PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

Dr. Paul Allwood

Paul Allwood, PhD, MPH, RS serves as Branch Chief of the Lead Poisoning Prevention and Surveillance Branch (proposed), in CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice (DEHSP), Atlanta, GA. He directs scientific and programmatic activities related to childhood lead poisoning prevention throughout the United States. Paul strongly believes that all humans deserve the chance to achieve the highest levels of health and well-being. Prior to joining the CDC, Paul worked in various leadership roles in state and local public health agencies, and at the University of Minnesota in and academic role. Outside of work at the CDC, Paul serves on the board of Caribbean Philanthropic Alliance, which is an organization helping to promote environmental protection and sustainable development in the Caribbean.

Matthew Ammon

Matthew Ammon is the Director of the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has worked at HUD for nearly 30 years to eliminate childhood lead poisoning nationwide and to address housing conditions that threaten the health of residents. He has served in leadership roles in nearly every HUD office, including as Acting HUD Secretary and Acting HUD Deputy Secretary.

He has led the development of robust grant programs, research, enforcement, and technical assistance to support local jurisdictions in their efforts to address environmental hazards in the home. To that end, these programs have been instrumental in creating technical capacity around the country, and have resulted in a decrease of 80 percent nationwide in the prevalence of elevated blood lead levels among children ages 1-6.

Mr. Ammon has been instrumental in leading the Department through it’s Healthy Homes Strategic Plan, which focuses HUD’s efforts on making housing repairs to target housing that reduces or eliminates significant health and safety hazards, since the health effects of poor housing conditions cost billions of dollars annually in healthcare costs for asthma, lead-based paint poisoning and injury, as well as lost productivity in the labor force. In addition, he was the primary author of Advancing Healthy Housing – A Strategy for Action, which outlines goals and priorities in healthy housing for the next five years through the work of the federal interagency Healthy Homes Work Group (HHWG), and includes representatives from numerous federal agencies.

Mr. Ammon’s contributions are also seen on the Federal Radon Action Plan, the Coordinated Federal Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities, the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote Healthy Housing, and the National Prevention Council’s National Prevention Strategy. In each case, Mr. Ammon spearheaded the Department’s role in efforts to reduce housing-related health hazards.

Prior to HUD, Mr. Ammon assisted the US EPA in the development and implementation of state programs for the accreditation and certification of lead hazard control training providers, and in the development of the Federal Lead Hazard Disclosure Rule.

Dan Bain

Daniel J. Bain is an Associate Professor of Geology and Environmental Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his BA in geography and chemistry from Macalester College and earned his PhD in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University with a focus on fluvial geomorphology, trace metal geochemistry, and historic land use change. He studied non-traditional stable isotope geochemistry and catchment geochemistry as an NRC Postdoctoral fellow at the US Geological Survey. Since joining the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh he has built a wide-ranging research program focusing on urban hydrological systems (e.g., green infrastructure and stream restoration), energy production landscapes (long wall coal mining, unconventional gas extraction), and the role of trace metals in human and environmental systems.

Hanna Beightley

Hanna graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Master’s in Public Health in Behavioral and Community Health Sciences in 2019. She joined WHE as the Lead Coalition Coordinator working to establish a county-wide initiative to address childhood lead exposure. Hanna transitioned into the position of Healthy Homes Coordinator and now Program Manager for WHE where she works with families and community stakeholders to address environmental exposures in the home and advocates for policies to protect children and families. She has attended and presented at local and national conferences including the National Lead and Healthy Homes Conference and the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Summit and is a Certified Health Education Specialist.

Jonathan Burgess

Jonathan Burgess is the Programs and Policy Director at the Allegheny County Conservation District in Pittsburgh, PA, where he oversees the District’s agricultural tech assistance, watershed, farm preservation, and urban soils programs. His educational background merges environmental science and policy analysis. He founded ACCD’s Urban Ag and Soils Programs in early 2016.

Wyonette Cheairs

Wyonette Cheairs is a Senior Program Officer at Enterprise Community Partners, a national affordable housing and community development nonprofit. She is the convener and manager of the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition, the public private partnership formed in 2019 to prevent lead poisoning in Cleveland, Ohio. Wyonette is a conduit between the community and coalition partners, manages the Coalition’s committees, Lead Safe Home Fund and contracts with the Lead Safe Home Fund Administrators.

