Staff
Sari Bilick
Organizing Program Director sari@humanimpact.org
Sari leads organizing and advocacy work at Human Impact Partners and co-coordinates Public Health Awakened. She has a background in community, labor, and political organizing and has worked on a wide variety of campaigns and social justice issues. She lives in the Bay Area on unceded Lisjan Ohlone land and spends as much of her time as possible swimming in cold bodies of water, hiking in the redwoods, and at protests with family.
Sophia (Sophie) Simon-Ortiz, MPH
Organizing Project Director sophia@humanimpact.org
Sophie works on organizing and advocacy at Human Impact Partners and co-coordinates Public Health Awakened. With a background in radio production and popular education, Sophie is passionate about the power of self-determined community storytelling as central to health and loves building the organizing power of the public health field because health, joy, and justice are inextricable. Sophie was raised and lives on occupied Ohlone lands in the Bay Area, and finds joy in dancing, hiking, cuddling with her dog Daryl, and catching up with chosen and biological family far and wide.
Steering Committee
Susan Avila, RN, MPH
Chicago, Illinois
Susan is a retired nurse who worked for 30 years at Chicago’s Cook County public hospital and is currently active with public health advocacy groups. She lives in Chicago and enjoys all the wonderful food that can be found in her city, exercising, and joining with others to make the world a better place.
Ashley Bachelder, MPH, MPS
Nashville, Tennessee
Ashley is a tenant organizer with Southern Crossroads, a basebuilding organization building power in the rural South to move poor and working class, predominately white communities into multiracial organizing to improve our living conditions. When she’s not working, Ashley enjoys trail running, camping, vegetarian cooking, and hanging out in coffee shops.
Omid Bagheri Garakani, MPH
Seattle, Washington
Omid works in the Center for Public Affairs at the Washington State Department of Health and organizes locally and nationally with organizations and collectives to advance health justice. He lives in Seattle and believes in rest as a form of resistance, so he spends his time with people and activities that bring joy, naps, and rejuvenation to him and the communities he's a part of.
Lizzie Corcoran, MPH
Oakland, California
In her career so far, Lizzie has practiced public health in the sectors of philanthropy, local government, and workforce development, with a focus on building justice by first building an equitable, and supported public health workforce. Outside of public health, Lizzie is a zealous hiker, traveler, and reader; always looking for a good poem and sunny spot!
Paul Fleming, PhD, MPH
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Paul is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and helps to coordinate the Michigan chapter of Public Health Awakened. Besides plotting to undo structural inequities, he loves trail running, bottomless cups of coffee, and playing outside with his kids.
Reena Gadhia, RN, MPH
Washington, DC
After starting as a nurse, Reena has spent her public health career in health workforce development and quality improvement. She is passionate about contributing to a supportive and holistic system of care. Her hobbies include reading, board games, eating with loved ones, and perpetually planning to take a woodworking class.
Dr. Swannie Jett, DrPH, MSc
Louisville, Kentucky
Dr. Jett is the CEO of Park DuValle Community Health Center which provides many services that local public health departments provide, including health care. He enjoys spending time with family and friends and his hobbies include chess and golf.
Xie Rachel Kulikoff, MPH
Ann Arbor, MI
Rachel is a PhD student in health policy at the University of Michigan. She studies how data influences policy and is passionate about leveraging data in the fight for social justice. Rachel's hobbies include working on three perpetually unfinished crochet afghan projects, trying new recipes, and sending lots of snail mail.
Danielle L. Lucero, MSW, MPH
Tiwa Territory (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Danielle (Pueblo of Isleta/Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) is a Program Manager for Research and Training at The Praxis Project and learned from her relatives in Isleta Pueblo the importance of collective care and collaboration for community and environmental health. Outside of work, Danielle enjoys riding in her dad's truck to feed the cows, visiting her grandparents, and attending dance classes.