MPHA Policy Council, October 2018

Purpose 

MPHA’s Policy Council is based in the belief that to select meaningful priorities, we need input from local, regional, and statewide leaders, and that communities of color and low-income communities most impacted by health inequities should be represented in MPHA’s decision-making by leaders of community-based organizations. The Council is based in principles developed during MPHA’s six-year Act FRESH Campaign. That campaign, which focused specifically on healthy eating and active living, had a similar leadership structure. In launching this new Policy Council, MPHA is “mainstreaming” these principles into our entire organization, charging the Council with recommending positions on all the issues that are important to MPHA. 

MPHA Policy Council Members, 2020

• Jamie Berberena, Groundwork Southcoast*
• Damōn Chaplin, City of New Bedford Health Department 
• Sylvia Chiang-Raposo, Revere CARES/Revere on the Move
• Karyn Clark, City of Worcester Division of Public Health
• Zach Dyer, UMass Medical School*
  
• Kerrie D’Entremont, Greater Lowell Health Alliance
• Brenda Evans, UMass-Amherst Center for Community Health Equity Research*
• Paulo Gomes, H&HS Consulting Group LLC
• Irene Hernandez, Active Life Adult Day Health Care, Fitchburg*
• Cristina Huebner Torres, Caring Health Center (Springfield)
• Anne McHugh, Boston Public Health Commission 
  
• Lesly Melendez, Groundwork Lawrence
• Elecia Miller, City of Lawrence Mayor’s Health Task Force
• Jeanette Pantoja, Metropolitan Area Planning Council
• Allyson Perron Drag,  American Heart & American Stroke Association
• Catherine Ratté, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
• Cheryl Sbarra, Massachusetts Association of Health Boards
• Risa Silverman, UMass-Amherst SPHHS/Western MA Health Equity Network 
• Jamiah Tappin, Health Resources in Action *
• Angela Wangari Walter, UMass Lowell, Department of Public Health* 

* Affiliation provided for identification purposes only