Leadership for Healthy Communities is privileged to receive guidance from the nation’s foremost experts and practitioners in fields relevant to active living and healthy eating.

Virginia Caine is the Director of the Marion County Health Department in Indianapolis, IN and serves as Associate Professor of Medicine for the Infectious Disease division of the Indiana University School of Medicine.

She is a past president of the American Public Health Association and is active in several professional societies including National Association of County City Health Officials; the National Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Committee on Credentialing for the Public Health Workforce; and the Department of Health and Human Services Steering Committee for the Bright Futures for Women Initiative.

Caine's numerous honors include the American Public Health Association's "New Leadership" Award; the Indiana Minority Health Coalition, Incorporated "Outstanding Service Award"; Indianapolis Business Journal "2002 Health Care Heroes" and "Who's Who in Health Care"; and Indiana State Health Commissioner Award for "Excellence in Public Health."

A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College, in Minnesota, she earned her medical degree at the State University of New York Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse and did a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati.

Dr. Fernando Guerra is the Director of the Metropolitan Health District for the City of San Antonio, Texas.  The mission of the Metropolitan Health District and its 740 employees is to promote health and prevent disease among residents and visitors in San Antonio and unincorporated areas of Bexar County. In his role, Dr. Guerra oversees a budget of $46 million and the operation of 32 health locations throughout the community.

Dr. Guerra is committed to improving access to health care systems for infants, women, children and the elderly. He is an advocate for the prevention of domestic violence and child abuse. He also initiated the organization of important community based efforts for prevention HIV infection, Teen Pregnancy, Immunization’s Registries, and Vaccine preventable diseases. Dr. Guerra is a practicing pediatrician and prior to joining the City in 1987 he was the founder and medical director of the Barrio Family Health Clinic Education.

Dr. Lyn Kathlene* is the Director of the Colorado Public Policy Institute at Colorado State University where she oversees a research and programs that focus on issues such as health disparities, water management, and global warming.  Dr. Kathlene is also a noted political scientist with a specialty in public policy.  She has worked extensively with communities, facilitated research-based stakeholder dialogues, directed numerous community action projects, and published reports and articles on citizen participatory planning, research methods, and the impact of institutional culture on policy-making.  Her research examines the policy formulation process with a focus on how people and groups that have typically lacked political power can be effectively heard; how participatory policymaking can change the process and outcomes of public policy; and how community features affect democratic engagement.

*Dr. Kathlene chairs the Leadership for Healthy Communities National Advisory Committee.

Ms. Martha Katz, M.P.A., is a national health policy leader who currently serves as a trustee of the Georgia Health Foundation.  As the director of health policy for Healthcare Georgia Foundation from 2003-2008, she designed health policy programs and grants to reflect the foundation’s role as a catalyst for better health and health care in Georgia. She also served as deputy director for policy and legislation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where she led the CDC’s policy and program development, legislative initiatives, health communications programs and relationships with external partners. She was the first program director of the CDC Foundation and worked in the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion on the first Healthy People, Objectives for the Nation, published in 1980. She received a Master of Public Administration from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Ms. Katz also provides consultation to national and state health foundations. 

Dr. Erin MacDougall is the manager for the Healthy Eating and Active Living Program at Public Health – Seattle and King County. She provides planning, coordination, policy development, coalition building, demonstration programs, research, and technical support to King County agencies, community-based organizations and individuals in order to facilitate their working together toward chronic disease prevention, health promotion and reduction of health disparities in the areas of nutrition, physical activity and land use and health. She oversees the King County Overweight Prevention Initiative, working alongside dozens of organizations, public health colleagues, academic researchers, educators, and elected officials to influence programs and policies that create greater access to healthy food and physical activity for all residents. She holds a Doctorate in Nutrition from the University of California, Davis. Prior to her current work in public health, she did laboratory research on cardiovascular disease and worked K-12 science education.