ABOUT US

Prevention Institute Staff

Executive Director: Larry Cohen

Executive Assistant: Anna Realini
Managing Directors: Rachel Davis, Leslie Mikkelsen
Program Directors: Manal Aboelata, Elizabeth Waiters
Program Managers: Jeremy Cantor, Sana Chehimi, Virginia Lee, Annie Lyles, Linda Shak
Administrative Manager: Justin Probert

Program Coordinators: Linnea Ashley, Carol Chao, Sonia Lee
Program Assistants: Sarah Adler-McDonald, Sam Davidson, Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, Sharon Rodriguez, Lolan Sevilla, Janani Srikantharajah

UC Berkeley Graduate Student Interns: Rhianna Babka, Abigail Rowe

Administrative Assistants: Christine Chang, Larry Nguyen, Quoc To

Staff emails available with individual staff bios.

Board of Directors

Larry Cohen
Prevention Institute
Oakland, CA
Larry Cohen's Bio

Judy Derman, MHS
Clinical Transactions Practice Leader, Kaiser Permanente
Oakland, CA
Judy Derman works in the Internet Services Group at Kaiser Permanente developing and implementing web-based transactions for Kaiser Permanente members. She has worked for 17 years at Kaiser Permanente in a variety of roles including health education, implementing breast cancer quality improvement programs and managing the development of clinical practice guidelines.

Anthony B. Iton, MD, JD, MPH

Alameda County Public Health Department Director and Health Officer

Oakland, CA

Kathleen Martin, MPA, Treasurer
Office of the Sheriff (retired), Contra Costa County, CA
Marblehead, MA
Kathleen Martin is currently doing volunteer work with the Abbott Public Library and North Shore Elder Services in Massachusetts. Most recently, she has been responsible for budget development and implementation, as well as contract and grant management in public health and law enforcement agencies. Ms. Martin is retired from state and local government service in New York and California. She has been responsible for policy development and program implementation in the field of Developmental Disabilities.

Michael Pastor, MSW, Chair
New York Psychotherapy Group
Bronx, NY
Michael Pastor has a private psychotherapy practice in New York providing individual, couple, and group therapy, and private supervision. He has worked at the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, and has joined the board of New York Psychotherapy Group, a sliding scale referral service in 1982 and served alternately as chair, secretary, treasurer, and art director. Michael has also worked as a tenant organizer in his spare time throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Michael received his MSW in 1977 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Daniel P. Perales, DrPH, MPH
Professor, San Jose State University
San Jose, CA
Dr. Daniel Perales is an Associate Professor of Public Health in the San Jose State University, Department of Health Science, Master of Public Health Program, where his teaching duties include courses in Health Promotion, Social Marketing, and Program Planning and Evaluation. Dr. Perales has 20 years of program evaluation experience that include studies of bicycle safety helmet use, tobacco control, nutrition education and food security, childhood immunization interventions, environmental justice, and HIV harm reduction needle exchange programs.

Marilyn Ritholz, Ph.D.
Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
Marilyn Ritholz, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in Massachusetts. She has a Harvard Medical School appointment and is a Senior Psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. She also supervises post-doctoral fellows and staff at the Joslin and at Children's Hospital in Boston. In addition, she has a private practice in Lexington, Massachusetts specializing in chronic illness, depression, and anxiety.

Elva Yañez

Director, Audobon Center at Debs Park

Elva Yañez is Director of the Audubon Center at Debs Park where she is responsible for the development of innovative, community-relevant outreach and education programs.  Formally, Director of the Center for Parks and Health at the Trust for Public Land, she has worked in the field of public health for 17 years and is recognized as an expert on tobacco and alcohol policy issues as well as grassroots organizing, coalition building and media advocacy. While at Trust for Public Land, Ms. Yañez was responsible for conceptualizing and directing the Healthy Parks, Healthy Communities program which address the inter-related social justice issues of health disparities and park inequities, and promotes increased public funding for parks, playgrounds, community gardens and other physical activity opportunities as a policy solution.

Prevention Institute Board of Advisors

Prevention Institute's Board of Advisors consists of leaders representing a broad range of professions and disciplines.

Advisory Committees

The individuals on each of the advisory committees have expertise related specifically to a project or topic area within Prevention Institute. Advisory committees developed for specific topic areas are called upon for their expertise in that particular area and assist in the research and development of the project. Below is a list of Prevention Institute's Advisory Committees:

First Steps Technical Advisory Group
Intergroup Relations Technical Advisory Group
National Center for the Health of Men, Boys and Society Technical Advisory Group
Satellite Broadcasts Technical Advisory Group
THRIVE Advisory Group

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Putting Prevention at the Center of Community Well Being
www.PreventionInstitute.org