Administrative Team

Kate Wright, EdD, MPH
Director/PI
Associate Professor
wrightks@slu.edu
314/977-8120

Kate is faculty in the Department of Health Management and Policy.  She has oversight responsibility for all Heartland Centers’ activities including, organizational and workforce strategic development operations, advisory functions, and development of strategic alliances, partnerships, and ventures, the CPHP including PHTC Networks and other academic-practice partnerships. 

Michael Thomas, MPH
Associate Director
Instructor
thomasmw@slu.edu
314/977-4350

Mike is faculty in the Department of Health Management and Policy.  He is responsible for expanding HC partnerships and alliances with broad sector public health community related partners, in particular emergency management and first responder agencies and organizations and provides niche/expertise/ technical assistance to national, state, and local partners. 

Diane Weber, BA, RN
Manager
weberdl@slu.edu
314/977-3219

Diane is involved in managing HC operations, human resources procedures, grant/contract reports, and implementation of the HC Strategic Plan. 

Barb Schaefer
Administrative Assistant
bschaef9@slu.edu
314/977-8162

Barb provides administrative assistance and support including daily operational functions to support the Centers’ administration and staff. 

Cathy Harris
Administrative Secretary
charri29@slu.edu
314/977-8274

Cathy provides administrative assistance and support including daily operational functions to support the Centers’ administration and staff.

Advisors

Richard Kurz, PhD
Dr. Kurz is professor of health management and policy and Chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy in the School of Public Health at Saint Louis University.  He served as Dean of the School of Public Health from 1993 through 2001.  He received his baccalaureate degree in sociology from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia (1967) and his doctoral degree in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1976).

James Romeis, PhD
Dr. Romeis teaches courses in health care organization and is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the International Center for Advances in Health Systems Management.  Dr. Romeis helped organize a three course sequence in disaster preparedness at Saint Louis University School of Public Health.  He also is the Director at the Comparative Aging and Health Status Laboratory.  His primary research interests are incorporating genetic factors in models of health services utilization.

Timothy McBride, PhD
Dr. McBride teaches courses in health policy and health economics.  His research focuses on Medicare reform, the uninsured and insurance markets, rural health, Medicaid, and long-term care.  McBride is co-author of a book, over 30 journal articles and book chapters in these subject areas.  He is currently studying the rising health costs in rural areas, access to health care in rural areas, the geographic impact of physician payment, social security reform, access to care for children with special health care needs, and access to insurance for welfare recipients.

Gary Christmann
Gary has over 17 years of health care and emergency management experience that includes a variety of clinical and management positions in emergency response work in hospitals, emergency medical services, disaster response teams and incident command instruction. He currently serves as Chief at the St. Louis City Emergency Management Agency; Adjunct Assistant Professor in Health Management and Policy Saint Louis University School of Public Health; Deputy Commander of Missouri Medical Assistance Teams (D-MAT 1), and Technical Advisor to homeland security, law enforcement, public health, medical and emergency management agencies at the local, state, and federal level.

Robert Crecelius, MSW
Bob serves as Chief Parole and Probation Officer for the City of St. Louis.  He has over twenty-five years of experience in the field of criminal justice and has focused on the development of preparedness programs and training curriculums within the St. Louis City Department of Corrections.  He has served as Adjunct Faculty to a number of educational entities and is currently Adjunct Assistant Professor Health Management and Policy at Saint Louis University School of Public Health.

Samuel J. Simon, MA
Sam was appointed as Director of Public Safety by Mayor Francis Slay in November 2002.  He served 23 years in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department where he held numerous positions.  He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and currently is serving as coordinator for Homeland Security for the St. Louis Metropolitan region and has been designated as the point of contact for the Urban Area Security Initiative Grant administered by the U. S. Department of Justice Office of Domestic Preparedness.  Presently he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor Health Management and Policy at Saint Louis University School of Public Health.

Bill Seidhoff, MSW, LCSW
In 2001, Bill joined the cabinet of Mayor Francis G. Slay as the Director of the Department of Human Services (DHS), City of St. Louis.  Over the course of his career, Bill has served and headed many boards and committees dedicated to the provision of social services at the state and local level. Committed to social work education, Bill serves on advisory boards for all four of the social work schools in the State of Missouri.  He has also been an adjunct professor at Saint Louis University and the University of Missouri-Columbia. 

