Keynote Speaker

Ari Brown
M.D., FAAP

Talking with Parents about Vaccine Concerns

Pediatrician & Author
She graduated from Baylor College of Medicine and completed her pediatrics residency at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School. She has been in private practice for over 20 years and is the Founder and CEO of 411 Pediatrics in Austin, Texas. Her passion to educate families about children’s health goes beyond the office. She is the author of the best selling “411” parenting book series including Expecting 411: Clear Answers and Smart Advice for your Pregnancy, Baby 411, and Toddler 411. She has appeared on numerous national news and talk shows including the Today Show, CNN, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, and Rachael Ray. She is a trusted voice for children’s health, serving as a medical advisor for Parents Magazine and a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. She speaks to healthcare professionals and parenting groups across the country regarding accurate and compassionate health communications with families. Dr. Brown has received the prestigious Dr. Ralph Feigin Award and the American Academy of Pediatrics advocacy award.

Advocating for Policies to Restore Community Immunity

Plenary Speaker

Richard Pan
M.D., MPH

CALIFORNIA STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 6

Dr. Richard Pan is a pediatrician, former UC Davis educator and State Senator proudly representing counties in Sacramento. Dr. Pan chairs the Senate Committee on Health and the Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. He also chairs the Senate Select Committees on Children with Special Needs, Asian Pacific Islander Affairs and the 2020 United States Census. He serves on the Senate Committees on Agriculture; Business, Professions and Economic Development; and Education. First elected to the State Assembly in 2010, Dr. Pan strives to keep our communities safe and healthy.  When local governments planned to close fire stations during the recession, Dr. Pan authored legislation to bring over $100 million in federal funds for fire departments including $6 million for the Sacramento region.  He partnered with law enforcement and local businesses to establish a statewide database to catch thieves attempting to sell stolen property to pawnshops, and he authored legislation to allow campus police to use body cameras. TIME magazine called Dr. Pan a “hero” when he authored landmark legislation to abolish non-medical exemptions to legally required vaccines for school students, thereby restoring community immunity from preventable contagions.  Dr. Pan also authored one of the most expansive state laws regulating health plans eliminating denials for pre-existing conditions and prohibited discrimination by health status and medical history. He demands transparency and accountability in state health programs; holding hearings on reducing fraud, investigating poor access to dental care, and ensuring children with cancer and other serious conditions have access to pediatric specialty care. Dr. Pan provided leadership in enrolling families for health coverage, resulting in halving the number of uninsured in California, and he sponsored numerous health fairs providing resources including free glasses, dental screenings, and vaccines. Dr. Pan co-founded and served as chair of Healthy Kids Healthy Future, where he helped secure health, dental and vision coverage for over 65,000 children in the Sacramento area. He helped create the Sacramento Health Improvement Project, bringing together doctors, hospitals, clinics and community leaders to ensure that all Sacramento County residents have access to primary health care. Dr. Pan also serves on the United Way California Capitol Region Board and served on the BloodSource board and the Sacramento First Five Commission. For his leadership in education and community development, Dr. Pan has been recognized with the Campus Compact's Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning and the Physician Humanitarian Award from the Medical Board of California.

JILL JOHNSON
r.N., B.S.N., M.E.M.

Vaccine Administration Techniques & Strategies for Improving Uptake

Deschutes County Health Services - PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE, immunization program

Jill Johnson is a Public Health Nurse at Deschutes County Health Department in Bend, Oregon.  Her primary responsibilities are infectious disease investigation as part of the Communicable Disease Team and coordination of the Immunization Program. 

She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Oregon Health Sciences University and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management with a focus in stream ecology from Portland State University.  Over the past 29 years, she has worked in a variety of nursing specialties including intensive care, pre- and post-operative care, and nursing in schools. She changed gears for 5 years midstream and worked for her county’s Environmental Health Division in collaboration with the Oregon DEQ and USGS on a study looking at the occurrence and transport of nitrates and bacteria in groundwater.  She has found her niche in public health nursing and has been the coordinator for the Central Oregon Regional Immunization Improvement Project for the past 3 years. The project is a successful example of local efforts to optimize immunization services and improve vaccination coverage.
 

Holly Groom
M.P.H.

Vaccine Safety and Research

Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research - Senior Research Associate

Holly Groom, MPH, is a Senior Research Associate at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon. Since 2013, she has worked on the Vaccine Safety Datalink project, focusing on studies of vaccine safety. Prior to that, she worked as an Epidemiologist in health services research with the Centers for Disease Control’s Immunization Services Division, working on research related to immunization uptake at CDC from 2003-2008, and as a field assignee in the Oregon Immunization Program from 2009-2013.

Stephanie irving
m.h.s.

Vaccine Safety and Research

Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research - Senior Research Associate

Stephanie Irving, MHS, is a Senior Research Associate at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon. Since receiving her Master of Health Science from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health she has focused on research surrounding vaccine safety, effectiveness, and uptake. She has more than ten years of experience on the CDC-funded Vaccine Safety Datalink, the county’s foremost post-market vaccine safety surveillance system.

