Renée Wilson-Simmons and Brad Wright are going to be starting as the new CHPPD newsletter co-editors starting from the Spring-Summer issue.
Renée is the senior associate for adolescent health and development
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Renee Wilson-Simmons |
at the Annie E. Casey Foundation Senior Associate for Adolescent Health & Development. She manages foundation initiatives and related grants and activities concerning adolescent health and development, including reproductive health, with a focus on identifying, developing, and taking to larger scale evidence-based interventions for families and youths involved with public human service systems. Before joining the foundation, Renée was a senior scientist at Education Development Center with responsibility for the development and implementation of a range of projects that addressed the health and safety needs of youths living in high-poverty urban areas. She was also director of the Health Promotion Program for Urban Youth at Boston City Hospital, principal investigator of the first Office of Minority Health-funded grant to develop a community-based coalition to prevent homicide in the African American community, and director of a five-year National Institutes of Health study of the long-term impact of a comprehensive adolescent health program on reductions in multiple-risk behaviors related to violence, substance abuse, and early and unprotected sexual activity among inner-city African American and Hispanic youths. Renée’s email is: RWilson-Simmons@aecf.org.
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Brad Wright |
Brad’s career in health policy began with plans to pursue a medical degree. Intending to provide charity care to the underserved, he studied biology at the University of Georgia. Soon, however, he began to question systems-level issues, wrote an honors thesis comparing the Swedish and U.S. health systems, and, by the time he graduated in May 2003, concluded that he wanted to become an advocate for social justice and health system reform. After college, Brad worked for a year with the Georgia Department of Public Health as an Environmental Health Specialist before enrolling in the masters program in health policy at The George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services. While in Our Nation’s Capital, Brad learned about health policy firsthand while working with the March of Dimes Office of Government Affairs, the Partnership for Medicaid, and the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU). In fact, Brad still works part-time as the health policy and advocacy assistant for ACU. Brad is currently pursuing his doctorate in health policy and administration with a minor in political science and policy development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also works as a teaching assistant. His research focuses on barriers to health care access and the social determinants of health in underserved populations. He is also interested in Medicaid reform efforts and studies of community responsiveness in primary care organizations. Brad’s email is: bradwright@unc.edu.
Welcome, Renée and Brad. We look forward to reading the newsletter this year and next.