Operations Team

Susan Prichard, BSBA
Senior Multimedia Coordinator
prichard@slu.edu
314/977-3224

Susan is responsible for development, production and distribution of all the technology-mediated education and training programs, products and services.  This includes the design and development of CD-ROMs, coordinating and managing web casts, satellite feeds and the development of web-based education and training and designing and managing the website.  She also is responsible for all graphic design development of printed and electronic materials.

Christy McFarland, BSBA
Learning Management System Coordinator
mcfarlcm@slu.edu
314/977-8295

Christy has primary responsibility for the management and coordination of the Integrated Learning Management System (LMS).  She offers user help desk support, assists in course development, oversees placing of courses and conferences into the system, and maintains all other aspects of the LMS.   She also trains agencies to use the agency management function within the LMS, develops and conducts trainings for individuals and special groups on LMS usage, and develops training materials.  

Mandi McArthur, BA
Financial Coordinator
amcarthu@slu.edu
314/977-4026

Mandi coordinates the development and management of the HC budgets, in collaboration with the HC Director, Manager and Senior Project Coordinator.  She works closely with the Project Coordinators to determine individual project budgets and manages and administers the day-to-day budget and expenditures and general HC business operations. 

Kelly Ewertowski, MSW
Senior Program Coordinator
ewertokm@slu.edu
314/977-3233

Kelly coordinates activities of Project Coordinators and Research Assistants in the development and implementation of the Center’s strategic workforce development plan including education and training; program approvals, processes, and supporting documentation; curriculum plans, timelines, and procedures; support for local, state, and national partnerships; coordination of statewide, multi-state, and national meetings and conferences, and coordination of programmatic linkages to the Learning Management System.

Program Team

Pat Lindsey, MPH
Program Director, Tobacco Prevention Center (?)
lindseyp@slu.edu
314/977-8104

Nicole Kozma, MPH
Program Coordinator
kozmanf@slu.edu
314/977-8136

Nicole coordinates all activities related to the national Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute, including the Curriculum Development/Planning Committee, communication with Institute sponsors, mentor roles and responsibilities, individual development coach roles and responsibilities,speakers and session arrangements, and report development and dissemination.

Alexis Bruce-Staudt, MSW
Program Coordinator
abrucest@slu.edu
314/977-8145

Alexis is responsible for the overall coordination of all the National Public Health Leadership Development Network (NLN) committee and workgroup activities, meetings, conference calls, as well as the compilation of reports, communication with membership about NLN activities, and for planning and coordination of the Annual Conference and other educational sessions. 

Lillie McDaniels, MPH
Program Coordinator
mcdanilm@slu.edu
314/977-8129

Lillie creates, compiles, and analyzes evaluations for public health
preparedness programs. This includes developing evaluation models to assess
competencies at the individual and organizational levels; creating and
statistically verifying exercise/program learning objectives; and, compiling
and analyzing evaluation results.

Gina Banks, MPH
Program Coordinator
banksg@slu.edu
314/977-4057

Gina creates, compiles, and analyzes evaluations for public health
preparedness programs. This includes developing evaluation models to assess
competencies at the individual and organizational levels; creating and
statistically verifying exercise/program learning objectives; and, compiling
and analyzing evaluation results.

Research/Graduate Assistant Team

Jamie O’Hare, BS
Project Coordinator
oharejc@slu.edu
314/977-8281

Jamie coordinates all activities related to the Missouri Public Health Leadership Institute and the national Public Health Education Leadership Institute, including communications with all Institute fellows and mentors, speaker and session arrangements, assessment and evaluation, and case study development.

The Emerging Leaders Institute is sponsored by the UIC-SPH Center for Public Health Practice and the Heartland Centers at St. Louis University, School of Public Health. The Institute is part of a continuum of training programs that strengthen the public health workforce through coordinated training and organizational development. The Emerging Leaders Institute builds public health practice by combining cutting edge face-to-face training with individual infrastructure improvement projects. As the conclusion of the program, Fellows will be prepared to assume leadership positions within their agencies, and will have the skills necessary to lead collaborative initiatives that characterize public health practice.

Kick-Off Conference
May 14-16, 2008
UIC-SPH in Chicago, IL

Dates and locations for the six and twelve month meetings will be announced soon! For eligibility and fee information, contact Rani Saxena at
312-996-7919 or at rmishra@uic.edu