Planning Committee
Angela Makris is a PhD Student in Public Health at the University of South Florida. Her research and practice interest involve the application of a systems approach to behavioral theory through the social marketing framework for health behavior change, prevention and wellness for people with disabilities. Her goal is to apply the social marketing framework to decreasing health disparities for people with disabilities through healthy lifestyle initiatives by adapting knowledge, facilitating uptake, and developing strategic partnerships to build community capacity and create sustainability. Her research aim is to create inclusive change for people with intellectual disabilities by integrating disability and health into health promotion activities.
In December 2021, Dr. Biroscak relocated to Cleveland, Ohio and joined Case Western Reserve University’s Center for Community Health Integration (CHI) as a Visiting Assistant Professor. He researches, writes, and lectures in the areas of violence prevention, injury prevention, systems science, social marketing, and participatory research methods. He has a strong interest in the integration of social marketing and systems science to advance social change.
Prior to joining the CHI Center, Dr. Biroscak was the first-ever Senior Research Scientist at Weitzman Institute within Community Health Center, Inc., a federally-qualified health center headquartered in Middletown, Connecticut. As Weitzman’s Managing Director of Research and Evaluation, he was responsible for providing direct project management for individual research projects; working with internal researchers and outside collaborators to expand Weitzman Institute’s research program through collaboration with academic entities; and providing support and mentoring to students and trainees to help in developing their research interests and capabilities.
Previously, Dr. Biroscak worked as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Prior to pursuing his doctoral degree, he worked as an Epidemiologist—first at a state health department and then at a local health department. Dr. Biroscak obtained his undergraduate degree in Applied Biology. He holds Master’s degrees in Epidemiology as well as Health Communication. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public Health with a focus on Social Marketing. He recently earned a Graduate Certificate in System Dynamics Modeling.
Dr. Biroscak has published articles in multiple peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Collaborator Network. He serves on the Editorial Board for Social Marketing Quarterly and the Board of Directors for the Social Marketing Association of North America (SMANA).
Christin H. D’Ovidio, MFA, CCPH, is a Senior Consultant at JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. and a Certified Communicator in Public Health. Ms. D’Ovidio works directly with non-profits, coalitions, local, state and federal governments, and private clients to research, plan and implement programmatic and health behavior change initiatives with the goal of health equity for all populations. She is experienced in public health program planning, multi-disciplined research methods, traditional and digital campaign development and evaluation, and creative direction/production. Some of her work includes: youth substance use and risk behavior prevention; harm-reduction, cessation, mental health and substance use messaging; perinatal substance use prevention; climate health, vector-borne disease & environmental public health communication; train-the-trainer and eLearning professional development; and youth media training and group facilitation. Her project teams have won national awards for Marketing, Podcast, Public Service, Corporate Marketing and Excellence in Marketing for Public Health. Christin is the host of the podcast, “Power of Prevention” and lives in New Hampshire with her children.
Claudia Parvanta, PhD, joined USF as Professor, College of Public Health, and Director of the Florida Prevention Research Center, in 2017. As an anthropologist working in social marketing, she examines how culture affects health behavior as well as culturally appropriate ways to promote interventions. She recently completed a study for the Florida Department of Health examining how individuals respond to anti-smoking public service announcements using facial expression analysis—a neuromarketing tool among several she is testing through her collaboration with the Muma College of Business Center for Sales and Marketing Innovation. Dr. Parvanta is using this and Community Based Prevention Marketing to help develop and test messaging about COVID-19 for vulnerable populations across the US as part of the National Coronavirus Resilience Network, led by the Morehouse School of Medicine and funded by the Office of Minority Health. With the team at the FPRC, she is disseminating results from the Center’s previous project funded by CDC promoting colorectal cancer screening to underserved populations. She recently began an assignment for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to assist the Center in COVID-related communications for the workplace.
