Welcome to Program in Public Health at Michigan State University - Michigan State University Program in Public Health

Cecilia Anastos, Program in Public Health Instructor

Cecilia Anastos holds a Master’s Degree in Strategic Intelligence w/sp in Middle East Issues, a Graduate Certificate in Cybercrime, a B.A. in Criminal Justice w/sp in Psychology. When not teaching at LEAs, she works as Senior Intel Analyst – OSINT, Cybercrime and Linguistics Specialist covering issues in the areas of cybercrime, counternarcoterrorism, maritime issues (piracy at sea), illicit non-commercial air traffic, money laundering, and other topics of concern for our nation.Besides being fluent in five languages, she is an avid reader and a source of knowledge in foreign policy, political affairs, demographic trends, socio-cultural dynamics, transnational gangs, indigenous groups, conflict resolution, and strategic cultures in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Eurasia, as well as in creating strategic models and analysis of predictability for countries and non-state organizations.

Paul C. Bartlett, MPH, DVM, PhD, Program in Public Health Professor

A professor at Michigan State University (MSU), Paul Bartlett teaches epidemiology and preventive medicine in the Program in Public Health, the Master of Science in Food Safety Program, and the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program. He spent a year’s sabbatical at The Ohio State University and was guest professor for a year at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark.

Dr. Bartlett’s research interests include antimicrobial resistance, dairy epidemiology, zoonotic diseases, veterinary public health, foodborne outbreaks, surveillance programs, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, bovine leukemia virus, and Shiga toxin E. coli. He has 150 publications in refereed scientific journals. 

Before joining MSU, Dr. Bartlett began his career as an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Joseph Bonner, Program in Public Health Instructor

Joseph Bonner

Kevin Brooks, MS, PhD, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor

Kevin Brooks is a health care manager in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The department provides analytics to help Blue Cross reduce health care costs while improving the quality of care.

A native of Jamaica, Dr. Brooks is keenly interested in the public health of developing nations. He is an on-call lecturer at the Epidemiology Research Unit of the Tropical Medicine Research Institute at the University of the West Indies Mona. Previously he was a consultant biostatistician for a study on pneumonia and invasive bacterial diseases in Nigerian children, and he was instrumental in the design and implementation of the first epidemiology study on autism spectrum disorders in Jamaica.

For several years Dr. Brooks worked in the pharmaceutical industry managing biostatistics operations to support regulatory filings, product safety, and quality control.

Margaret J. Byers, DO, MPH, ABOG, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor

Dr. Margaret Byers D.O. MPH, ABOG is an instructor and course developer for Global Maternal and Child Health and also the core course Introduction to Public Health.  She is an alumnus of the College of Osteopathic Medicine at MSU, and in recent years, received her MPH from the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, at the University of Arizona, Tucson.  Dr. Byers has also completed a fellowship in Integrative Medicine, from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Dr. Byers has extensive experience in Women’s Health both domestically and globally. She practiced as a prevention based Obstetrician and Gynecologists, in private practice, for over 18 years and then went on to live and serve as a medical volunteer in southern Peru, from 2000-2002.   Over the past 12 years, Dr. Byers has developed and led several outreach service learning groups in The Americas, where she regularly visits the region to further develop and collaborate with local and national organizations, to improve the health and well-being of mothers and children in southern Peru.

Renée Canady, MPA, PhD, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor

Renée Canady is the health officer (director) of the Ingham County Health Department, overseeing all public health operations and nine community health centers. Previously she was deputy health officer of the department, overseeing public health nursing, family and outreach services, disease control, health equity and social justice, planning and health assessment, neighborhood engagement, environmental health, and emergency preparedness. 

Dr. Canady has researched, published, and presented on pregnancy experience and disparities, health risks in pregnancy, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, and racial health disparities. She has given television and radio interviews on these and other public health topics, including sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. 

Connie Currier, DrPH, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor, Advisor

Connie Currier, DrPH, MPHConnie Currier, DrPH, MPH, is Assistant Professor and Public Health Liaison for the program. She is responsible for coordinating international and domestic practicum/field experiences for students, as well as developing teaching global public health-related courses targeted at MPH, medical and high school students. She holds a DrPH in health policy from the University of Michigan, and a joint MPH in both Population Planning and International Health, and Public Health Policy and Administration, also from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Currier has extensive experience both living and working overseas; she served for two years in Ghana as a Peace Corps Volunteer; worked as a Population Fellow in Harare, Zimbabwe at the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council; and participated in numerous other short-term consultant experiences in Africa. 

