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The Community Guide Staff
Community Guide staff provide scientific, technical, and administrative support to the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF). They are based at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and include epidemiologists, behavioral and social scientists, systematic review methodologists, statisticians, economists, clinicians, communication specialists, health educators, and policy experts. Community Guide staff members do the following:
- Coordinate systematic review teams
- Assure that each review is scientifically conducted according to approved methods
- Write and publish review findings
- Disseminate and participate in the translation of review findings to intended users including public health practitioners, policymakers, and researchers
- Create and maintain partnerships with representatives of intended user audiences
- Develop and refine systematic review methods
- Provide consultation and training about systematic reviews and developing evidence-based recommendations
CDC Community Guide Staff Members
Amy Lansky, PhD, MPH
Director
Julie Racine-Parshall, BA
Deputy Director
Jeanette St. Pierre, MPH, MA
Lead for Partnerships and Dissemination Team
Anita Alston, PhD, MBA, CHES
Health Scientist
Sioux Henley Campbell, BA
Health Communication Specialist
Sajal K. Chattopadhyay, PhD
Economist
Ramona Finnie, DrPH, MPH, CHES
Service Fellow
David P. Hopkins, MD, MPH
Coordinating Scientist and Chief Medical Officer
Verughese Jacob, PhD, MPH, MS
Senior Service Fellow
Sophia Minor, MBA/HCM
Health Communications Specialist
Yinan Peng, PhD, MPH
Service Fellow
Renee Stein, PhD
Coordinating Scientist
Holly Wethington, PhD
Coordinating Scientist
Consultants and Contractors
Arielle Arnold, MS
Project Coordinator
Andreia Brandon, BA
Senior Executive Assistant
Joe Bryce, BS
Web Developer
Leigh Ramsey Buchanan, PhD, MS
Health Scientist
Krista Hopkins Cole, MPH
Health Communications Specialist
Stacy Harmon, PhD
Behavioral Scientist
Jeff Reynolds, MPH
Health Scientist
Biographical Sketches
Federal Staff
Amy Lansky, PhD, MPH
Amy Lansky serves as director of the Community Guide Office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of the Associate Director for Policy and Strategy (OADPS). In this role, she oversees the prioritization, production, and communication of evidence-based systematic reviews on the effectiveness and economics of public health programs, services, and other interventions. This includes supporting the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF), disseminating CPSTF recommendations and findings, and building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with partners.
Since joining CDC in 1991, Dr. Lansky’s achievements have included developing and evaluating behavioral interventions for HIV prevention, conducting epidemiologic research to inform HIV prevention programs and policy development, and designing and implementing surveillance systems. She served as deputy director for surveillance, epidemiology, and laboratory science in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at CDC from 2008-2014. From 2015-2017 she served as director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy and as senior policy advisor in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Dr. Lansky has published more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals and CDC’s flagship publication, MMWR, about issues such as population size estimates for groups at risk for HIV, sampling methods for reaching high-risk populations, and uptake of HIV prevention guidelines.
Dr. Lansky holds doctoral and master’s degrees in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Swarthmore College.
Julie Racine-Parshall, BA
Ms. Racine-Parshall is the deputy director of the Community Guide Office. In this role, she oversees management and operations for the office and operational support to the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF).
Since joining CDC in 2004, Ms. Racine-Parshall served in public health policy, strategic planning, and project management roles for the CDC Office of Financial Resources and the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Before CDC, she spent nearly 20 years as a management consultant for an international consulting company, other private corporations, and independently. She supported both federal and private sector clients in strategic planning, business process improvement, and project management. She also served as the finance director for an community redevelopment agency, where she secured and managed federal and state funding for interventions aimed at improving economic conditions within the community. Ms. Racine-Parshall holds a bachelor's degree in English from the State University of New York.
Jeanette St. Pierre, MPH, MA
Jeanette St. Pierre is the lead health communication specialist for the Partnerships and Dissemination Team in the Community Guide Office. She previously served as the Associate Director for Communication Science (ADCS) for CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases, leading national campaigns targeted to health care providers and the public for increasing awareness and prevention of viral diseases. Also, she led communication teams for emergency response activations, including for MERS, measles, enterovirus D68, and acute flaccid myelitis. Previously, Ms. St. Pierre served as the ADCS for the Office of Public Health Genomics, where she led national efforts to promote the integration of genomics into public health research, policy, and programs. Prior to this, she worked in global health, developing communication and educational tools to support outbreak response in the African region and epidemiology and laboratory training programs globally.
