ABOUT US

Prevention Institute Staff

Executive Director: Larry Cohen
Managing Directors: Rachel Davis, Leslie Mikkelsen
Program Director: Diane Aranda
Program Manager: Manal Aboelata
Office Manager: Susan Lockwood
Program Coordinators: Sana Chehimi, Danice Cook, Lisa Fujie Parks
Program Assistants: Elizabeth Berger, Sherin Larijani, Jasmine Syedullah
Administrative Assistants: Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, Crystal Lund, Yet Wa Ly

For staff emails, visit the Biography of Executive Director page and Staff Bios page.

Board of Directors

Michael Pastor, MSW, Chair
New York Psychotherapy Group
Bronx, NY
Michael has a private psychotherapy practice in New York providing individual, couple, and group therapy, and private supervision. He has worked at the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, and has joined the board of New York Psychotherapy Group, a sliding scale referral service in 1982 and served alternately as chair, secretary, treasurer, and art director. Michael has also worked as a tenant organizer in his spare time throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Michael received his MSW in 1977 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Ronda Kay Garcia, Secretary
Contra Costa Child Care Council (California)
Concord, CA
Ronda Garcia is currently the Deputy Director of the Contra Costa Child Care Council and serves on the First 5 Contra Costa Children and Families Commission. She has over 30 years of experience as an early childhood professional in the Bay Area. She has served on the boards of a variety of statewide organizations including, Action Alliance for Children, Prevention Institute, and the Program for Infant Toddler Caregivers. Ms. Garcia began her career as an infant/toddler specialist and continues to participate in pioneering efforts in that arena. She received her Masters degree from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, California and her first book, Home Centered Care, was published in 1985.

Kathleen Martin, MPA, Treasurer
Office of the Sheriff (retired), Contra Costa County, CA
Marblehead, MA
Kathleen Martin is currently doing volunteer work with the Abbott Public Library and North Shore Elder Services in Massachusetts. Most recently, she has been responsible for budget development and implementation, as well as contract and grant management in public health and law enforcement agencies. Ms. Martin is retired from state and local government service in New York and California. She has been responsible for policy development and program implementation in the field of Developmental Disabilities.

Larry Cohen
Prevention Institute
Oakland, CA
Larry Cohen's Bio

Marilyn Ritholz, Ph.D.
Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
Marilyn Ritholz, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in Massachusetts. She has a Harvard Medical School appointment and is a Senior Psychologist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. She also supervises post-doctoral fellows and staff at the Joslin and at Children's Hospital in Boston. In addition, she has a private practice in Lexington, Massachusetts specializing in chronic illness, depression, and anxiety.

Hannah Ziegellaub
Artist, University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM

Judy Derman, MHS
Clinical Transactions Practice Leader, Kaiser Permanente
Oakland, CA
Judy Derman works in the Internet Services Group at Kaiser Permanente developing and implementing web-based transactions for Kaiser Permanente members. She has worked for 17 years at Kaiser Permanente in a variety of roles including health education, implementing breast cancer quality improvement programs and managing the development of clinical practice guidelines.

Howard Pinderhughes, Ph.D.
University of California San Francisco Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences
San Francisco, CA
Howard Pinderhughes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Pinderhughes' research focuses on the race relations among youth, the causes and consequences of youth violence, the dynamics of adolescent relationship violence and the role of race and ethnicity in the production of unequal health out-comes. Dr. Pinderhughes is currently writing a book that examines how urban adolescents think about, experience and make decisions about the use of violence. He is also the author of Race in the Hood: Conflict and Violence Among Urban Youth, which is a study of racial attitudes among youth and racial violence in New York City.

Daniel P. Perales, DrPH, MPH
Professor, San Jose State University
San Jose, CA
Dr. Daniel Perales is an Associate Professor of Public Health in the San Jose State University, Department of Health Science, Master of Public Health Program, where his teaching duties include courses in Health Promotion, Social Marketing, and Program Planning and Evaluation. Dr. Perales has 20 years of program evaluation experience that include studies of bicycle safety helmet use, tobacco control, nutrition education and food security, childhood immunization interventions, environmental justice, and HIV harm reduction needle exchange programs.

Prevention Institute Board of Advisors

Prevention Institute's Board of Advisors consists of leaders representing a broad range of professions and disciplines.

Advisory Committees

The individuals on each of the advisory committees have expertise related specifically to a project or topic area within Prevention Institute. Advisory committees developed for specific topic areas are called upon for their expertise in that particular area and assist in the research and development of the project. Below is a list of Prevention Institute's Advisory Committees:
First Steps Technical Advisory Group
Intergroup Relations Technical Advisory Group
National Center for the Health of Men, Boys and Society Technical Advisory Group
Satellite Broadcasts Technical Advisory Group
THRIVE Advisory Group

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Putting Prevention at the Center of Community Well Being
www.preventioninstitute.org