Paul Delamater, PhD, Program in Public Health Instructor

Paul Delamater is a postdoctoral research specialist for the Michigan State University (MSU) Department of Geography. He investigates access to health care services and Certificate of Need regulation.

His primary research focus is health and medical geography, with an emphasis on access to, and utilization of, health care resources; geographical aspects of health behavior and health care utilization patterns; incorporating geographic and spatial concepts into health services research; effects of health care policy and regulation on public health; disparities in health care access, utilization, and outcomes; and the development of community-based health service areas.

Dr. Delamater has published in refereed professional and scientific journals; written technical reports; and presented locally, nationally, and internationally on issues related to medical geography, public health, and health care policy and regulation.

Frances Downes, DrPH, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor

Frances Downes has had a long and prominent career as a public health laboratory expert. Over the course of 25 years, she has held positions of increasing responsibility at the Michigan Department of Community Health (DCH) Bureau of Laboratories. She managed the Virology and Microbiology laboratories, directed the Division of Infectious Diseases, and held one of the longest tenures as director of the DCH Laboratory: 12 years.

Dr. Downes has served as a lab expert for several government and nonprofit groups that promote public health. These include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis; the CDC Board of Scientific Counselors; the Michigan Neonatal BioBank Board of Directors; and the Michigan Local Public Health Accreditation Commission. She has also consulted for the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine, among others.

Darline ElReda, MPH, DrPH, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor

Darline ElReda is director of Health Care Value Data Analytics, Program Evaluation, and Reporting at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. She oversees the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Department of Medical Informatics, both of which support a variety of provider initiatives that represent new models of health care delivery. Among these initiatives are the country’s largest patient-centered medical home program (in which the primary care physician leads a team that promotes health, not only treats illness) and pay-for-performance strategies that promote population health management. 

Previously Dr. ElReda worked for the Michigan Department of Community Health, where she managed the Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Section and was epidemiologist for the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program.

Cleothia Frazier, MPH, Program in Public Health Instructor, Advisor

With graduate degrees in both public health and anthropology, Cleothia Frazier is keenly interested in the intersection of health and culture. She views public health through a social-behavioral lens and from the perspective of critical medical anthropology, which considers the broader historical, political, and economic factors that contribute to health and health behaviors.

Ms. Frazier devoted her anthropology master’s thesis—“Living and Dying on the Margins”—to white and black women’s experiences with breast cancer. She has presented on culture-related health disparities and was an instructor in the Anthropology Department at Western Michigan University. She conducted her public health practicum at the Ingham County Health Department, where she helped implement and evaluate a chronic disease self-management program called PATH (Personal Action Toward Health).

Robert Glandon, PhD, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor, Advisor

Robert Glandon is a public health veteran with 30 years of experience. He spent much of his career at the Ingham County Health Department, where he last served as Director of Planning and Special Services. During his tenure he worked in the areas of community health assessment and response, environmental health assessment and response, health education and promotion, community nutrition, substance abuse reduction, community mental health, public health information, behavioral risk factor research, land use and public health, and health care access. His broad-ranging roles spanned analysis to policy development to leadership, and his teams won several public health awards.

Dr. Glandon is now an independent public health consultant for organizations throughout the country. He has worked on health impact assessment in Cleveland, land use policy in New York, and human service outcomes monitoring in Mid Michigan, among other projects. He also edited and contributed to a special issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

Greg Gulick, JD, MHA, MBA, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor, Advisor

Greg Gulick has extensive education in international law, business, and health care: he holds a JD with a concentration in health law, an MHA (master’s in health administration), and an MBA with a specialization in international business. He has traveled to India and China for both research and education. Now pursuing his PhD in international health care economics, he is studying the impact of globalization on the health care systems of developing countries and the impact of technology (such as telecommunications) on health care delivery in the United States and abroad.

Currently Mr. Gulick is senior counsel for the Michigan insurer Priority Health, where he oversees legal issues involving information technology contracts, health care reform, and the Product Development and Sales groups. He also serves as an advisor on telemedicine, eHealth (electronic health), and mHealth (mobile health) initiatives.