Anita Alston, PhD, MBA, CHES
Dr. Alston is a health scientist in the Community Guide Office. Dr. Alston serves as project lead for evaluation and strategic planning and performance reporting activities. She is responsible for planning, coordinating, monitoring, and reporting progress on evaluation and strategic planning activities. She has worked at CDC in various public health positions since 2001. Prior to joining the Community Guide Office, she served as a public health consultant (contractor) in CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. In this role, she served as a data management subject management expert for CDC's National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System and Medical Monitoring Project surveys. Dr. Alston holds a doctorate in public health, master's degree in healthcare management, and is a certified health education specialist.
Sioux Henley Campbell, BA
Ms. Campbell is a health communication specialist on the Partnership and Dissemination team of the Community Guide Office where she manages projects, develops content strategy, and produces written and visual communications. A CDC full-time employee since 2015, Ms. Campbell has worked on foodborne diseases and prevention communication, the Ebola and Zika outbreaks, public health information dissemination, and equal employment opportunity issues. Prior to starting at CDC, Ms. Campbell worked as a contract writer-editor for Northrop Grumman Corporation assigned to CDC. Before that, Ms. Campbell was self-employed for over 20 years as a project manager and content developer with a client-list that included Fortune 100 corporations, non-profits, start-ups, and government organizations. Ms. Campbell holds a BA in advertising and public relations and certificates in technical communication and instructional design and technology.
Sajal K. Chattopadhyay, PhD
Dr. Chattopadhyay is the principal economic advisor for the Community Guide Office. He directs the Community Guide's economic reviews. He previously served as a senior economist at CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control and as the chief of the Prevention Effectiveness Branch in the Epidemiology Program Office at CDC. Before joining CDC, he was a member of the economics faculty at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Chattopadhyay is a founding member of the International Health Economics Association. He coordinated the collaborative work between CDC and the Institute of Medicine on re-estimating health benefits of federal regulations with different health-related quality-of-life measures and, more recently, served as an economic advisor for the Purchaser's Guide to Clinical Preventive Services. Dr. Chattopadhyay received his doctorate in economics with a specialization in health economics.
Ramona Finnie, DrPH, MPH, CHES
Dr. Finnie is a service fellow in the Community Guide Office where she has worked on systematic reviews for intervention approaches to prevent cardiovascular disease, childhood obesity, health equity and intimate partner and sexual violence. As an ORISE fellow with the Community Guide, she worked on the review team evaluating effectiveness of mental health benefits legislation. Prior to joining the Office, Dr. Finnie was a visiting faculty member at Arizona State University, working in the Department of African and African-American Studies on a qualitative study of African American's experiences with colorectal cancer screening. Before that, she was a research analyst for Special Populations Research [now Underserved Populations Research] at the Behavioral Research Center within the American Cancer Society. Dr. Finnie holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Public Health. She attained a doctor of public health (DrPH) degree with a global health concentration and field research related to delayed care-seeking and diagnosis for tuberculosis (TB) and non-adherence to TB treatment in Limpopo Province, South Africa.
David P. Hopkins MD, MPH
Dr. Hopkins joined the Community Guide Office in 1997. He now serves as medical officer while continuing to coordinate and conduct systematic reviews on a wide variety of topics. Dr. Hopkins is board certified in Internal Medicine and has a master's degree in public health. In 1995, after two years practicing clinical medicine in California, Dr. Hopkins joined CDC as an EIS officer and spent two years assigned to the New York State Tuberculosis Control Bureau in Albany, New York.
Verughese Jacob, PhD, MPH, MS
Dr. Jacob has been an economist with the Community Guide since 2008. During the time, he has contributed to the development and refinement of methods for systematic economic reviews and completed numerous reviews in a range of topic areas. Prior to joining CDC, Jacob consulted for affirmative public procurement programs that promote development of disadvantaged businesses. Jacob holds a doctorate in economics and master’s degrees in public health and in applied statistics.
Sophia Minor, MBA/HCM
Ms. Minor is a health communications specialist on the Partnerships and Dissemination Team of the Community Guide Office. She spearheads various strategic communications and planning initiatives, including social media. Ms. Minor’s CDC career includes work on strategic communications development, project management, partnerships and employee engagement, and training. Her work has included creative oversight and cross clearance management for multiple edutainment projects, such as How To Get Away With Murder (ABC) and Chicago Med (NBC), and she has overseen new business development and partnership initiatives across multiple sectors. Prior to CDC, she developed, launched, and managed AT&T’s first and most successful national pilot of multi-media campaign initiatives targeting African American consumers. Her work prior to AT&T included management of marketing communications for a global non-profit organization. Ms. Minor holds a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Health Care Management and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mental Health and Human Services.
Yinan Peng, PhD, MPH
Dr. Peng is a service fellow in the Community Guide Office, leading reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of tobacco control interventions and motorcycle helmet laws. Dr. Peng was an ORISE fellow with the Community Guide Office for several years and worked on review teams evaluating effectiveness of various tobacco control interventions and school dismissal to reduce the spread of influenza virus during pandemics. Prior to joining the Community Guide Office, Dr. Peng served two years with the U.S. Peace Corps in Kenya and Botswana, where she worked on HIV/AIDS related issues, and assisted in planning, coordinating, monitoring and evaluating HIV/AIDS activities. Dr. Peng holds a doctorate in molecular and cellular pharmacology and a master's degree in public health.
