Introducing Six New Members of the JPHMP Editorial Board

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Introducing Six New Members of the JPHMP Editorial Board

We are thrilled to announce the addition of six esteemed public health professionals to the editorial board of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. These individuals bring a wealth of expertise, leadership, and diverse perspectives that will enhance our mission of advancing public health research and practice.

Meet Our New Editorial Board Members:

Introducing Six New Members of the JPHMP Editorial BoardDr. Katy Ellis Hilts is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management with the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health (IU FSPH). She received her MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences in 2010 and her PhD in Health Policy and Management in 2020. Following her doctoral program, Dr. Hilts completed an NIH-NCI T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Behavioral Oncology with the IU School of Nursing, IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Purdue College of Pharmacy.

Before beginning her academic career, she spent eight years working with the Marion County Public Health Department in Indianapolis, IN, seven of which were spent in the tobacco control program. Her research involves assessing how policies and systems-level strategies influence organizational practices to improve scalable, sustainable implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as tobacco dependence treatment, within and across healthcare settings.

Her current work leverages her training as a health services researcher and background in tobacco control to support efforts to train and assist pharmacists in integrating tobacco cessation services (including prescribing) into practice. Dr. Hilts is particularly interested in how expanded access to these services in pharmacy settings can help address gaps in care among traditionally underserved groups, such as rural populations. Additional areas of interest include cancer prevention and control, lung cancer screening, and community and practiced-based participatory research models.

Introducing Six New Members of the JPHMP Editorial BoardDr. Karl Johnson serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health Leadership and Practice at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. In this role, Karl researches and teaches courses on public health governance. Additionally, Dr. Johnson currently works as a Behavioral Health Integration Specialist for the Granville Vance Public Health (GVPH) department, located in Granville and Vance Counties. In this role, Karl works with others at GPVH to coordinate work to improve the integration of behavioral and mental health care throughout the district. Karl received his BA in Economics from Johns Hopkins University and his PhD in Health Policy and Management from UNC. 

Introducing Six New Members of the JPHMP Editorial BoardDr. Rhonda Stephens is a board certified dental public health specialist and professor of the practice in the Department of Public Health Leadership and Practice at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Prior to joining UNC in 2023, she worked for 7 years in a variety of roles with the NC Division of Public Health, Oral Health Section, gaining extensive experience in the management of a state oral health program. She has a record of securing and administering federal grant funding, most often supporting oral health workforce development initiatives in collaboration with partners across the state. Prior to her tenure in governmental public health, she served 10 years as an FQHC dental director in Indiana.

In her current role at Gillings, Dr. Stephens is launching a new initiative around dental public health teaching, practice and research. She seeks to translate her clinical and administrative experience into teaching and other support to ensure current and future multidisciplinary workforces recognize and promote oral health as a matter of overall health and public health. She also directs the Division of Public Health’s accredited dental public health residency program to train future dental public health specialists. Dr. Stephens is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, National Dental Association, American Dental Association and the American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

Outside of dental public health, she loves all types of food, outdoor festivals, action sci-fi movies, and her Westie, Sasha.

Introducing Six New Members of the JPHMP Editorial BoardDr. Christina R. Welter (she/her) is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Health Policy and Administration Division at the University of Illinois Chicago, School of Public Health (UIC SPH) where she also serves as the Director of the Doctor in Public Health Leadership Program and the Associate Director of the Policy, Practice, and Prevention Research Center. Dr. Welter is a pracademic with decades of experience leading or evaluating health justice policy and systems change. She deeply values building long-standing partnerships, elevating shared leadership to sustain equity and impact.

Dr. Welter co-leads multiple transformational practice and applied research projects including but not limited to the Learning Agenda for Systems Change (www.publichealthlearningagenda.org) as well as a nearly decade-long initiative with health department and worker rights and safety partners to facilitate healthy and just work. Dr. Welter is also the co-editor and co-author to Leading Systems Change in Public Health: A Field Guide for Practitioners and two book chapters in Building Strategic Skills for Better Health. She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Health in Oak Park, Illinois; the National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH) representative to the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) Advisory Council; and an at-large NALBOH board member. Dr. Welter also serves as a member of Public Health for Community Power Coalition with Human Impact Partners. Prior to coming to UIC, Dr. Welter served as the Deputy Director at the Cook County Department of Public Health where she catalyzed the establishment of several ongoing and award-winning leadership collaboratives focused on policy, systems, and environmental change equity-initiatives.