Elizabeth Hamilton, MPH, PhD, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor

Dr. Elizabeth Hamilton is Associate Program Director of the Michigan Public Health Institute, a nonprofit consortium that develops public health solutions for a range of clients. In this newly created role, she is responsible for the institute’s expansion into the areas of infectious and communicable diseases.

Previously Dr. Hamilton worked for the Bureau of Epidemiology at the Michigan Department of Community Health. She focused on surveillance of HIV disease and was a leader in epidemiological analyses and electronic laboratory reporting of HIV. Her last role was Manager of the HIV Surveillance and Body Art Facility Licensing Unit. (Body art includes tattoos and piercings.)

Dr. Hamilton has researched, published, and presented on HIV, general communicable disease, zoonotic

Rosina Hassoun, PhD, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor

Dr. Hassoun holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Florida, Gainesville with a BS and MS in zoology and biology/ecology respectively from Texas A&M University. Her focus is on Arab populations, specifically Arab and Muslim Diaspora in America, ethnicity, and refugee health. She has completed community research projects in the Metropolitan Detroit Arab-American community, examining acculturation and hypertension, and a participatory research project in the Greater Cleveland area for a needs assessment. She is author of Arab Americans in Michigan. 

Dr. Hassoun teaches one of the first and oldest continuously taught courses on Arab Americans, as well as courses on the Middle East and the World, and graduate level classes in Public Health including Poverty and Health and Water and Health: A Global Perspective. Dr. Hassoun teaches in the Program for Public Health and Integrative Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University.

John Hazewinkel, MPA, JD, Program in Public Health Instructor

John Hazewinkel is a project manager for the Michigan State University Institute for Health Policy (formerly the Institute for Health Care Studies). Among the Institute’s missions is researching and analyzing health policy to assist decision makers at state, local, and national levels. Mr. Hazewinkel focuses on health-information technology (including electronic health records), privacy, and security.

Through the Institute, he has worked a number of projects for the State of Michigan, including the Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Program, the Michigan Health Information Network, and the Michigan Medicaid Long-Term Care Task Force. He also created the Michigan Coalition for Health Information Technology.

Mr. Hazewinkel educates health care providers about his areas of expertise by presenting at state and regional conferences; contributing articles to trade publications; and serving on boards, committees, and task forces for community and statewide organizations.

Katherine "Kit" Howard, Program in Public Health Instructor

Katherine "Kit" Howard

Leslie A. Johnson, Program in Public Health Administrative Director, Advisor

Leslie Johnson serves the Administrative Director and as an advisor for the Program in Public Health, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University (MSU).  As Administrative Director, she is responsible for all administrative aspects of the program including recruitment, admissions, degree conferment, budget development and oversight, curriculum development and planning, faculty recruitment and development, and student placement.  Leslie also coordinates all aspects of the hybrid Master of Public Health program currently being delivered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates as well as the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Trials Research Management offered collaboratively with Grand Valley State University.

In her role as advisor Ms. Johnson consults with potential program applicants; works with program students to develop curriculum plans that best serve individual student interests and career goals; and identifies Culminating Experience opportunities. 

Steven Korzeniewski, PhD, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor

Dr. Steven Korzeniewski is currently appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and also serves as an adjunct professor in Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine’s Program in Public Health. In his role at Wayne State University, Dr. Korzeniewski leads the Perinatal Epidemiology Unit of the Perinatology Research Branch. His research interests focus on perinatal epidemiology, particularly prediction and etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr. Korzeniewski earned his doctoral and master’s degrees in epidemiology and a separate master’s degree in health communication at Michigan State University. He has also participated in both the NICHD Supported T-32 Training Program in Perinatal Epidemiology and the NICHD-IHDCYH Summer Institute in Reproductive & Perinatal Epidemiology in addition to several Maternal & Child Health Epidemiology trainings provided by the CDC. Previously, Dr. Korzeniewski led the Department of Applied Epidemiology & Evaluation and served as Chief Science Officer at MPRO, a non-profit healthcare quality improvement organization, and also the Maternal & Child Health Epidemiology Section of the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Patricia Walsh Lambert, MSN, Program in Public Health Instructor, Advisor

Patricia Walsh Lambert is an expert in higher education administration and nursing education. She specializes in culture, health, health care education, and study-abroad programs, all within the context of global public health.

