Care Share Health Alliance is excited to welcome five new members to our board of directors: Dr. Carrie Rosario, Honey Yang Estrada, Jamilla Pinder, Dr. Meredith Gringle and Yesenia Cuello.
“Care Share is fortunate to have a strong board of directors that is dedicated to our mission of collaborating for health equity.” says Care Share Board Chair, Alice Pollard. “I am excited to work with the new board members, who will bring new insight and experience, helping us further our bold strategic plan and path forward.”
Carrie Rosario, DrPH, MPH is a health equity advocate, public health leader, and strategist with 15 years of experience in varied health settings. She is currently faculty in the Department of Public Health Education at UNC Greensboro, where she has served in executive leadership roles as Director of Undergraduate Study and Associate Chair of the Department.
Dr. Rosario holds a DrPH in Health Education from Loma Linda University and MPH in Community Health Education from UNC Greensboro. Her research focuses on advancing place-based public health and health equity, with an emphasis on tobacco control. Dr. Rosario is a respected leader in the academic public health community and member of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT), American Public Health Association (APHA), and NC Institute of Medicine (NCIOM).
In 2020, Dr. Rosario was appointed by Governor Cooper to the North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM) Board of Directors, where she currently serves as Chairperson. Her deep commitment to a healthier North Carolina has also led her to serve on the Healthy North Carolina 2030 Task Force, the Community Advisory Board for the UNCG Center for Housing and Community Studies, and the North Carolina State Health Improvement Plan Community Council.
Honey Yang Estrada is the President of the North Carolina Community Health Worker Association. She was born in Fresno, California and moved to North Carolina when she was 11 years old. The eldest daughter of Hmong refugees who sought refuge in the United States during times of war, Honey understands the struggles families face in navigating various societal systems and the existing barriers that inhibits them from achieving positive outcomes.
A proud Community Health Worker, Honey has worked in healthcare and public health for over 20 years. Her experience is rooted in community health and advocacy. Throughout her career, Honey continues to serve as a catalyst for change where she champions racial and health equity.
She holds a Masters in Public Health and currently lives in Newton, NC with her family and teaches Zumba at the local library.
Over the past 20 years, Jamilla Pinder has dedicated herself to advancing health care access. As a healthcare professional, she has extensive experience serving uninsured and underinsured patients in Guilford and Rockingham counties. Jamilla obtained a Bachelor of Science from North Carolina A&T State University for Agricultural and Environmental Systems (Agribusiness and Food Industry Management). She uses her education and experience to build and support local coalitions. Her work involves strategic partnerships with community-based organizations, healthcare systems, and faith-based communities to address access to healthcare and social determinants of health. Jamilla takes a grassroots approach to improving public health by tackling issues at the block level. As the Psalmist says, “Truth’s shining light guides me to make good choices and decisions; your word makes my pathway clear.” Jamila’s drive and self-confidence are both shaped by this passage.
Dr. Meredith Gringle earned her BA in Political Science and English Literature at McGill University and my MPH and PhD in Community Health Education at UNC Greensboro (UNCG). Dr. Gringle taught her first university course as a first-year doctoral student and fell in love with the ways that teaching and learning together helps create caring, incisive, and equitable community. Soon after receiving her PhD, Dr. Gringle joined the UNCG Public Health Education faculty, serving most recently as Assistant Professor and Undergraduate Internship Coordinator. In the fall of 2023, Dr. Gringle will begin her new role as Assistant Professor of Public Health at North Carolina Wesleyan University. She has extensive experience advising, mentoring, and learning with “traditional” and adult undergraduate and graduate students. Her research interests and scholarly focus areas include stigma and health disparities, reproductive health equity, and qualitative methodologies. Her current interdisciplinary research focuses on perinatal substance use and care-provision.
Yesenia Cuello was born in Los Angeles, CA but moved to NC with her mother and younger siblings when she was 5 years old. Spanish is her first language. Yesenia’s mother is from Morelos Cuernavaca, Mexico and her father is from Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. In NC, she graduated from Lenoir County Early College Highschool and became the first generation high school and college graduate in her family. She received a Nonprofit Management certificate from Duke University in 2019. Yesenia is a former child tobacco worker, became co-founder of a nonprofit organization called NC FIELD in 2009, and in 2019 was voted into her current role of Executive Director of NC FIELD, an organization created by farmworkers for farmworkers.
Care Share Health Alliance is a North Carolina based non-profit that builds capacity, creates networks, and partners for systems change so that communities are healthy and equitable. Learn more about Care Share on our About page.