I am the Executive Director for Population Health at Spectrum Health Lakeland (SHL) in St. Joseph, Michigan. In this role, I support strategic efforts to improve the health of the regional population.

Since 2018, I have been a commissioner of the city of St. Joseph. I am also a member of the Downtown Development Planning Committee and I have served on a number of boards within our community, including the Edgewater Bank Board, Benton Harbor Promise Zone, the Berrien County Mental Health Authority, and Cornerstone Alliance. 

In 2018, I received a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Culture of Health Leadership award. This leadership program is for people working in a wide variety of professionals seeking to build a Culture of Health. For more about the Culture Health Leadership program, please visit https://cultureofhealth-leaders.org/

I’ve been a keynoter, a panelist, and a moderator at conferences throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe on topics including social exclusion, the social determinants of mental health, mental health impact assessment, and health equity as well as social problems such as poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, incarceration, violence, homelessness.  For a list of select presentations please see my CV.

Upcoming Presentations

Nov 6th: Training – Adverse Childhood Experiences, Watervliet Community Schools (Michigan)

November 15th: Presentation – Society of History and Racial Equity Annual Summit on Racism

December 3rd: Panel Moderator – Modern Health Care Magazine, Social Determinants of Behavioral Health, Detroit, MI

December 6th: Training – Adverse Childhood Experiences for Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Michigan

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I am passionate about population health and, in particular, the health marginalized and disadvantaged communities. To that end, I have served on the boards of such organizations such as Sergeant Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, and the Heartland Alliance for Human Rights and Human Needs.

I have written a number of opinion pieces including:

Berrien County children are suffering their own ‘invisible’ traumas. Herald Palladium. June 2018

In the wake of Flint crisis, are we asking the right questions? Guest Column, Herald Palladium February 21, 2016.

The overlooked effect of ‘criminal records’ on the unemployed. Chicago Crain’s “Morning 10.” June 6, 2013.

Arson: Blue-collar America is burning. Flint Journal. April 8, 2013.

Modern life is killing us. salon.com. August 11, 2012.

New EEOC guidelines on discrimination based on arrests, convictions bring hope to some communities. Chicago Reporter. May 9, 2012.

Arrests and Hiring. New York Times. Editorial Page. May 6, 2012.

Depiction of Englewood isn’t Fair. Chicago Sun-Times. October 2011.

We are working to determine the impact that both Community
Grand Rounds and Brave Talks are having on our community at large. This research leverages my role as a Robert Wood Johnson Culture of Health Leader.

Previously, I examined the relationship between diet and anti-social behaviors among youth. I did this work to determine whether living in a food desert (one of the many social determinants of health) might be a factor contributing to community violence. I am currently developing research around other social determinants of health, such as employment, income, education and housing.

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Tasha N. Turner, MA, LLPC, Program Director, Trauma Informed Initiatives  discusses our physical response to stress. 

Our physical well-being is reliant on our mental and emotional state.

The Community Grand Rounds Initiative requires the use of a health equity lens to identify and address the impact of institutional policies on health inequalities. The statistics support this focus.

 Dr. Lynn Todman shares how “CGR” became a speaker’s series designed to deepen the understanding of how racism impacts the health in communities of color.

Spurred on by the findings of Lakeland Health’s Community Needs Assessment, Todman found significant health disparities in the region that she wanted to delve into further.

Todman shares she wants people to walk away with increased awareness around the following:

1. There is no biological basis for the concept of race
2. Racism is a form of psychological trauma
3. Like all forms of trauma the toxic impacts are preventable.
   

Kaiser Permanente’s Dr. Bechara Coucair interviewed by Spectrum Health Lakeland’s Norma Tirado on what matters most to community health. 

While the science indicates that it does, children in one Benton Harbor, Michigan, school helped to demonstrate the link between better mental health and a food palate that involves less sugar, preservatives, trans fats and other additives and more fish, whole grains and green leafy vegetables. During the 12-week project, the students at Sorter ate meals based on scientific studies over the past 20 years that show a strong correlation between diets high in omega 3 fatty acids, vitamins and other essential nutrients help to reduce aggressive and anti-social behavior. Here’s what we learned from Sorter School’s staff and project leads.

Here are some interesting and important TED Talks on the subject of racism and its impact on health. The first is by Dr. David Williams, our July 2018 Community Grand Rounds speaker.

The new field of epigenetics sees that genes can be turned on and off and expressed differently through changes in environment and behavior. Rachel Yehuda is a pioneer in understanding how the effects of stress and trauma can transmit biologically, beyond cataclysmic events, to the next generation. [Listen to her podcast here]

Understanding The Health Consequences Of Racism & What You Can Do About It. July 10, 2018 10:00 am to 11:30 am