Ms. Lambert has held key administrative positions at Michigan State University (MSU): Chief of Staff and Assistant to the Dean of International Studies and Programs, and Director of Distance and Online Programs in the College of Nursing. At the Program in Public Health she not only teaches, but also reviews curriculum and develops new online courses.

Before joining MSU, Ms. Lambert worked at Lansing Community College, where she served as director of Nursing Programs and was a nursing professor. She also worked in the Office of Curriculum and was Special Projects Director in the Office of the Provost. 

Brenda L. Lawson, JD, Program in Public Health Instructor

A nurse and attorney, Brenda Lawson brings both backgrounds to bear on her current position: public health legal advisor for the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH). In this role she provides legal expertise and support to department staff, develops legal and policy solutions to public health problems, and is the policy expert and legal advisor for the department’s implementation of the National Public Health Improvement Initiative.

Previously Ms. Lawson was the MDCH legislative liaison, developing priority legislation and advocating on the department’s behalf for health-related legislation. She also served as a policy analyst and legal advisor to the state’s House Democratic Policy Office, advising House of Representatives members and committee chairs on health policy and helping them develop health-related legislation. Prior to her public-sector career, she practiced law at a private law firm for five years.

Charles Mackenzie, Program in Public Health Faculty, Adjunct Professor

Charles Mackenzie

Melissa Lane Meier, Program in Public Health Administrative Assistant

As a member of the Program in Public Health Student Services team, Melissa Lane Meier serves as Admissions Coordinator.  As Admissions Coordinator, Melissa is responsible for processing applications, answers applicant questions, and leading the Program Admissions Committee. 

Her role with the Student Services team includes overseeing the Program’s reception desk, responding to student inquiries,  and coordinating calendars.  Melissa also serves as liaison between the Program office and students in Dubai, UAE.

A Michigan State University (MSU) alumnus, Ms. Meier was a member of the women’s varsity rowing team. She represented MSU at Big Ten Rowing Championships, NCAA Rowing Championships, and regional championships. 

Douglas Moyer, CPP, PhD, Program in Public Health Instructor

Douglas Moyer is a graduate of the Michigan State University (MSU) School of Packaging. His research focused on the influence of organizational behavior on packaging decisions.

Mr. Moyer has been conducting product-safety and food-safety research. Currently he is a researcher for the Anti-Counterfeit and Product Protection Program at the MSU School of Criminal Justice. Previously he investigated the public health impact of food fraud for the National Center for Food Protection and Defense (a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence), among other grant-funded research.

Mr. Moyer’s research interests include packaging management, food fraud, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and public health risks. He most recently coauthored “Defining the Public Health Threat of Food Fraud,” published in the Journal of Food Science. His research has appeared in a variety of trade journals and magazines, and he routinely presents it at professional conferences.

Ana O'Donnell, Program in Public Health Administrative Assistant

A member of the Program in Public Health Student Services team, Ana O'Donnell serves as program registrar. She oversees course scheduling, course overrides, grade submission, elective and transfer requests, and degree conferment. She is also directly involved in student advising, recruitment, student support, and partner recognition.

Her support is vital to other aspects of Program operation, including human resources, oversight of student employees, event and meeting planning, basic finance operations, and special projects.

Attuned to students’ needs, Ms. O'Donnell is personable, detail-oriented, and adept at juggling multiple priorities. Our bilingual students and community partners benefit from her fluency in Spanish.

Ms O'Donnell was previously executive assistant for a corporate law office and office manager for a business franchise.

Dennis Paradis, MPH, Program in Public Health Instructor

Dennis Paradis is an accomplished health care executive with extensive experience in health policy, government relations, association management and hospital-physician relations. He has a solid background in coalition building, issue management, network development and working with boards with diverse interests. He brings keen insight into health care reform and underlying interests of key stakeholders.

Mr. Paradis was the Executive Director of the Michigan Osteopathic Association for more than a decade.  This organization represents 6,200 osteopathic physicians in Michigan.  His primary association activities include government relations, business development and membership services. Mr. Paradis’ accomplishments include the creation of the Partnership for Michigan’s Health to coalesce the health care community to advocate for health issues. He has also doubled the membership and increased the reserve fund by 400%.

Sharon Peeks, Program in Public Health Advisor

Sharon Peeks

Molly Polverento, MSEd, Program in Public Health Practicum Liaison

As Program in Public Health practicum liaison, Molly Polverento works with faculty advisors and students to identify practicum opportunities and site mentors and to ensure they meet program requirements. In this role, she brings together her graduate training in experiential learning and her decade-plus years of experience in the Michigan public health community.