She previously served on several national initiatives including Project Public Health Ready, PHAB’s first standard and measures workgroup, the Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships 2.0 Steering Committee, and as a technical assistance provider with the National Maternal and Child Health Workforce Development Center. Dr. Welter received a Doctorate in Public Health Leadership from UIC SPH and master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan in Health Education and Health Behavior.

Introducing Six New Members of the JPHMP Editorial BoardDr. Lindsay Tallon is an Associate Professor of Public Health at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Her research focuses on climate change and environmental and children’s health, emphasizing applied public health initiatives such as air quality monitoring, community-engaged environmental justice projects, and chemical policy research with Northeastern University’s PFAS Project Lab. She has contributed to international climate initiatives, including the I-CHANGE and TwinAir projects, examining climate resilience, citizen science, and indoor air quality in schools. Her current work also includes advancing children’s environmental health through the American Public Health Association. 

She is passionate about environmental health education and has published on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the environmental health workforce. As co-editor of Environmental Health: Foundations for Public Health, she led the development of a pioneering textbook that reimagines environmental health education by centering climate change, environmental justice, and community narratives from across the U.S. The book uniquely bridges activist and academic perspectives, amplifying diverse voices and lived experiences alongside a scientific foundation to create a more inclusive and justice-focused framework. 

Prior to her current role, Dr. Tallon held leadership positions at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina, where she oversaw medical marijuana policy, statewide emergency preparedness programs, and workforce training initiatives. She earned her PhD in Population Health from Northeastern University, specializing in environmental and social determinants of health. 

Introducing Six New Members of the JPHMP Editorial BoardDr. Dorothy Cilenti has a broad background in public health and maternal and child health, with 35 years of supervisory experience in public health programs at the local and state levels. She has held various leadership roles in local and state public health agencies in North Carolina with a focus on strengthening public health systems for underserved populations.

She is currently a Clinical Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health where she directs the National Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Workforce Development Center and the Maternal Health Learning and Innovation Center through cooperative agreements with the Health Resources Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau. She was also recently awarded a cooperative agreement through USDA Food and Nutrition Services to implement an evidence-based research center in collaboration with local and state WIC sites to identify best practices to address maternal urgent warning signs. She provides training and technical assistance on behalf of the Strengthen the Evidence for MCH Programs initiative (funded by a cooperative agreement with HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau), as well as serves as an implementation coach for the Improving Community Outcomes for Maternal and Child Health project in North Carolina.

She has served as Principal Investigator for more than 40 contracts and grants totaling more than 58 million, ranging from training grants to public health systems research awards. She has more than 50 peer-reviewed publications, and was lead editor for the Practical Playbook III: Working Together to Improve Maternal Health. In her previous role as Deputy Director of the NC Institute for Public Health, she led the NC Public Health Practice-Based Research Network which brought together practitioners and researchers to study areas of public health systems and services. Prior to her work at UNC, she served as Local Health Director of Alamance and Chatham counties in North Carolina and while on faculty at UNC, she served as Interim Health Director for the Orange County Health Department and Interim Public Health Division Director for Wake County Human Services. Her state level public health experience included her role as the Deputy Director of the NC Division of Public Health and the state Title V program.

These outstanding leaders will play a vital role in shaping the direction of the journal by providing expert guidance on critical public health topics, mentoring authors, and ensuring the quality of our published content.

Please join us in welcoming these exceptional individuals to the JPHMP community. We look forward to the insights and innovations they will bring to the journal.

About the Author

Sheryl Monks
Sheryl Monks is the managing editor of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. She is passionate about connecting public health professionals to the insights and resources they need to improve community health.
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