Community Advisory Board

The Community Advisory Board (CAB) includes community members and community-engaged researchers from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. These individuals represent the community at all levels of clinical and translational research within the Great Plains IDeA-CTR Network, offering advice and solutions essential to our programming success.

The CAB gathers and prioritizes regional health issues and generates ideas for community-engaged research projects. In addition, the CAB provides input on ways to best measure and track health outcomes, their impact on the community, and the best strategies to share research findings beyond the confines of a typical research journal.

Amy Behnke, JD

Chief Executive Officer,
Health Center Association of Nebraska

Susan Bockrath, MPH

Executive Director
Nebraska Association of Local Health Directors

Jason D. Coleman, PhD, MSPH

Director and Professor, School of Health and Kinesiology
University of Nebraska at Omaha

Tommy Dennis

Outreach Coordinator

Nebraska Aids Project

Arielle Deutsch, PhD

Assistant Professor and Research Scientist
University of South Dakota School of Medicine
Avera Research Institute

Gretchen Forsell, MPH, RDN

Executive Director
Northern Nebraska AHEC

Abby Gold, PhD, MPH, RD

Extension Specialist
University of Minnesota Extension

Center for Family Development

Jed Hansen, PhD, APRN, FNP-C

Executive Director

Nebraska Rural Health Association

Regina Idoate, PhD

Assistant Professor

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Donald Jurivich, DO

Professor

University of North Dakota, School of Medicine and Health Science

Judy Martin, MS

Retired Deputy Director
Nebraska DHHS Division of Public Health

Susan Mayberger, MA

Executive Consultant

Mentor NE

Dave Palm, PhD

CAB Chair, Associate Professor, Director of The Center for Health Policy
University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Public Health

Connie Reimers-Hild, PhD, CPC

Founder and Chief Futurist

Wild Innovations

Josie Rodriquez, MSHCA

Administrator

Nebraska DHHS, Office of Health Disparities and Health Equity

Valita Mi’oux’sah Stabler

Elementary Teacher
Omaha Public Schools

Naresh Sundar Rahan, PhD, MS

Chief Data Officer
CyncHealth

Yesenia Valenzuela

Community Relations Coordinator
City of Omaha

Mona Zuffante, MPH

Public Health Administrator
Winnebago