Ms. Polverento also serves as coordinator for the College of Human Medicine’s Preventive Medicine and Public Health Program, which creates linkages between Michigan State University (MSU), local and state public health departments, and various public health groups in order to improve the delivery of public health services. In addition, she is a member of the College of Human Medicine’s Continuing Medical Education Committee. 

Santiago Rios, JD, Program in Public Health Instructor

Santiago Rios is a graduate of Michigan State University's James Madison College (1972).  He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School.(1975).

His professional endeavors are very diverse which include law, marketing and international business development.  He has served as a Senior Vice President for the national marketing and advertising firm of  Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar & Assoc. in San Antonio, Texas where he worked with companies like Coca Cola, Anheiser Busch, Western Union, and Burger King;  and,  he had an extensive corporate career with McDonald's Corporation as a Regional Vice President and as an International Attorney and Staff Director. 

While with McDonald's, Mr. Rios visited and worked in over thirty different countries including Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Germany, England, Japan Taiwan, Spain, Greece, Poland and Australia.

Michael Rip, MSc (Community Health), PhD, Program Director, Advisor

Michael Rip, MSc (Community Health), PhD, serves as Director of the Program in Public Health. He is responsible for overseeing the operations of the Program and the Masters in Public Health (MPH) degree, as well as positioning the Program for future expansion, the development of specialty tracts, and international collaboration.

Dr. Rip is also an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminal Justice. He is developing a novel Public Health Intelligence specialty area in the MPH in association with the Intelligence Program in the School of Criminal Justice. This specialty area is focused on Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals and pays particular attention to long-term ‘downstream’ effects to the public’s health such as drug resistance.

Mohamed Satti, PhD, Program in Public Health Instructor

Mohamed Satti

Tory Sawyer, Program in Public Health Instructor LearnDat Liaison, Instructional Designer

Tory Sawyer

Dean Sienko, MD, MS, Program in Public Health Adjunct Faculty

Dean Sienko’s accomplished public health career spans three decades. Currently he is associate dean for prevention and public health at the Michigan State University (MSU) College of Human Medicine and senior advisor to the provost. Additionally, he is interim chief medical executive for the Michigan Department of Community Health.

For the previous 20 years he served as health officer, medical director, and medical examiner for the Ingham County Health Department. He began his career as an officer in the prestigious Epidemic Intelligence Service of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Sienko has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, and presented at local and national conferences, on topics including hepatitis, measles, Legionnaires’ Disease, AIDS, breast cancer,

John Spink, PhD, Program in Public Health Adjunct Assistant Professor

John Spink

Natalie Stein, Program in Public Health Instructor, Advisor

Natalie Stein, MPH, is a highly motivated writer and teacher, passionate about nutrition, fitness and health. She is exceptionally accomplished, having earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Human Nutrition and Food Science, in the Honors College, and graduating with honors at Michigan State University. She then earned two coinciding master’s degrees, an MS in Human Nutrition and an MPH, both from MSU as well.

Natalie had a lead role in developing the Public Health Nutrition certificate for the Program in Public Health at MSU, and is now an instructor giving back her extensive knowledge of nutrition to the current students of the program from which she graduated. Additionally, she is an advisor to MPH students, assisting them with program planning, internship and career guidance.

She actively integrates fitness and nutrition into her lifestyle. She was a four-year varsity letter-winner in cross country and track and field, and an Academic All Big Ten Student-Athlete.

Mark Valacak, MPH, Program in Public Health Instructor

Mark Valacak has worked for the Genesee County Health Department for three decades. Now the department’s health officer, he previously held numerous posts including director of the Community Health Division, acting director of Environmental Health Services, and acting director of Personal Health Services.

For more than two decades he has also been an instructor at the University of Michigan-Flint School of Health Professions and Studies. He has taught courses in environmental health and occupational health and safety, as well as the capstone course for health science majors.

Mr. Valacak’s tenure at the Genesee County Health Department has been filled with achievement and recognition. He supervised data collection for an epidemiological study of the health of residents near the Berlin & Farro Superfund toxic waste site; developed a food safety curriculum, sanitarians guide to toxicology, workplace hazard communication plan, and tuberculosis control plan; and organized the Genesee County Communicable Disease Investigation ResponseTeam, among many other accomplishments. He has also written and managed more than 20 successful grant applications.

