Our Partners

YSPH’s Office of Public Health Practice (OPHP) is the Connecticut partner of the New England Public Health Training Center, delivering a wide range of training programs and services that strengthen the public health workforce. OPHP leads the Connecticut Partnership for Public Health Workforce Development which brings together key training stakeholders to leverage resources and provide continuing education opportunities to Connecticut public health practitioners. The Office is also a designated provider of continuing education activities for Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®) and Master Certified Health Education Specialists (MCHES®). To access their trainings, go to TRAIN Connecticut or NEPHTC’s website, two free learning management systems.

Susan Nappi, MPH

Susan Nappi is the Executive Director of the Office of Public Health Practice at the Yale School of Public Health. With a diverse portfolio in public health practice and research, she has held multiple positions in Connecticut including Senior Director of Community Impact at the United Way of Greater New Haven, Executive Director of the Community Center of Excellence in Women’s Health (CCOE) at Griffin Hospital, and Practice Administrator of the Griffin Faculty Practice Plan. Susan has also managed research teams at the Yale School of Public Health and the VA Alcohol Research Center. Her primary interest is building collaborative, equitable, and mutually beneficial community-academic partnerships that espouse a multidisciplinary approach to addressing the social drivers of health. Susan is a first-gen college graduate and received her BA in psychology from the State University of New York, Purchase, and her MPH from Yale University in chronic disease epidemiology. She is currently pursuing her DrPH in Public Health Leadership at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health.

Maurine Crouch, MPH

Maurine Crouch is a program manager in the Office of Public Health Practice at the Yale School of Public Health. She works with the New England Public Health Training Center as the training partner for Connecticut, focused on continuing education for public health professionals. Prior to this position, she has worked in COVID response, substance use disorder research, health communication, and nutrition education. She received her BA in Anthropology from the University of Virginia and her MPH in Community Health Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

In addition to coordinating trainings in Connecticut, Maurine serves as part of the NEPHTC central office staff, managing the student field placement program, CHES credits, and acts as the expert on the TRAIN LMS.

The Maine Public Health Association (MPHA) collaborates with NEPHTC to produce monthly webinars on emerging public health issues in Maine and a podcast called Healthy Maine Talks. MPHA is the state’s oldest, largest, and most diverse association for public health professionals. They represent more than 850 individual members and 70 organizations across the state. As a statewide nonprofit association, they advocate, act, and advise on critical public health challenges, aiming to improve the policies, systems, and environments that underlie health inequities – but which also have potential to improve health outcomes for all people in Maine.

Rebecca Boulos, MPH, PhD, Executive Director

Dr. Boulos is MPHA’s Executive Director, having taken on the role in August 2016. Becca comes to this position having served on the MPHA Board from 2014-2016, including as vice-president of the Board. Her career in public health spans 13 years, having worked for research institutions and non-profit organizations. Prior to working for MPHA, Becca was assistant professor at the University of New England’s School of Community and Population Health, where she developed and directed a new undergraduate program in nutrition, and directed UNE’s undergraduate public health program. During her time at UNE, she served as either principal or co-principal investigator on several research grants, receiving funding from organizations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Her areas of specialization are community-based participatory research, nutrition, physical activity, and childhood obesity prevention.

Matt Wellington, Associate Director

Matt Wellington (he/him) is MPHA’s Associate Director. He manages MPHA’s membership recruitment and engagement, organizes its training program, and supports the organization’s advocacy and communications efforts.

Before coming to MPHA, Matt spent ten years working on public health campaigns nationally to keep antibiotics effective, reduce youth tobacco use, respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and more. He’s combined strategic communications with stakeholder organizing to achieve meaningful results for public health. Matt also has a deep history of training health professionals to be effective advocates and communicators on health issues, and has presented on those topics at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Yale School of Public Health, the World Medical Association and more. Matt also started and produces the Healthy Maine Talks podcast.

Zoe Hull, MPH, Director Maine AHEC Network

Zoe Hull, MPH is the Director of Maine AHEC Network at the Center for Excellence in Public Health. As a public health professional with a passion for health equity and community resilience, Zoe has spent the past eight years working with the AHEC program to support statewide efforts to reduce health disparities. Zoe is also a member of the team working on a grant entitled Partnering to Advance Wabanaki Wellness, which aims to enhance community driven and culture centered care for Wabanaki survivors of sexual assault. Before joining the AHEC team, Zoe was a research assistant and evaluator for Maine’s Youth Suicide Prevention Program, York County’s Drug-Free Communities Support Program, and the Healthy Maine Partnerships Initiative.

Prior to her work at the University, Zoe served as a case manager at a refugee resettlement agency. During that time, Zoe worked with individuals who had recently arrived as refugees, asylees, and asylum seekers, as well as immigrant survivors of human trafficking. Additionally, Zoe spent several years serving as an advocate at a sexual assault response center.

The NEPHTC funding helps train professionals from local, regional, and state public health agencies and school districts in Massachusetts. With 351 cities and towns and limited regional or county government, that’s a lot of school districts and health departments! In addition, NEPHTC hosts monthly webinars on a wide range of topics for public health professionals and community health workers, reaching attendees across the country.

