Zulayka Santiago Selected as Health Equity Fellow

ZulaykaWe are thrilled to announce that Zulayka Santiago, Director of the North Carolina Oral Health Collaborative, was recently selected as an inaugural fellow for the Leaders for Health Equity Fellowship program. The fellowship, offered by George Washington University’s Health Workforce Institute, honors health sector professionals with a commitment to health equity and demonstrated leadership potential. Zulayka was selected as one of 16 fellows from a competitive group of applicants from all over the United States and other countries.

The year-long program will begin in January, and is designed to provide fellows with the necessary skills and experience to identify disparities, combat inequities, strengthen individual leadership, and build a network of like-minded leaders from a wide array of institutions. In addition to online meetings and training, fellows will convene in-person a total of three times, with initial and final meetings in Washington D.C., and a mid-year convening in Rwin Kwavu, Rwanda.

With a career and passion centered around oral health, Zulayka will focus her fellowship on exploring health workforce options to increase access to oral health care and reduce oral health disparities.

[box] “I am delighted and honored to be a part of this phenomenal group of people. I look forward to deepening my knowledge about the intersections of health equity and particularly excited about gaining a global perspective to generating solutions to these complex problems.” [/box]

For more information about the Leaders for Health Equity Fellowship program, click here.

mariaOn April 14th 2014, Maria Isabel Rego (Bel) launched OHEALL (Oral Health Equity for All) in Winston Salem, NC. OHEALL’s vision revolves around a world of oral health equity for all and its mission is to provide community members and leaders with oral health equity specific community organization tools, resources, and information.

Bel was involved in health equity community outreach and research at the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity from 2009 until 2013, when she was accepted to East Carolina University’s graduate school. In January of 2014, Bel also completed a one-year social entrepreneurship and civic leadership training at Mobilize, a nonprofit organization in Washington D.C., and this past summer she received her M.A. in Health Education and Promotion from East Carolina University.

As part of her M.A. degree, Bel completed a graduate internship at the NCFAHP under Jacqueline Brown’s guidance at the NC Oral Health Collaborative (NCOHC).  During this experience, she helped the NCOHC curate resources for their website, implement the beginning of a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, and she provided support for the NCOHC’s endeavors in oral health policies and oral health literacy. Besides being off and running with OHEALL, Bel also plans to attend dental school in the near future.

If you would like to learn more about OHEALL, visit their website: www.oheall.org

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