Rachel Dickens, National Development and Office Coordinator

Eve Fine, National Program Associate

New York City Staff

Sarah Cook, New York City Executive Director

Dacia Read, New York City Program Associate

Julia Shatz, New York City Program Associate

Boston Staff

Molly Greene, Boston Executive Director

Molly Cummings, Boston Program Manager

Jenna Farmer, Boston Program Associate

Chicago Staff

Madeline Kerner, Chicago Executive Director

Keri Robertson, Chicago Program Associate

SF Bay Area Staff

Nathan Hood, Bay Area Executive Director

Minha Popalzai, Bay Area Program Associate

Staff Bios:

Louise E. Davis, Co-Founder and Executive Director

In 2003, Louise Davis co-founded Peer Health Exchange, Inc. (PHE) with Katy Dion in order to help fill a gap left by underfunded, understaffed health education programs in public high schools nationwide. As Executive Director, Louise is primarily responsible for leading PHE’s national growth plan, building and managing the PHE Staff and Boards, raising funds, and providing fiscal and organizational oversight. Louise graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in History. While at Yale, she co-founded and directed Community Health Educators, the student volunteer program out of which Peer Health Exchange, Inc. grew. Louise serves on the Board of Directors of Dwight Hall at Yale—the center for public service and social justice.

Bryden Sweeney-Taylor, Chief Operating Officer

Bryden joined Peer Health Exchange in September 2005. As Chief Operating Officer, Bryden is primarily responsible for overseeing all PHE operations by supervising PHE sites and programs, executing PHE’s national growth plan, managing human resources, designing and managing internal systems, and working closely with the PHE National Finance Manager to track budgets to organizational goals. Bryden attended Deep Springs College and graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. in Folklore and Mythology. Prior to joining PHE, Bryden worked as a Field Organizer for Grassroots Campaigns, Inc., recruiting, training, and organizing volunteers on environmental and political campaigns in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Emma Pollack-Pelzner, Director of Programs

Emma joined Peer Health Exchange in August 2005. As the Director of Programs, Emma is primarily responsible for overseeing PHE programs by implementing educational, management, and evaluation strategies and tools across PHE sites, working closely with the Director of Program Development to strengthen PHE programs, and assisting with the execution of program-related strategic plans. Emma has a B.A. in philosophy from Yale University, where she served on the steering committee of Community Health Educators, the student volunteer program out of which Peer Health Exchange, Inc. grew. Prior to joining PHE, Emma taught English and technology at the Bilkent International School in Ankara, Turkey. Emma also spent two years in PHE’s New York City office, most recently as the New York City Director.

Maire Casey, National Finance Manager

Maire joined Peer Health Exchange in September 2007. As the National Finance Manager, Maire is primarily responsible for overseeing PHE financials by creating and implementing financial plans in line with organizational goals, implementing financial systems and controls, managing and reporting PHE assets, revenue, and expenses, and supervising the PHE bookkeeper and accountant. Maire graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Comparative Literature.  Prior to joining PHE, Maire was a volunteer English teacher for WorldTeach, designing a curriculum and teaching adult professionals at a continuing education center in Quito, Ecuador.

Rachel Dickens, National Development and Office Coordinator

Rachel joined Peer Health Exchange in August 2008. As the National Development and Office Coordinator, Rachel is primarily responsible for providing development, communications, and general administrative support and assisting the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. Rachel graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in French. Prior to joining PHE, Rachel was the Special Assistant to the President at the Taproot Foundation, where she managed day-to-day operations and completed marketing and development projects for the President and COO.

Eve Fine, National Program Associate

Eve joined Peer Health Exchange in July 2008. As the National Program Associate, Eve is primarily responsible for assisting with the development, management, growth, and evaluation of the PHE Program across all PHE sites, providing administrative support, and assisting the National Program Team. Eve graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in History. While at Yale, Eve served on the Steering Committee of Community Health Educators, the student volunteer program out of which Peer Health Exchange, Inc. grew. Prior to joining PHE, Eve worked in online advertising at Google in Mountain View, CA.

Sarah Cook, New York City Executive Director

Sarah joined Peer Health Exchange in August 2007. As the New York City Executive Director, Sarah is primarily responsible for developing, managing, growing, and evaluating PHE college and high school sites in New York City and providing fiscal and organizational oversight for the PHE New York City Site. Sarah graduated from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service with a BSFS in International History and a Certificate in African Studies, and from Columbia University with an M.A. in Health Education. Prior to joining PHE, Sarah worked for Putney Student Travel as a trip leader to Senegal and as a Coordinator of Education Programs at the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Dacia Read, New York Program Associate

Dacia joined Peer Health Exchange in July 2008. As the New York Program Associate, Dacia is primarily responsible for assisting with the development, management, growth, and evaluation of the New York City Program and assisting the New York City Executive Director. Dacia graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Urban Studies. Prior to joining PHE’s staff, Dacia was a Health Educator, Leadership Council member and Co-Coordinator for Peer Health Exchange at Columbia University; she spent three summers as a literacy teacher with the Breakthrough Collaborative in Providence, Rhode Island; and she supervised The Early Intervention Initiative at the Double Discovery Center, a middle school tutoring and high school preparation program for more than 80 low-income, first generation students living above 96th street in Manhattan.