The Massachusetts Local Public Health Training Program – Tier 2 offers hybrid trainings for local public health professionals on topics including housing, food safety, camps, wastewater, and pools. Additionally, public health officials can choose from fifty “On Your Time” trainings that cover foundational public health topics as well as public health sciences, emergency preparedness, environmental health, and disease surveillance and control. These free trainings are available online, 24/7, and can generally be completed in one to three hours

Angela Magardino, MPH, Program Manager, Massachusetts Local Public Health Training Program – Tier 2

Angela is the Program Manager for the MA Local Public Health Training Program. Angela holds a Master of Public Health degree from Boston University School of Public Health, where she specialized in Environmental Health and Maternal and Child Health. She earned her B.S. in Biology with a biomedical focus from Trinity College. Angela’s research interests are centered on understanding how both physical and social environments contribute to health disparities and well-being. She has experience in designing studies and developing questionnaires to assess the health impacts of environmental and transgenerational factors related to the Gulf War, with a particular emphasis on reproductive and child health. Passionate about advocating for environmental, climate, reproductive, and child health justice, Angela is committed to working with families and vulnerable populations while striving to transform the systemic structures that perpetuate health inequities.

BUSPH works in New Hampshire with the New Hampshire Public Health Association (NHPHA) to provide training in the most needed areas to the current and future public health workforce. NHPHA provides training opportunities to current practitioners and opportunities for public health students to learn more about the field, to be mentored and to network.

NEPHTC also partially funds several trainings for our Community Based Training Partner, the Southern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center (SNHAHEC).

Paula Smith, MBA, EdD

Dr. Smith is Director of Southern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center. Dr. Smith has led activities of the Southern NH AHEC since its inception in 1998. In this role, she is responsible for program development, financial management, and overseeing staff who work to increase access to quality health care in southern NH. For more than twenty years, Dr. Smith has been instrumental in developing programs that enhance workforce diversity, communication access and cultural effectiveness. In 2020, Dr. Smith established the SNHAHEC Center for Cultural Effectiveness which houses interpretation and community health worker training as well as workforce diversity programs for youth, the Diversity and Cultural Competence Trainers’ Circle and the Equity Leaders Fellowship Program.

Tory Jennison, PhD, RN, Executive Director

Biography coming soon.

NEPHTC works with Amy Nunn at the Rhode Island Public Health Institute (RIPHI) and the Rhode Island Department of Health to provide training and technical assistance on a variety of public health topics and to conduct public health workforce needs assessments in the state.

Laurie Leonard, MS

Ms. Leonard is the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health Academic Institute. As Academic Institute director, she oversees a cross program team that prioritizes training for the public health and community partner workforce, and manages research and student placement activities with Rhode Island colleges and universities. Prior to the Academic Institute, Ms. Leonard was Program Manager for the Oral Health program. In the fall of 2018, Ms. Leonard will provide guidance for the 3rd Rhode Island Health Equity Conference and for a statewide meeting entitled The Higher Education Behavioral Health Summit.

Rachael Sardinha, MPHA

Rachael Sardinha has been working in the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) Academic Institute since 2019. She is the Public Health and Healthcare Workforce Development Lead, through which she manages and provides support to multiple training and adult education programs. Rachael also serves as the Rhode Island TRAIN Administrator and is a board member for the RIDOH Institutional Review Board (IRB). She received her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from the University of Rhode Island in 2019 and will have received her Master’s in Public Health from the New England Institute of Technology by October 2023.

Amy Nunn, ScD, MSDr, Executive Director

Dr. Nunn is Associate Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Brown University School of Public Health, holds an appointment in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brown Medical School, and is Executive Director of the Rhode Island Public Health Institute (RIPHI). Her current research focuses on HIV and Hepatitis C prevention especially in terms of health disparities, and on pre-exposure prophylaxis implementation science programs. Dr. Nunn has forged innovative community partnerships to address health disparities. In 2012, she established a comprehensive, neighborhood-based HIV and HCV prevention and treatment program called “Do One Thing.” Dr. Nunn consults with the CT and RI LPS for special projects and student internship placements.

Dan Olson, Executive Director VtPHA

Dan joined the Vermont Public Health Association as Executive Director in March of 2023. Over Dan’s 20-plus year career, he has held various roles in for-profit and nonprofit organizations, all with a focus on improving the health of human and natural communities. Dan served as the Executive Director of the Colorado and New Mexico-based environmental advocacy organization San Juan Citizens Alliance. He also held multiple product management roles at Ecova (now ENGIE Impact), including Director of Product Management, leading the organization’s carbon accounting, waste, water, and strategy and engagement services. In addition to these roles, Dan was the founder of a consulting business that served the sustainable operation needs of small and medium-sized businesses in the Intermountain West, pioneered the use of environmentally-beneficial loan funds at Harvard University, and has served as a volunteer and board member of numerous nonprofits. In his free time, Dan and his family enjoy exploring the many and varied wonders of the Northeast and beyond.