Vice President of Operations and Strategy
North Carolina Community Health Center Association

Alice Pollard is a public health social worker with more than 15 years of experience in program design and non-profit management. She currently works with the North Carolina Community Health Center Association as Vice President of Operations and Strategy. At NCCHCA, she has supported health centers in many areas including behavioral health, social drivers of health, outreach and enrollment, and Medicaid transformation. Alice has worked in many health care settings and nonprofit organizations. Prior professional experience includes helping launch the Maternal Health Learning and Innovation Center at UNC Chapel Hill, a national resource center aimed at advancing maternal health equity in the US.
Alice holds a Master of Social Work and Master of Science in Public Health from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University. She was born and raised in Wilmington, NC and now resides in Durham, NC with her husband and daughters.

President
North Carolina Community Health Workers Association

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.

Vice President, Solutions
NC Medical Society Foundation

Franklin Walker is the former CEO of a medical/surgical practice and adjunct faculty member at the UNC School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He holds a BA from UNC – Chapel Hill and an MBA from Xavier University. Franklin concentrates most of his efforts toward the rural and underserved populations in NC. He oversees the NCMS Foundation’s
Community Practitioner Program which improves access to care, by offering educational loan repayment to clinicians that will work in underserved areas. He also directs the Societies’ efforts to establish Accountable Care Organizations in non-metro areas, and through Project VBOT NC he directs virtual opioid use disorder treatment programs, and finally he directs SDOH efforts through the Community Health Initiative.

Executive Director
Project Access of Durham County

Born and raised in Winston-Salem, NC. Moved to Seattle after college and worked at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Next moved to Cambridge, MA, to attend Harvard Divinity School and worked at Harvard University and McLean Hospital. Returned to NC to live in Durham, where employed since 2008 by Project Access of Durham County, collaborative network for the uninsured.

Executive Director
NC FIELD Inc.

My name is Yesenia Cuello. I was born in Los Angeles, CA but moved to NC with my mom and my younger siblings when I was 5 years old. Spanish is my first language. My mother is from Morelos Cuernavaca, Mexico and my father is from Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. In NC, I graduated from Lenoir County Early College Highschool and became forat generation HS and college graduate in my family. I got my Nonprofit Management certificate from Duke University in 2019. I am a former child tobacco worker, became co-founder of a nonprofit organization called NC FIELD in 2009, and in 2019 was voted into my current role of Executive Director of NC FIELD, an organization created by farmworkers for farmworkers.

Assistant Professor
UNC Greensboro

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.

Assistant Professor
NC Wesleyan University

Dr. 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). She 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, she began her new role as Assistant Professor of Public Health at North Carolina Wesleyan University. Meredith  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. Dr. Gringle’s current interdisciplinary research focuses on perinatal substance use and care-provision.

Director, Equity & Community Engagement
Cone Health Foundation

Over the past 20 years, Jamilla 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.

Chief Health Equity Officer
Alliance for a Healthier Generation

Cornell P. Wright, MPA is a prominent internationally renowned leader and subject-matter expert in the area of justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, health equity, minority health, historically marginalized populations, outreach, and comm engagement.

Research Director, NC Health Care Transformation
Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy

Rebecca Whitaker, PhD, MSPH, is a Research Director with Duke-Margolis focused on state and regional health care transformation with a particular emphasis on North Carolina’s health reform activities. In this role, Rebecca helps lead the Center’s research and policy analysis related to care delivery and payment reform. Rebecca brings extensive experience in health services research, policy analysis, and program and policy implementation focused on Medicaid, social drivers of health, safety-net delivery systems, and populations that have been historically marginalized.

Prior to joining Duke-Margolis, Dr. Whitaker served as Director of Health Policy & Governmental Affairs at the North Carolina Community Health Center Association, where she led the Association’s state and federal policy agenda and guided North Carolina health centers through large-scale payment and care delivery reforms, including Affordable Care Act implementation. During this time, she was also a Jim Bernstein Community Health Leadership Fellow through North Carolina’s Foundation for Health Leadership and Innovation.

Gaston County Cooperative Extension
Program Assistant – Agriculture, Horticulture

Marcus Cyprian serves as the Horticulture Assistant and School Garden Program Coordinator at the N.C. Cooperative Extension, Gaston County Center in Dallas, NC – just 20 minutes west of Charlotte. As the School Garden Program Coordinator, some of his responsibilities include recruiting, training, and coordinating volunteers; procuring teaching materials and program supplies; and developing and fostering relationships with new and current schools. He also has community development responsibilities which include working with community organizations to build capacity through program collaboration, engaging diverse audiences through programming, and identifying community issues and solutions.

Reuben Cooper Blackwell V is a transformational leader whose roots in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, have profoundly shaped his dedication to community service and racial equity. Known as “Cooper,” he has played a pivotal role in transforming the Rocky Mount community through various initiatives. A champion for racial justice, Cooper co-founded the Rocky Mount Black Action Committee which organized marches that amassed 500 people, brought to life the “End Racism” mural downtown, and removed the confederate monument at Battle Park.

Cooper’s leadership, however, extends beyond events and symbols. He is a 2022 Aspen Institute: Health Ideas Fellow, a Human Relations Commissioner for the City of Rocky Mount, a Board Member of the Conetoe Family Life Center, and an integral part of the African American Community Response Team for the North Carolina Community Engagement Alliance (NC CEAL) against COVID-19 Disparities. Through these capacities, he has been instrumental in driving forward equitable, community inspired growth of Eastern North Carolina.

Cooper, serving as the President of the Rocky Mount NAACP, is at the forefront of addressing racial segregation, promoting minority business investment, fighting for workers’ rights, and advocating for equitable development. His commitment to these causes is also reflected in his active participation in Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. as the Sixth District Undergrad Representative for the International Social Action Committee and as the Chapter Recorder for the Alpha Omicron Chapter, of which he is a Spring 2022 Initiate.

In his professional role as Vice President of Innovations at OIC of Rocky Mount, Cooper oversees program development, interdepartmental relations, and fundraising. He leads the Career Services and Resource Development, Outreach, and Innovations (RDOI) Departments, focusing on workforce development and community engagement.

Beyond these roles, Cooper is a compelling public speaker, community service advocate, and writer. He is creative, inquisitive, and expressive. Cooper loves technology, public speaking, and spending time with his family, fraternity brothers and friends.

Reuben Cooper Blackwell V’s resume is a testament to his unwavering dedication to public service and community development, but his demeanor and actions are a testament of the love of Christ.

Erin Bennett, MPH, Esq. is an Attorney focusing on the integration of legal services into the health care team and the use of legal levers to address social determinants of health. Prior to her current role, she provided direct legal representation to survivors of Hurricanes Matthew and Florence seeking home repair support and served as a Pam Silberman Health Policy Research Fellow at the North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM). Erin received her JD from the University of North Carolina School of Law and her MPH in Health Policy and Management from the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Kate Daley has a decade of community organizing, development, and health care advocacy experience. She holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from UNC Greensboro and a Bachelor’s from UNC Asheville in Ethics and Social Institutions. From 2017-2023 Kate served as Planned Parenthood Southeast’s Associate Director of Development, based in Savannah, GA, and she is an alumna of the 2020 Georgia Women’s Policy Institute Fellowship, a program of the YWCA of Greater Atlanta. Kate has worked with Down Home NC as their Health Justice Campaigner since 2023.