Board Of Directors
|
|
Deanna Lewis, DrPH, PA-C, MBA
Deanna Lewis is a Renaissance woman. At the age of 21 Lewis made history as the first woman firefighter in the history of the Tucson Fire Department (TFD). Public service and access to her community as an emergency responder taught her the value of teamwork and cultivating relationships. A graduate of Stanford’s Primary Care Associate Program Deanna has been a physician assistant for 19 years. Her emphasis in health care has always been medically under-served patient populations, and in 2002 she founded Dequenesh Community Health, promoting access to quality health care as a basic human right. Through Dequenesh she has partnered with the Primavera Foundation, Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse and Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF). Deanna served as SAAF’s lab director for point of care HIV testing for 5 years. She completed her MBA at the U of A Eller School of Management, and also completed two years as a U of A/NASA Space Grant Fellow for Photovoltaic Outreach & Education. She received her doctorate in public health in 2018. She is an avid hiker & explorer, incredible soap maker, loves working with students, teaching and is passionate about social justice issues. She also serves on the committee for diversity and inclusion at the college of public health to ensure all voices are heard.
|
Deirdre Demers, MPHDeirdre Demers is a recipient of a Master's degree in Public Health from the University of Arizona. She has years of experience in community health and nonprofit work. Her volunteer and work activities have been based in inner city Washington, DC, rural Nicaragua, and here in Tucson. Her areas of expertise and interest include women's health issues, HIV/AIDS, health equity, family health communication, and community healthcare access. She has provided health education, coordinated community health partnerships, written and received program-focused grants, tutored and served as a mentor to youth, and conducted academic research. Deirdre is also a runner, an avid reader, and most importantly, a mommy.
|
Ellen Santos, PhD, MS (Epidemiology)Dr. Santos is currently an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Ellen earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Augustana College in 2012, earned her Master of Science degree and PhD in Epidemiology from the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Her interests lie in global health, reducing health disparities, and infectious disease epidemiology. Outside of work, Ellen enjoys cooking, running, and spending time with her family.
|
|
|
Emily Maru, PA-C, MS, BSEmily earned her Bachelors of Science in Public Health from the University of Arizona in 2015. She served 6 years in the U.S. Air Force as an aeromedical evacuation technician, aboard a variety of aircraft, working in several countries, to include a tour in Afghanistan, this is what sparked her interest in global health. As a medical tech she provided a wide spectrum of care to patients. Emily is currently a licensed and certified Physician Assistant working in Emergency Medicine. In her spare time she's a mom of two. Emily appreciates sewing, exercising, antiquing and being thrifty. She also loves to travel.
|
Michele Scanze, MS, MPH
Michele is a public health and urban planning professional with experience identifying solutions through a cross-discipline lens. She has worked in both program development and program evaluation for public health, energy efficiency and community design programs. Throughout her work, Michele has advocated for community change that creates environments that all residents can proudly call “home.” She specializes in using GIS and data analytics to show meaningful data, and has led the charge on establishing system changes to support healthy lifestyles from young children to adult. Michele has worked in both the public sector creating and managing innovative public health programs and in the private sector as a consultant and researcher. She holds a Masters in Public Health and a Masters in Land Use Planning and personal mission is to the leave the world a better place than how she found it.
