Category News

The Community Education Group (CEG) and its Rural Health Service Providers Network (RHSPN) project reach 100 subscribers on YouTube.

#CEGInWV’s #PeopleWorthKnowing interview series features some of the amazing people working in and around public health and services. We have features some amazing people, including:

TruEvolution, Inc.’s Founder & CEO, Gabriel Maldonado

Advocates for Better Care Atlanta’s Founder & Executive Director, Tori Cooper

American Public Health Association’s Executive Director, Dr. Georges C. Benjamin

This week’s #PeopleWorthKnowing video features Deirdre Johnson, Founder of Deirdre Speaks and Co-Founder of Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration in Virginia (ECHO VA).

Since 2000, Deirdre has lived, learned and experienced HIV on her own terms. She utilizes her sense of humor and lively personality to openly share her medicine and medical adherence journey with the world using #MedsWillMakeMeDance.

Deirdre is transparent about how she is not allowing HIV to have control of her, but fearlessly taking control of HIV. Deirdre is a native of Virginia, and has worked as an educator, case manager, and speaker, however, she is most passionate about eradicating stigma, ending criminalization of people living with HIV, combating racial injustice, health disparities, and being an active Partner in Change as the Co-Founder of Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration in Virginia (ECHO VA). She serves as the State Lead for Positive Women’s Network – USA and a U = U Ambassador. She strives to live, learn and experience life with no apologies.

Learn more about ECHO VA and Deirdre Speaks by clicking the links below.

This week’s #PeopleWorthKnowing video features Jesse Milan, Jr., President and CEO of AIDS United, a national organization focused on policy, grantmaking, and capacity building.

AIDS United has granted over $120 million over 30 years, and its Public Policy Council organizations and current grantees number over 300 in 40 states and territories. Mr. Milan is a lawyer whose career includes leading HIV programs and organizations at national, regional and global levels.

He has chaired five non-profit boards including the Black AIDS Institute, was AIDS Director for Philadelphia, has chaired federal advisory committees, and serves currently on the Scientific Advisory Board for PEPFAR. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the NYU School of Law. Jesse has been living with HIV for over three decades.

Click on the logo below to learn more about AIDS United.

Training Level: Provider

Thursday, March 18th, 2021 from 2:00 – 3:00 PM Eastern

Register today: https://cutt.ly/Veklury-0321

Presenters:

Grayce Kim, Pharm.D.
Principal Medical Scientist
COVID-19
Gilead Sciences, Inc.

This week’s #PeopleWorthKnowing interview features Kimberly Matulonis-Edgar, the HIV, STD and Hepatitis Prevention Programs Coordinator and the Viral Hepatitis Coordinator with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in the Division of Public Health.

Kimberly has been in her current position for five years. Prior to coming to the department Kimberly worked for six years at the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence focused on the prevention of adolescent relationship abuse and worked 16 years with St. Luke’s Health System as a community educator teaching a variety of community classes, including puberty classes and parent/teen classes focused on navigating the complexities of dating relationships in today’s world to help prevent teen dating abuse. Kimberly and her husband have a beautifully blended family of three boys and three girls, three dogs, five chickens, two pigs and four cows. Kimberly will be welcoming her first grandbaby to the family later this summer. In her spare time Kimberly enjoys crafting and baking cakes and cookies for her family, friends, and co-workers.

In Case You Missed It: When it comes to COVID vaccines, we all have unanswered questions. On Thursday, February 25th, 2021, Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, a side effect scientist at the University of North Carolina, provided plain language interpretations of the approval process and what to expect from vaccine side effects. Through Dr. Dasgupta’s view of vaccine hesitancy as a rational reaction to mistreatment by and suspicion of medical systems, he was able to return a sense of control back into vaccine decisions through respect for choice and autonomy.

If you missed the training event, we now have a recording available from this important conversation around COVID vaccines. Please note that this video is based on our current knowledge of COVID: parts of this video may no longer be relevant as we learn more about this virus and its long-term effects as well as the long-term effects of the COVID vaccines.

Links provided during the conversation:
– Find a vaccine near you: CDC Vaccine Locator
-Dr. Dasgupta’s “The Insider Cheatsheet for COVID Vaccine Safety“

Reminder: If you have not yet taken our Rural Health Needs Survey, we invite you to take it here. This survey will be open through April 2021.

Training Level: Community & Organizational

Thursday, March 4th, 2021 from 2:00 – 3:00 PM Eastern

Presenters:

Trina Scott
Community Liaison
Gilead Sciences

Anthony Gutierrez
Community Liaison
Gilead Sciences

Register today: https://cutt.ly/COVID-Feb2021

This week’s #PeopleWorthKnowing interview features Dr. Orixa Bowers, Regional Director at the Harm Reduction Coalition.

Orisha Bowers, Ph.D. is the Regional Director at national Harm Reduction Coalition. She is a lifelong community advocate, educator, and leader. Dr. Bowers, also an ordained minister combines her love for women’s health, rights, and justice with research and interdisciplinary studies to continue to creatively transform the community for universal liberation.

Training Level: Community & Organizational

Thursday, February 25th, 2021 from 2:00 – 3:00 PM Eastern

When it comes to COVID vaccines, we all have unanswered questions.
Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta is a side effect scientist at the University of North Carolina. He will provide plain language interpretations of the approval process and what to expect from side effects. He sees vaccine hesitancy as a rational reaction to mistreatment by and suspicion of medical systems.
We can return a sense of control back into vaccine decisions through respect for choice and autonomy.
He will provide links and tools to help you start that conversation.

Presenter:

Nabarun Dasgupta, PhD, MPH
Innovation Fellow
Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of North Carolina

Register today: https://cutt.ly/COVID-Feb2021

Training Level: Community & Organizational

Thursday, February 18th, 2021 from 2:00 – 3:00 PM Eastern

The Basics of Hepatitis B Learning Objectives:

• Prevalence of Hepatitis B

• Hepatitis B Prevention

• Population at Risk, Screening, and Linkage to Care

This presentation will last approximately 30 minutes with a question and answer period to follow.

Presenter:

Monica Lattimore, BS PA-C
Medical Scientist Liver Diseases
Medical Affairs
Gilead Sciences

Register today: https://cutt.ly/HIV-Feb2021