Prior to joining Enterprise, Wyonette worked at a local community development corporation developing and managing programming that stabilized the housing stock, repopulated neighborhoods, and increased homeownership for families with lower incomes. Her portfolio includes the national model, Greater Circle Living, a joint employer assisted housing program for nonprofit and anchor institution employees. Wyonette holds a bachelor’s degree in Urban Affairs from Cleveland State University and master’s degree in Social Administration from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.

Mari Copeny

Mari is a 15 year old from Flint, MI known globally as Little Miss Flint. She first entered the public spotlight when her letter to President Obama about the water crisis prompted him to visit the city and survey the water crisis for himself. That visit ultimately led to him approving $100 million in relief for the city of Flint. Her young age has not prevented her from making a significant impact on the dialogue around environmental racism and confronted the entire country with the reality faced by victims of state negligence. Her youthful honesty prevents political leaders from being able to ignore the consequences of neglectful leadership. She gives voice to the unheard hardships of Americans trapped by a collapsing and toxic infrastructure.

Michael Falce

Michael Falce has been employed with Allegheny County Housing Authority for 14 years. He was an HCVP Inspector for 13 years, before accepting the Landlord Liaison position that he currently holds. In his spare time, he likes to dabble in landscape and home improvement projects. Also, for 34 years, he’s worked part-time at (Civic/Mellon/PPG Paints Arena) GO PENS! He loves going on vacations to the beach with his family and friends. He’s a Pittsburgh Sports fan, and he’s a HUGE University of North Carolina Tar Heels Basketball fan.

Dr. Jerome Gloster

Dr. Jerome Gloster is currently the CEO/CMO for Primary Care Health Services (PCHS) and is a pediatrician with 27 years’ experience in clinical medicine. He accepted the position of CEO/CMO in November of 2018 for PCHS, a Federally Qualified Health Center Corporation of (9) nine clinical health center offices throughout the greater Pittsburgh area with its headquarters located at the Alma Illery Medical Center in the Homewood neighborhood of the city of Pittsburgh.

Jerome is also a graduate of The University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry 1987, The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine with a Doctor of Medicine Degree 1992, and Geneva College with a Master of Science Degree in Organizational Leadership 2015. Dr. Gloster completed his Residency training in General Pediatrics at Mercy Hospital in 1995 and his work experience has also included 13 years of being the Chief Medical Officer for Federally Qualified Health Centers, Chief Physician consultant to the Allegheny County Health Department’s Maternal and Child Health program, Medical Director and physician consultant to Healthy Start, and Consultant School Physician to the Pittsburgh Public Schools and Wilkinsburg School Districts.

He has become known for his passion for providing the highest quality Health Care and services to the underserved and those who need it the most and his appointments include the State of Pennsylvania’s Chronic Care Commission Governor’s Office of Healthcare Reform from 2007-2010 and he is also a winner of the Pittsburgh Business Times 2016 Healthcare Heroes Award.

Julian Gonzalez

Julian Gonzalez serves as senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice’s Healthy Communities team in Washington, D.C., where he is the lead lobbyist on water policy. Julian partners with community members and NGOs across the country to push for laws and regulations ensuring that everyone has access to clean water, and ensuring that all of our rivers, streams, and lakes have strong protections from pollution.

Originally from the Bronx, New York City, Julian’s environmentalist journey began with frequent trips to the Bronx Zoo and volunteering with the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. Along the way, Julian received a B.S. in Wildlife Conservation Biology and Management from the University of Delaware and a J.D. from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in Washington.

Amanda Hower

Amanda Hower has been employed with the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) for a little over 10 years where she served as an HCV Housing Specialist, and Internal Compliance Specialist, before accepting her current position as a Senior Project Manager. During her tenure at the HACP, Amanda has been involved in various projects including the implementation of the HACP Moving to Work Demonstration, the HUD Community Choice Demonstration, local research initiatives with partnering universities, and other projects to improve housing policy and uphold the HACP mission of providing decent, safe, and affordable housing in the City of Pittsburgh. Her background includes a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy and she is a proud Western Pennsylvania native.

Sara Innamorato

Sara Innamorato is a member of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, serving District 21 which encompasses part of Allegheny County. She was first elected in 2018, and since taking office, she has introduced more than 20 bills, championing issues related to housing and the environment.

Prior to serving in the state legislature, she founded her own company to work with local government agencies and small nonprofits to support projects around food access, social justice, and gender equity.

Sara lives in Lawrenceville where she volunteers with the local community garden and supports the community organizations with housing-related issues.

