VOTE for the USOPHE Board of Directors

Abraham Hernandez

Julia Glade

Elisha Johnson

Jess Church

Julia, a competent and capable Health Educator, is currently working to prevent the onset of Diabetes in Salt Lake County. Julia’s attention to detail and her dedication to the cause would benefit USOPHE and it’s Health Educators.

We need some grade school teachers on the board. I think that USOPHE seems to be a “young” persons organization. I feel like I could encourage more people from other demographics to join and give feedback and participate.

I’m interested in helping to increase health educators’ capacity and competency in the area of public health nutrition, emphasizing the importance of behavioral design, and physical and financial access to healthy food as a complement nutrition education and promotion.

Elisha Johnson is a Mom who always knew she wanted to be a teacher. At the age of 34 she went back to school to fulfill that dream. After volunteering with the Utah adoption council she knew her place would be in the middle schools. Teaching health has brought such great joy. Seeing these young people expand their understanding about their bodies and their peers is exciting. Elisha is a hard worker who is constantly looking for new ideas and ways to bring information to those she interacts with.

New to the Utah Department of Health (UDOH) Healthy Living through Environment, Policy, and Improved Clinical Care (EPICC) Program this year, my work focuses on environmental nutrition policy aiming to improve healthy food access and promotion. Prior to taking on this role, I worked at the Utah State Board of Education with the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs and Farm to School Program. In New Mexico, I also worked as a clinical inpatient dietitian at the University of New Mexico Hospital, and conducted research on food insecurity and obesity among predominantly Hispanic and American Indian preschool children.

Jesse Joseph

Mckelle Hamson

For the past two years, Jesse Joseph has worked as a local health department liaison for the Tobacco program at the Utah Department of Health (UDOH). Prior to working at UDOH, Jesse worked at the Bear River Health Department, Weber-Morgan Health Department, and the International Rescue Committee. Jesse’s work experience has allowed him to make connections with other health educators across the state. As part of his role at UDOH, he has been tasked with planning the semi-annual tobacco conference. Jesse is a wonderful collaborator, communicator, and problem-solver. Jesse Joseph will be a wonderful asset to USOPHE.

I love working in the field of Public Health and having served as a student board member back when it was HEAU, I am looking for a way to get more involved. I look forward to bringing my ideas as both a current student and public health professional, organizational skills, and passion for public health to USOPHE.

Mckelle Hamson is the Communities That Care Prevention Coordinator for Draper City’s Police Department. Mckelle loves working in the field of prevention and strives to prevent underage drinking, substance use, prescription drug use, and promote mental health among Draper youth. Mckelle is a Certified Health Education Specialist and is also trained as a Communities That Care Facilitator and helped her coalition become a certified Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America in July 2017. Mckelle holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Utah (Go UTES!), a Bachelor of Science in Community Health from Utah Valley University, and is working on her Ph.D. in Health Studies through a hybrid program at Texas Woman’s University. Mckelle hopes to focus her dissertation on prevention.

Raven Albertson

Hailie McMurdie

Raven Albertson is currently a maters student at BYU melding her love of public health and social media. She is a graduate of UVU and still has close ties to the university. Raven is energetic and hard working and will add value to USOPHE.

Hailie has been a standout in our health education and promotion program at USU. She is task oriented, dedicated to the profession, and goes beyond expectations. She would make an excellent student board members for these reasons as well as the fact she would take it seriously, be engaged, and complete assigned duties. This would be a great opportunity for her to hone her leadership skills while helping USOPHE with its upcoming goals.

Hailie was born and raised in Cache Valley and loves all that the valley has to offer. She attended Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum. During her time in high school, she competed on the swimming team and fell in love with all things water. She currently helps to coach a club swimming team, train and schedule lifeguards, and teach swimming lessons to all ages. Part of her work at the swimming pool includes a First Aid/CPR/AED/Lifeguarding instructor certification from the American Red Cross. Immediately following high school graduation Hailie started attending Utah State University. She has received her associate’s degree in Applied Sciences and is expected to graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in Health Education and Promotion with an emphasis in Community Health.