Robert Wahl, DVM, MS, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor

Robert Wahl has worked for the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) since 1998. For most of his tenure he was primarily concerned with asthma surveillance, the effects of air pollutants on asthma and on adverse birth outcomes, and the health effects of climate change. Now the manager of the Surveillance and Program Evaluation Section of the Lifecourse Epidemiology & Genomics Division, he oversees epidemiologists working in the areas of chronic disease (diabetes, obesity, disabilities, oral health, and stroke), cancer genomics, and perinatal health.

Via his work for the MDCH, Dr. Wahl has promoted public health on local through national levels. He evaluated, and helped develop the survey instrument for, the MDCH’s Healthy Homes University, a home-based environmental intervention and education program for families of children with asthma. He is a member of the Greater Grand Rapids Children’s Environmental Health Initiative and the Genesee County Childhood Asthma Task Force, and he staffs the Michigan Asthma Advisory Committee. He also serves on the Advisory Committee for BioWatch, a federal program designed to detect the terrorist release of pathogens into the air of major American cities.

Rita Ranee Walters, MSW, PhD Candidate, Program in Public Health Instructor

Rita Ranee Walters is a doctoral candidate at the Michigan State University (MSU) School of Social Work. Her research interests include children with severe disabilities and their parents’ perceptions; her dissertation is titled Adjustment and Coping of African American Parents of Children with Severe Cerebral Palsy. She has presented locally and internationally on this topic, health disparities among migrant college students, and mental-health issues. 

A disability advocate, Ms. Walters serves on the Board of Directors of the Lansing Area AIDS Network; the Community Values Advisory Board of the Michigan BioTrust for Health; the Michigan Social Worker Continuing Education Collaborative; the Advisory Committee of Children’s Special Health Care Services (a program of the Michigan Department of Community Health); and the Community Advisory Council of the Wayne State University Developmental Disabilities Institute. 

Elizabeth Wasilevich, PhD, MPH, Program in Public Health Instructor

Elizabeth Wasilevich is a health care manager and epidemiologist for the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Her work helps improve the quality and efficiency of health care in Michigan.

Previously she was the asthma epidemiologist for the Michigan Department of Community Health, where she led surveillance development and reporting, led program evaluations, and contributed to environmental research studies.

In addition to teaching for the Michigan State University (MSU) Program in Public Health, Dr. Wasilevich is an adjunct faculty member at the MSU Department of Epidemiology and the University of Detroit Mercy McAuley School of Nursing. She also teaches online courses for health professionals at the University of South Carolina.

Melinda Wilkins, DVM, MPH, PhD, Program in Public Health Assistant Professor, Advisor

Dr. Melinda Wilkins, DVM, MPH, PHD is currently an Assistant Professor with MSU’s Program in Public Health. She teaches Introduction to Epidemiology, Outbreak Investigations, and Vaccine-Preventable Diseases for the PPH, and advises a number of students. She received her DVM (1994) and PhD (2008) from MSU and her MPH (1999) from the U of Illinois- Springfield. Prior to coming to MSU, Dr. Wilkins was with the Michigan Department of Community Health, Bureau of Epidemiology, Division of Communicable Disease for 12 years, serving as the Division Director from 2004-2011. In addition Dr. Wilkins is an alum of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (‘99) and has extensive experience consulting and teaching in international settings. Her areas of expertise include: disease surveillance (animal and human), surveillance system evaluation, zoonotic disease, epidemiology, and outbreak investigation.

Cass Wisniewski, MBA, Program in Public Health Instructor

A certified public accountant, Cass Wisniewski has more than 30 years of financial health care experience. For the past decade he has worked at Hurley Medical Center, first as vice president and corporate controller, now as senior vice president and chief financial officer. 

Mr. Wisniewski spent more than 20 years with the Henry Ford Health System, where he held increasingly responsible financial positions: director of reimbursement and rate setting of Henry Ford Hospital, associate controller of Henry Ford Health System, and chief financial officer of Cottage Hospital. Between his tenures at Henry Ford and Hurley he served as vice president/treasurer at Bay Health System and Bay Health Plan.

In addition to teaching for the Michigan State University Program in Public Health, Mr. Wisniewski is a lecturer at the University of Michigan—Flint, where he teaches public healthcare finance.