Renee Stein, PhD
Dr. Stein is a coordinating scientist with the Community Guide Office, where she leads systematic reviews on health equity and social determinants of health. Prior to joining the Community Guide Office, Dr. Stein worked in CDC’s Division of Human Development and Disability where she led the Disability Science and Program Team and oversaw epidemiological and programmatic support for CDC-funded disability and health programs (2019-2020). Before that, she served as a behavioral scientist with the Community-based Organizations Monitoring and Evaluation Team within the Program Evaluation Branch in CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (2005-2019). Her work focused on monitoring and evaluating HIV prevention and surveillance programs, facilitating the use of data to improve programs, and improving understanding of HIV-related health disparities and social determinants of health. Dr. Stein holds doctoral and master’s degrees in psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Florida.
Holly Wethington, PhD
Dr. Wethington is a coordinating scientist in the Community Guide Office. Prior to joining the Community Guide, Dr. Wethington worked with CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity conducting research and evaluation of behaviors associated with obesity. She also worked with the Community Guide Office from 2006-2007 as an ORISE research fellow. She received her doctorate in social psychology.
Consultants and Contractors
Arielle Arnold, MS
Ms. Arnold (Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions) is a project coordinator in the Community Guide Office. In this role, she develops and manages processes, plans, and tools for tracking, managing, and reporting on Community Guide Office projects. Previously, Ms. Arnold served as a project specialist for InterContinental Hotels Group, where she was responsible for project planning, analyzing, implementing, and facilitating the Design and Construction Team's various initiatives, global programs, and team trainings. Ms. Arnold has expertise in human resources-related projects, tasks, and systems. She has a Bachelor of Arts in communications and a Master’s of Science in business.
Andreia Brandon, BA
Ms. Brandon (Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions) is a senior executive assistant supporting the Community Guide Office’s senior leadership and the logistics coordinator for the CPSTF. Ms. Brandon has worked at CDC for years as an executive assistant supporting senior leaders. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, international relations and a Minor of Arts degree in journalism, both from Georgia State University. She is also a graduate of Gwinnett Technical College and is certified in commercial photography and graphic arts.
Joe Bryce, BS
Mr. Bryce (Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions) serves as web developer on the Partnerships and Dissemination Team of the Community Guide Office and is responsible for the design and maintenance of the Community Guide website. Mr. Bryce has more than fifteen years experience in web development and design and has managed sites for a wide range of clients, including CDC's Public Health Library. Mr. Bryce holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration and information systems management.
Leigh Ramsey Buchanan, PhD, MS
Dr. Ramsey Buchanan (Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions) is a health scientist with the Community Guide Office, working on the effectiveness review teams for obesity and women’s health. Dr. Ramsey Buchanan began working with the Community Guide Office in 2000 as a research fellow. In 2002, she joined CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer assigned to the New Hampshire State Health Department and went on to work with CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. Dr. Ramsey Buchanan holds a doctorate in physiology and a master's degree in exercise physiology.
Krista Hopkins Cole, MPH
Ms. Cole (Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions) is a health communications specialist on the Partnerships and Dissemination Team of the Community Guide Office. In this role, she manages and develops content for The Community Guide website and disseminates information about CPSTF findings. Before joining the Community Guide, Ms. Cole served as a health communication specialist for CDC's Injury Center where she led communication activities for the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention and worked to promote the application of behavioral sciences to injury prevention. She has led health communication activities for state and county agencies and nonprofit organizations. Ms. Cole has a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and a master's degree in public health with an emphasis in health behavior and health education.
Stacy Harmon, PhD
Dr. Harmon (Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions) is a behavioral scientist with the Community Guide Office, working in the areas of cardiovascular disease and physical activity. Prior to this position, Dr. Harmon worked for the CDC Foundation where she participated in a systematic review of healthcare provider performance in low and middle income countries. Before that, she was a visiting lecturer at Georgia State University, where she taught courses in Social Statistics, Birth and Parenthood, Gender and Society, and Social Problems.
Jeff Reynolds, MPH
Mr. Reynolds (Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions) is a health scientist with the Community Guide Office, working on the effectiveness review teams for cardiovascular disease and physical activity. Mr. Reynolds was an ORISE research fellow with the Community Guide Office from 2011-2015 and contributed to systematic reviews on topics including excessive alcohol use, mental health, motor vehicle injury, and tobacco control. He holds a bachelor of science degree in cellular biology and microbiology and a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in epidemiology.