Phil Johnson

Philip Johnson is senior program director of The Heinz Endowments’ Environment & Health Program, which is part of the foundation’s Sustainability team and focuses on Clean Economy and Environmental & Public Health goals.

Luke Lewis

Luke is a Landlord Liaison with Allegheny County, who is very familiar with the Greater Pittsburgh area. He has been with Allegheny County’s HCVP department for over a year and strives to bring a fresh perspective to better serve landlords in the area. Luke has a background in real estate and home improvement and is eager to help landlords better understand the importance of lead safety.

Colleen McCauley

Colleen McCauley is the Health Policy Director at Children First – the Greater Philadelphia region’s leading child advocacy organization that influences elected officials by combining useful research, practical solution-oriented policy recommendations with the mobilization of citizens who advance the organization’s work on behalf of children.

Colleen’s research leads the conversation in southeastern Pennsylvania on children’s access to health care and health insurance issues. She convened the coalition that wrote and successfully advocated for the passage of Philadelphia’s lead law that helps protect children in rental properties from being poisoned. She also facilitates a new, state-wide effort, the PA Lead-Free Promise Project Coalition. Colleen’s work also focuses on researching and advocating for improved access to health care, particularly among families with children who are uninsured and undocumented. Colleen is also engaged in improving children’s behavioral health and increasing access to oral health and vision care services.

Colleen is a nurse and prior to joining Children First in 2001, she was the Assistant Director of the Abbottsford Community Health Center in Philadelphia (now the Family Practice and Counseling Network). Colleen also holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from Temple University.

Rebecca Meuninck

Rebecca Meuninck, Ph.D., Rebecca has worked for over 20 years in the environmental health field, providing educational activities on health and environment connections to families and health professionals across Michigan. She coordinates environmental health policy, education, and outreach campaigns for the Ecology Center. She was appointed to Michigan’s Childhood Lead Elimination Commission in 2017 and founded the Great Lakes Lead Elimination Network in 2018. She works with lead-impacted families across Michigan to empower them to share their stories about lead’s impacts on their lives and works with health professionals to engage them in lead poisoning prevention. Rebecca leads the Filter First campaign in Michigan to ensure that school and child care drinking water is free of lead by using filtered drinking water stations and is a leader in the state-wide network the Michigan Alliance for Lead Safe Homes which aims to reduce children’s exposure to lead in paint, soil, and water across the state.

Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis

Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis has worked in the non-profit field for over 25 years gaining expertise in non-profit management, strategic planning, program development, fundraising, communications coalition building and advocacy. As executive director of WHE, she leads the organization’s initiatives, focusing on prevention of environmental exposures that impact public health, with an emphasis on working in environmental justice areas. Ms. Naccarati-Chapkis’ experience includes working closely with communities; local, state and federal governments; non-profit organizations; foundations and corporations. She has spoken at national, state, and local conferences and has been featured in regional media outlets. Ms. Naccarati-Chapkis holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and is a graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh’s Class of XXVIII. She serves on several non-profit and government boards and committees. She is the mom of three young adults and enjoys spending time outdoors with her family. Her dream for WHE is that children can live, learn and play in a world free of environmental harms.

Ruth Ann Norton

Ruth Ann Norton, President & CEO of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative, joined the organization in 1993 and has led its development into one of the nation’s most effective and foremost authorities on healthy housing and its impact on the social determinants of health and racial equity. An expert on lead poisoning prevention, healthy homes and the intersection of climate, energy and health, Ruth Ann directs GHHI’s national strategy, policy framework and services to integrate climate, healthcare and healthy housing as a platform for improved health, economic, educational and social outcomes for low-income communities.

She broadened the organization’s mission by designing the GHHI comprehensive model in 2009 in partnership with HUD and CDC that is built on a framework of cross-sector collaboration. GHHI works in over 75 partner jurisdictions to implement its model that effectively integrates resources to comprehensively deliver lead hazard reduction, healthy homes, energy efficiency and housing rehabilitation interventions. She has been at the forefront in building the business case for healthcare investments in housing to address the social determinants of health and racial equity.

Ms. Norton serves as a member of: the EPA Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, the National Leadership Academy for the Public’s Health, the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ National Advisory Group, the Ohio Asthma Council, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center For Population Health Information Technology Advisory Board. She is Chair of the Maryland Lead Poisoning Prevention Commission and is also a federally appointed Liaison Member to the CDC’s Lead Exposure and Prevention Advisory Committee.

Sunshine Pryor

Sunshine Pryor is the Director of Compliance, Development & Modernization at the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh.

