less than 4 years.
Martha E. Meacham, MA, MLIS, is the Project Director of the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM), which is part of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Previously, Martha was the Associate Director of the NNLM New England Region (NNLM NER) within the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She has also managed two VA Medical Center libraries, worked with Association of American Medical Colleges, and was involved with patient education at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Martha has a B.S. in psychology and was a mental health counselor before going on to earn a Master of Library and Information Science and a Master of Arts in History from Simmons College.
Katya E. Mueller is a current MLIS student at Syracuse University (SU) and will graduate in the spring of 2024. She earned her B.A. in Classical Civilizations at the University of Rochester and uses her Classical background in her work as a graduate assistant student researcher at SU, researching public libraries in antiquity. She completed the NCDS internship in the summer of 2023, hosted by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, where she explored an alphavirus dataset to identify trends in infections in mammals.
Aundria Parkman is a library technician who assists university affiliates with interlibrary loan at Tulane’s Matas Library of the Health Sciences. Aundria was part of the first cohort of the NCDS’ summer internship for data librarianship, working with the Data Curation Network. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Tulane University and her MLIS with a Graduate Certificate in Archival Studies from Louisiana State University. Her professional interests include community outreach and research support services in the health sciences as well as working alongside peers at Tulane to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion in the university’s libraries. When she is not working, she loves art museums, cooking new foods, and spending time with her cat, Ole Blue Eyes. Aundria believes that work in health science librarianship has the potential to transform health research and health care systems by persistence, intentionality, and innovation.
Sofia Perno (she/her) joined the YWCA Central Massachusetts in July 2022 as the Director of Wellness and Health Equity. Before that, she was the Fitness Program Manager at Sanofi in Boston. Sofia has worked in corporate fitness for more than ten years. Additionally, she has worked with various populations in different community settings. Sofia holds Personal Training, Group Fitness, and Youth Fitness certifications and is a certified Behavioral Specialist. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Becker College. Sofia loves participating in outdoor activities and giving back to the community in her free time.
Alta M. Porterfield, Delaware Libraries’ Statewide Social Innovator, takes to heart the Social Innovation (SI) mission to “help you find and take your next step”. The SI programming started with job seeker and small business programming, but quickly added various AmeriCorps VISTA programs including Social Sustainability, Healthy Futures, Literacy and Telehealth. Collaboration with nonprofits and government agencies are key to SI’s sustainability. This is a large part of Alta’s day to day work: networking and putting all the pieces together. Her early career started with running a placement agency after being awarded the top Texas placement counselor at age 25. She learned early on that a successful project requires empowering the team with resources, support and trust. Her team has won countless national and regional awards during her 10 plus years with Delaware Libraries.
Rachel Priesman Márquez is a MSLS student at UNC Chapel Hill and is expected to graduate in May of 2024. She previously obtained a B.A. in English and M.A. in Pedagogy. Throughout these degrees, she has worked at three Writing Centers and is passionate about working one-on-one with students and scaffolding information literacy and writing skills. She started her NCDS internship in summer 2023 with the Data Curation Network, and now her library interests include data librarianship, data curation, sustainable practices in libraries, and library instruction.
Fran Rice has worked in the healthcare industry with government agencies, major healthcare system and community organizations. It was the work in hospitals and observation of patients and families trying to obtain information to understand their medical situation that led her to be involved with the not-for-profit Children’s Medical Library, which is now called Health Connect of South Dakota. As executive director for Health Connect, Fran provides outreach programs throughout the state and oversees the organization’s operations.
Robert Rosas is a Southern California native that graduated from UC Irvine with a B.A. in Political Science and a MLIS from the University of Southern California. He was a member of the inaugural cohort of the NCDS Data Internship while attending USC’s graduate program. The data internship with NCDS allowed Robert to develop skills with data cleaning, data visualization, Python, and SQL. Shortly after graduation from the program, Robert assumed the role of Access and Student Services Law Librarian at the UC Irvine Law Library, where he utilizes skills developed during the NCDS internship to use data to drive the library forward.
Dorothy Sanders-Thompson, DNP, M.S.-HS, R.N., CCRN-K., is the Veteran Health Education Coordinator for VA North Texas Health Care System and part of the Whole Health Network-Wide Education Faculty. Dr. Sanders-Thompson began her career at VA North Texas Health Care System (VANTHCS) in 2007. Her background includes various clinical, educational, and administrative roles within the nursing profession. As part of her scholarly work, she has presented work on leadership, education, diversity, and other various topics. She has published a scholarly paper, which has been cited by others. Dr. Sanders-Thompson has a strong commitment to faculty development. She Coaches and mentors of the next generation of nurses. Thus, contributing to continuation of evidence-base, high-quality care and advancing the profession of nursing.
Lori has more than 25 years of experience working in various aspects of public health. Currently the Engagement Director with All of Us Pennsylvania, part of the NIH-funded precision medicine research program housed at the University of Pittsburgh, she also recently served for seven years as Executive Director of Keystone Wellness Programs, a public health nonprofit. Lori was the Program Planning Administrator for the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial as part of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project and started her career with the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association. Lori is committed to achieving deliverables through effective project management and team leadership. With graduate degrees in Health Education from Penn State University and Leadership from Duquesne University, she is inspired by quality and integrity and thrives on leading mission-centered projects to improve the health of communities and individuals.