SOPHE Staff
Elaine Auld, MPH, MCHES is the Chief Executive Officer, where she oversees the SOPHE's portfolio of professional publications, meetings, cooperative agreements, and advocacy on behalf of health education and health promotion. She has spent some 30 years working in health education, with publications and interests related to credentialing and standards, workforce development, advocacy, public policy, and health equity. She has received numerous awards, including SOPHE’s Distinguished Fellow Award (2008), The University of Michigan School of Public Health Alumna of the Year Award (2010), and the REACH Health Disparities Champion Award (2010).
Melanie J. Sellers, MPH is the Assistant Chief Executive Officer at SOPHE and works closely with the CEO to lead strategic health promotion initiatives that support SOPHE's mission to assure long-term growth and sustainability. She has 14 years of experience including project management, grant administration, nonprofit governance, strategic planning, public outreach, and program design, and implementation. In addition, Melanie has managed a portfolio of public health projects spanning HIV/AIDS, cancer patient navigation, minority health, and health disparities initiatives. Melanie received her BS in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her MPH from the University of South Florida.
Allison T. McElvaine, PhD is Director of Professional Development at SOPHE, where she oversees the Society's portfolio of educational meetings and programs. She has several years of association experience in scientific and continuing educational programs. Allison earned her BS in biology, with a minor in sociology-anthropology, at Millsaps College in Jackson, MS, and her Ph.D. in molecular biology at Northwestern University. A marriage of her interests in biology, health, and social responsibility, Allison's passion is working to improve health outcomes through education and advocacy initiatives, particularly addressing health disparities and access to quality care.
Celena T. NuQuay, MA, CAE is SOPHE’s Director of Membership and Marketing, where she oversees the Society’s membership recruitment, retention, and marketing portfolios. She spent more than 15 years in association management and non-profit environments working to expand membership and market the benefits of engagement with various associations and/or societies. She received her BA from Johnson C. Smith University majoring in Political Science and her MA in International Relations from the American University. Celena has been a Certified Association Executive (CAE) since 2007 and has worked in the field of international development, conducting democracy and governance training in Africa.
Nicolette Warren, MS, MCHES, is the Director of Health Equity at SOPHE, where her main duties are to address racial and ethnic community-based policy, systems, and environmental changes to reduce the risk factors associated with chronic diseases and lead SOPHE's additional efforts on health equity. Prior to joining SOPHE, she held positions with Duke University Medical Center managing federal funded research, as well as state and local health departments coordinating health education and promotion programs. She also served in various professional and community leadership positions, such as President and Delegate of the North Carolina SOPHE Chapter.
Jerrica Mathis MSEd is the Director of Health Policy at SOPHE. She worked for the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) from 2004-2009. At NACDD she participated in national and state palling efforts around chronic disease prevention and control and lead NACDD's Health Equity Council where she worked to address health inequities through changes in public health practice. In 2009, she was selected for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Louis Stokes Urban Health Policy fellowship and further built expertise in health policy, health equity, and health disparity elimination. Jerrica provides staff leadership to SOPHE's Advocacy and Resolutions Committees and facilitates the annual Health Education Advocacy Summit.
Debbie Gordon-Messer, MPH, joined SOPHE as Editorial and Project Manager in July 2012. In this role, she manages the publication of SOPHE’s journal Health Education & Behavior, and coordinates marketing and dissemination of the Smoking Cessation and Reduction in Pregnancy Treatment (SCRIPT) Program. She holds a BA from the Science in Society Program at Wesleyan University and completed her MPH at the University of Michigan department of Health Behavior and Health Education. Debbie has worked both internationally and in the U.S. on program coordination, community development and health curriculum design. Her public health interests focus on adolescent health, health communication and community health promotion.
Elaine Colwell, MA, joined SOPHE as the Manager of Health Communications & Technology in January 2013. In this role, she manages the SOPHE website, social media communications, and maintains the SOPHE Knowledge Center. Elaine holds an MA in Health Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and received her BS in Exercise Science from Springfield College in Springfield, MA. Prior to her graduate studies, Elaine worked in the New England office of the American Diabetes Association. Elaine has experience in diabetes exercise programming, health curriculum design, and adolescent leadership development.
Julia Gin, BS, CHES joined SOPHE in June 2011 as the Project Coordinator. In this role, she coordinates SOPHE communications outreach initiatives to the SOPHE membership, media, and external audiences and supports several cooperative agreements. Formerly, Julia was a Communications and Outreach intern at the National Library of Medicine (NLM). She received her BS in Public and Community Health from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Katherine Will, BS, joined SOPHE as Editorial and Project Coordinator in May 2012. In this position, Katherine helps prepare SOPHE's journal Health Promotion Practice for publication. She also provides continuing education to SOPHE members by assisting with the coordination of SOPHE's annual conference and online education courses. Before beginning at SOPHE, Katherine was a communications intern at Johns Hopkins Medicine's Marketing and Communications Department, where she wrote news articles for a bi-weekly employee newsletter. Katherine graduated summa cum laude from Towson University with a BS in English Literature.
Saundra Flegler is the Administrative Assistant and “The Voice” of SOPHE. Saundra oversees the day-to-day operations at the SOPHE office. Additionally, she maintains the SOPHE membership and meetings database, coordinates mailings, fulfills order requests, manages the conference call schedule, and provides administrative support to the Chief Executive Officer. Saundra also provides assistance with the logistics and organization of SOPHE’s meetings and conferences – including onsite support at each event. She has been with SOPHE since 2000.