Carl H. Rush, MRP, is currently an active consultant for Community Resources LLC, based in San Antonio, Texas.  Carl has been Secretary of the Community Health Worker Special Primary Interest Group/Section since 2008.  Carl was appointed to the APHA Education Board and elected to the APHA Governing Council in 2009.  His involvement with our Section’s CHW work at APHA dates back much farther than these formal critical roles.  He first got involved in APHA when he started working for a college-based CHW Program at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio in 2001, and he has, as he puts it, “had the privilege of working on final revisions to the 2001 (SPIG) Policy Statement on CHWs” during the APHA Annual Meeting in Atlanta.

Before becoming an active player in the CHW field, Carl worked in public health and community development for more than 30 years, including 11 years managing charitable grant making and corporate public affairs programs.  His involvement with CHW work began in 1995 when a friend and colleague at the University of Texas School of Public Health introduced him to the concept.  Carl shares he was "immediately fascinated" by the opportunity to combine public health and community-based economic development by creating jobs for CHWs.  By actually working with CHWs starting in 1997, he learned what a unique and valuable part of the community CHWs can be.

In addition to Carl’s work with CHWs and public health matters, he leads a lively artistic life as an actor; Carl has been featured in community theater productions since 1998.  He is also an experienced musician having played both the trumpet and trombone in his youth, and now regularly plays percussion and electric bass.  In addition to his artistic skills, Carl is a known "gadget freak" – he is fascinated by technology, and has worked with computers since 1967. He says he can't wait for an affordable electric car!  Finally, ever the politico, Carl was a precinct captain for Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries, and voted in caucuses and county convention as well.

J. Nell Brownstein, PhD, is a Health Scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she has been employed since 1990.  She is also an Associate Adjunct Professor of Public Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Ga.  Nell has been active with Community Health Worker (CHW) Special Primary Interest Group (SPIG) for many years, supporting its growth and development since the early 1990s.  For many years, Dr. Brownstein served as the SPIG’s Educational and Communications Liaison. Since we became a Section, she has been a general Advisor to the Section.  The SPIG/Section has relied on Nell’s support to keep communications going for many years.  She has also provided extensive technical support to the SPIG/Section in part based on her knowledge gained through management of a CHW literature and program data base for many years at the CDC as well as through her own research efforts.

Nell first became involved with the CHW field in 1990 when she began her work at the CDC with an assignment to serve as the technical monitor for the University of Arizona’s Arizona Prevention Center which had a focus on heart disease and cancer and which engaged CHWs and promotores to deliver interventions.  At that time she says she had no familiarity with CHWs or promotores but she learned quickly, reaching out across the nation to learn from others working in the field.  It was in those early years that she found the SPIG and became an active contributor and member.

Dr. Brownstein’s current CHW projects and activities include playing an active leadership role in producing The Community Health Worker’s Sourcebook: a Training Manual for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (English and Spanish versions).  She is also involved with the development and evaluation of the use of family-oriented consumer products for Hispanic populations: fotonovelas and promotores guides on salt and cholesterol. Nell reports that she is committed to helping others “recognize the effectiveness of Community Health Workers as front-line public health workers…and to promot(ing) comprehensive policy and systems changes to promote involvement of CHWs.”  When Nell is not working as a professor, researcher, author, and mentor, she can be found at craft shows and garage sales in greater Atlanta.  She is also a great guide at the APHA’s Annual Meeting with many survival and networking tips.