Julia Shatz, New York Program Associate

Julia joined Peer Health Exchange in July 2008. As the New York Program Associate, Julia is primarily responsible for assisting with the development, management, growth, and evaluation of the New York City Program and assisting the New York City Executive Director. Julia graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in History. Prior to joining PHE, Julia volunteered for Planned Parenthood and founded Vassar’s Voice for Planned Parenthood chapter; served as editor of Vassar’s political journal “Quorum”; and taught 5th grade life science with Breakthrough Collaborative/Summerbridge in San Francisco.

Molly Greene, Boston Executive Director

Molly joined Peer Health Exchange in June 2007. As the Boston Executive Director, Molly is primarily responsible for developing, managing, growing, and evaluating PHE college and high school sites in Boston and providing fiscal and organizational oversight for the PHE Boston site. Molly graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a M.Ed. in Higher Education, where she was a Catherine B. Reynolds Fellow for Social Entrepeneurship, and Amherst College with a B.A. in American Studies. Prior to joining PHE, Molly spent 4.5 years working for WorldTeach; first as a volunteer teacher in Ecuador, next as the Marketing, Admissions and Alumni Director in the headquarters office in Cambridge, MA, and finally as the National Field Director in Ecuador in charge of training and supporting over one hundred volunteer teachers.

Molly Cummings, Boston Program Manager

Molly joined Peer Health Exchange in August 2007. As the Boston Program Manager, Molly is primarily responsible for assisting with the development, management, growth, and evaluation of PHE college and high school sites in Boston, and assisting the Boston Director. Molly graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in English and a minor in Irish Studies. Prior to joining PHE, Molly was a WorldTeach volunteer, teaching secondary school reading and technology in Region #3, Guyana.

Jenna Farmer, Boston Program Associate

Jenna joined Peer Health Exchange in July 2008. As the Boston Program Associate, Jenna is primarily responsible for assisting with the development, management, growth, and evaluation of the Boston Program and assisting the Boston Executive Director. Jenna graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in Honors Psychology and Spanish, and a minor in Theology. While at Notre Dame, Jenna volunteered with a program that taught violence-prevention in local schools through a peer model similar to PHE’s. Prior to joining PHE, Jenna was a full-time volunteer at the Puerto Rico Center for Social Concerns, where she worked to develop educational and economic initiatives in communities with limited resources.

Madeline Kerner, Chicago Executive Director

Madeline joined Peer Health Exchange in June 2007. As the Chicago Executive Director, Madeline is primarily responsible for developing, managing, growing, and evaluating PHE college and high school sites in Chicago and providing fiscal and organizational oversight for the PHE Chicago site. Madeline graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in History. While at Yale, she served as the Co-Coordinator of Middle School Community Health Educators, the student volunteer program out of which Peer Health Exchange, Inc. grew.

Keri Robertson, Chicago Program Associate

Keri joined Peer Health Exchange in July 2008. As the Chicago Program Associate, Keri is primarily responsible for assisting with the development, management, growth, and evaluation of the Chicago Program and assisting the Chicago Executive Director. Keri graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in English. Prior to joining PHE, Keri spent two years as a NYC Teach for America corps member; during this time she taught seventh grade Literacy at MS 390 in the Bronx and received her Masters in Education.

Nathan Hood, Bay Area Executive Director

Nathan joined Peer Health Exchange in October 2008. As the Bay Area Executive Director, Nathan is primarily responsible for launching, developing, managing, growing, and evaluating the PHE Bay Area Program, managing the Bay Area Program Associate, raising funds, managing and growing the Bay Area Board of Overseers, and providing fiscal and organizational oversight for the PHE Bay Area site. Nathan graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Sociology. Prior to joining PHE, Nathan worked with the NYC Center for Charter School Excellence, where he managed a city-wide test scoring initiative, developed the organization’s knowledge management system and Web site, and analyzed student achievement results and demographics for advocacy purposes.

Minha Popalzai, Bay Area Program Associate

Minha joined Peer Health Exchange in August 2008. As the Bay Area Program Associate, Minha is primarily responsible for assisting with the launch of PHE in the Bay Area by developing, managing, growing, and evaluating the Bay Area Program and assisting the Bay Area Executive Director. Minha graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in Neuroscience & Behavior. While at Columbia, she volunteered for PHE as a Health Educator, Leadership Council Member, and Co-Coordinator; in addition, she participated in a vision electrophysiology research laboratory and served as an academic associate in the St. Luke's - Roosevelt Emergency Department.