Allison Naleway
Ph.D.

Vaccine Safety and Research

Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research - Associate Director, Science Programs

Dr. Allison Naleway is the site Principal Investigator for the Vaccine Safety Datalink, a national project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that links automated medical records data from several integrated health care delivery.organizations to monitor vaccine safety. She has collaborated with the CDC on studies to assess the effectiveness of influenza vaccination during pregnancy, influenza vaccine choice and effectiveness in health care workers, and the early effect of human papillomavirus vaccination on HPV-related outcomes.

Minot Cleveland
M.D.

Community Health Advocacy

Legacy Health - Medical Director, Employee Health

An expert in health promotion and preventive medicine, Dr. Minot Cleveland is the Medical Director of Employee Health for Legacy Health in Portland, Oregon. HE was the first Project Director of "Active Living by Design in Three Oregon Communities," a grant funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  Dr. Cleveland is an accomplished speaker on physical activity, health promotion, health benefits of nature, and physical education. Dr. Cleveland was the 2003 President of the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity.  He is a founding member of the Physical Education for All Kids (PEAK) Coalition of Oregon.  Dr. Cleveland is a long-time volunteer for the American Heart Association and was the 1996-97 President of the American Heart Association - Oregon Affiliate.  Nominated by the AHA as a “Community Hero” for his efforts to promote physical activity, Dr. Cleveland was a Torchbearer in the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay.  In 2000 the Northwest Affiliate of the AHA presented him with its first Golden Advocate Award for helping pass legislation in Oregon to create statewide standards in physical education.

CHRISTINA BODAMER
B.a.

Community Health Advocacy

aMERICAN hEART ASSOCIATION - OREGON GOVERNMENT RELATIONS DIRECTOR

A ten-year veteran in healthcare non-profit government affairs, Christina is the Oregon Government Relations Director for the American Heart Association.  Christina endeavors to be a catalyst for positive change in the lives of all Oregonians.  Advocating for research-based policy changes at both the state and local level, the American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives.  Previous organizations include the Oregon Dental Association and the American Lung Association.

National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases - Nurse Educator

JoEllen Wolicki is a Nurse Educator with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Communication and Education Branch. Before joining CDC in 2010, she served for 14 years as a Nurse Consultant with the immunization program of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. At the Michigan immunization program, she worked with multiple programs. At CDC, JoEllen serves as a committee member of several work groups for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), contributes to the Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases textbook (the Pink Book), and works on many immunization training and educational materials and programs. She travels throughout the United States to educate healthcare providers on immunization. JoEllen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Detroit/Mercy.

joellen wolicki

BSN, RN

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Plenary Speaker

national center  for immunization and respiratory diseases - medical officer

Andrew Kroger, MD, MPH, graduated from Yale University in 1998 with a joint MD/MPH, concentrating in International Health. He trained in Pediatrics for two years at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland before transferring to Emory University where he specialized in Public Health and Preventive Medicine. He is board-certified in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine. Since 2003 he has worked at CDC in the National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases. As one of the traveling trainers in the Education, Information and Partnership Branch, Dr. Kroger presents on topics that include immunization updates and pandemic influenza preparedness. He is also involved with some of the new distance learning activities of the branch, including the Current Issues in Immunization Series delivered through NetConferencing, and is the lead author of the newest editionn of CDC’s General Recommendations on Immunization.

Andrew Kroger

M.D., MPH

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Plenary Speaker

jessica daniels

B.S.

Coordinator

IMMUNIZE OREGON COALITION

Jessica's passion to understand the origins of health conditions and discover opportunities to prevent diseases was shaped by her clinical and administrative experiences in health care. While obtaining her B.S. in Public Health at Oregon State University, she worked part-time as a nursing assistant (CNA) in Portland and cared for nursing home residents with a variety of physical, behavioral, and mental health disorders. Upon graduation, Jessica interned with the Infection Control team at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and later accepted a position at a Legacy Health primary care clinic. Joining the Legacy Employee Health team, Jessica is responsible for coordinating the annual flu immunization campaign that hosts mass vaccination clinics throughout the region. Outside of flu season, she participated on the Employee Wellness and Good Health Committee, introducing the new Passport to Good Health that presented summer wellness activities in the area. Taking on the Immunize Oregon coalition, she is eager to combine her skills and knowledge to fill the Coordinator role and dedicated to achieving health equity in our communities. Jessica is currently pursuing a Master's in Public Health through Oregon Health and Science University and Portland State University, with an anticipated graduation in Spring 2020. When she has free time, Jessica enjoys, exploring, hiking and camping in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Whether it's relaxing on a beach in Pacific City, white-water rafting the Deschutes River through Maupin, or playing in the snow at Mt. Hood, she adores spending time with her friends, family, significant other, and her big, red German Shepherd dog named Pavlov.