Amanda Reddy

Amanda Reddy is the Executive Director of the National Center for Healthy Housing, an organization founded on the premise that better housing can be a powerful platform for better health. Amanda describes her path into the field of environmental health by saying that she took a job and found a calling. Over the last 15 years she has answered that call by working with communities to effectively prevent housing-related illness and injury by implementing evidence-based and equitable policies that improve housing quality. Prior to joining the National Center for Healthy Housing, Amanda was a research scientist supporting a range of New York State Department of Health programs focused on improving indoor and outdoor air quality in homes, schools, workplaces, and outdoor settings. Amanda has served as a national leader in securing sustainable financing for healthy homes services, evaluation of healthy homes programs and policies, and assisting communities in developing and implementing programs, services, and practices that improve housing quality. As Executive Director of NCHH she leads a team of housing, health, and environmental professionals with expertise in biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, public health, housing policy, industrial hygiene, healthcare financing, governmental relations, meeting facilitation, and communications. Since 1992, NCHH has managed over 100 multidisciplinary projects, worked with a broad array of federal, state, and local agencies, universities, community groups, and private research institutions, and published and contributed to over 150 articles and reports on environmental health and housing issues, many of which have directly impacted our nation’s healthy housing policy and practice. She holds degrees in environmental health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and neuroscience from Mount Holyoke College.

Jen Saks

Jenn Saks is the Program Supervisor of the Allegheny Lead Safe Homes Program in the County’s Economic Development department. She has managed the program, which provides free lead testing and remediation to low income families, since 2017. Prior to this role, she worked in New York City doing disaster case management for storm-affected residents after Hurricane Sandy. She has a BA in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh and an MA in Conflict Resolution from Johns Hopkins. Jenn is a native Pittsburgher and lives in Morningside with her husband.

Karin Shafer

Karin D Shafer, MEd is the Clinical Director for The Alliance for Infants and Toddlers, Inc. in Allegheny County. Karin started her professional career in an early childhood education childcare setting and has worked in the field of Early Intervention in some capacity for over 30 years in the areas of research, higher education, and the provision of home and community based developmental and behavioral health services. Karin has a master’s degree in Special Education with a specialization in Early Intervention and BA in speech and communication disorders from the University of Pittsburgh along with a graduate certificate in Infant Mental Health from Chatham University. Karin is certified in the Promoting First Relationships model of intervention and a certified parent trainer in the Circles of Security model. Karin is member of Lead Safe Allegheny where she is co-chair of the Education and Outreach committee, a participating member of Get the Lead Out Pittsburgh and The Lead Free Promise Project as part of their Early Intervention Communications Committee.

Will Stewart

Willie Stewart has been with the Housing Authority City of Pittsburgh for over 3 years. Willie started out as an HQS housing inspector for the agency and was promoted to Inspections Manager after 6 months. Willie received the Service Award for the agency in his first year as Manager. Willie has over 20 years of management experience prior to being employed with the housing authority and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing. Willie is a native of Canton, Ohio.

Erika Strassburger

Erika Strassburger is a member of Pittsburgh City Council serving District 8, which includes Pittsburgh’s Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, and Point Breeze neighborhoods. She was the first woman elected to this seat. She has been an outspoken advocate for policies promoting environment and climate justice, equitable and diverse communities, safe, complete streets, and an open, transparent, and responsive government. She is passionate about offering new ways for her constituents to be informed and involved in city government.

In addition to serving on City Council, Erika serves on the boards of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Squirrel Hill Health Center, and the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center.

Erika graduated from Bucknell University with a degree in Environmental Studies and a minor in International Relations. She lives in Squirrel Hill with her husband, Jordan and her son, Evan.

Rebecca Vidak

Rebecca Vidak, MSW, LCSW, CCM is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work. She is the Supervisor of Clinical Quality Management within Highmark Wholecare’s Special Needs Unit, holds the title of EPSDT Coordinator, and oversees Lead Programming at Gateway. Rebecca is active with Lead Safe Allegheny and has been a Co-Chair for the Data and Research Committee since July of 2020. She is also a participant in the Lead Free Promise Project.

Angel Wilson

Angel King Wilson is an activist, writer, filmmaker, and entrepreneur in Baltimore, MD. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Baltimore and is a recipient of the 2022 Maryland Literary Arts Grant. Angel is the co-director of the award-winning documentary, Hiding in the Walls, a film that offers an inside look into Baltimore’s lead poisoning crisis. She is driven by social reform and her pursuit of equality.