What do you love most about working in STD prevention?

Without a doubt my favorite part of working in STD prevention is being surrounded by STD warriors working to reduce disease burden throughout the U.S. and in Health Care Education and Training’s region.  At HCET I am fortunate to provide education and training, program support and evaluation, and technical assistance to Indiana’s and Wisconsin’s STD programs.  It is truly a collaborative effort to ensure local health departments, family planning clinics, and community-based organizations in Indiana and Wisconsin deliver the highest quality STD services to their communities.  I also pride myself on being one of the biggest fans of Disease Intervention Specialists in the country! They are the absolute rock stars of the STD arena, and at HCET I enjoy providing DIS opportunities for specialized training and professional development.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing our field?

The rates of STDs continue to rise while we face potential cuts in funding at the national, state, and local level.  In the region HCET serves (Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota), we are not only seeing increases in urban areas, but in rural areas as well. Rural communities may not have the resources to identify sex partners of those impacted by STDs, offer full or part-time STD testing and treatment, or conduct campaigns to educate youth and communities disproportionately impacted by STDs.  In collaboration with our partners, we do everything possible to ensure communities, both rural and urban, have opportunities to deliver high-quality implementation and outcome evaluation plans for education and training programs.  But this can be very difficult with limited, and potentially decreasing, funding resources.  We are so fortunate to have NCSD working so hard for us on the Hill!

When you’re not working, what’s your favorite thing to do with your free time?

I have three nephews and a niece that I love to spend time with.  Sam is almost 9, Oliver is 7, and Julia and Everett are 4.  They are hilarious, and I enjoy seeing them grow into the awesome little people they are becoming.  I also enjoy escaping to the beach when time allows.