Before joining USF, (2005-17) Dr. Parvanta was the Chair of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. From 2000 to 2005, Dr. Parvanta headed the Division of Health Communication at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and helped the agency expand its emergency communication capacity to respond to the 9/11 attacks, anthrax, and SARS. When not in government or academia, Dr. Parvanta has designed, managed, or evaluated programs, or offered capacity-building training in more than 25 countries. Her early days were spent working with the Los Angeles Public Health Foundation WIC program as their ‘consulting anthropologist’ and with Porter/Novelli, a leading social marketing company.
Dr. Parvanta has received grants from the CDC, the Office of Minority Health, the Florida and Pennsylvania Departments of Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among others. Her publications appear in peer-reviewed journals, and she is the lead author on three APHA endorsed textbooks in health communication.
Karyn Dudley Madore, MEd, CCPH is the NH Communications Director with over twenty-two years of experience managing public health projects and creating and implementing social marketing efforts. She leads the award winning JSI-NH Health Communication Team, which brings together a wide range of talents, formative research, health communication, graphic design, creating and implementing social marketing behavior change campaigns and evaluation. Ms. Madore’s education includes a BS in marketing, a master’s degree in Counseling, a graduate certificate degree in social marketing for public health, and is a Certified Communicator in Public Health (CCPH).
Lynda Bardfield crossed over from a career in multinational marketing as a Senior Vice President, Creative Director into the world of social marketing in the late eighties. Since then, she has spent the past three decades committed to applying marketing principles and innovation to social and behavior change.
Lynda’s career has spanned the globe, designing social marketing interventions in the U.S. and behavior change initiatives in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Lynda’s unique global perspective and years of experience translating audience insights into award-winning campaigns makes her a valuable asset to SMANA’s Board of Directors. Her experience teaching social marketing at Tufts University School of Medicine, her contribution to the editorial board of the Social Marketing Quarterly, and her popular plenary presentations at the USF Social Marketing Conference, all translate into an immediate benefit for the WSMC Planning Committee.
Nancy Lee has more than 30 years of professional marketing experience, with special expertise in Social Marketing. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Washington and the University of South Florida. She conducts seminars and workshops on social marketing and marketing in the public sector and has participated in the development of more than 100 social marketing campaigns.She has been a guest lecturer at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, the Health Promotion Board in Singapore, Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, National University of Ireland in Galway, Yale, and Oxford University. She has conducted social marketing workshops for more than 5,000 public sector employees involved in developing public behavior change campaigns. She has delivered more than 200 social marketing trainings, most recently in Jordan for USAID, Canada for the Ministry of Health, and in Seattle for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has been a keynote speaker on social marketing at conferences including ones addressing Public Health, Injury Prevention, Environmental Protection and Poverty Reduction. Nancy is a member of Rotary and the City of Mercer Island's Green Ribbon Commission, has been a volunteer member of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Advisory Committee, and the Mercer Island School District's Advisory Committee.
Tracey is President of the Social Marketing Association of North America (SMANA). As the President of SMANA, Tracey has been at the forefront of advancing the field of social marketing. She is also the President and owner of Pinnacle Communications, a leading social marketing agency located in Baltimore, Maryland. Her extensive experience and leadership roles in these organizations reflect her commitment to driving positive change.
She has been a practitioner in the field of social marketing, brand development, advertising and behavior change communication for over three decades. Tracey has a deep understanding of designing and implementing strategies for campaign success. Her most recent projects include opioid misuse and abuse prevention, binge drinking prevention, smoking cessation and prevention, reduction of infant mortality, diabetes prevention and control, binge drinking prevention, and a multitude of projects for environmental protection and sustainability. Her dedication to these causes has led to tangible improvements in public health and environmental sustainability. Tracey’s ability to apply social marketing principles to such diverse challenges underscores her adaptability and creativity.
Tracey’s commitment to advancing the field of social marketing extends to academic contributions as well. In 2009 she contributed to Social Marketing Quarterly with her article “Implementing a Community-Based Social Marketing Program to Increase Recycling”. Her research has continued to influence the field, as evidenced by her 2022 contribution, “Using Community-Based Social Marketing to Reduce Pet Waste Bacteria in Streams,” also published in Social Marketing Quarterly.
Tracey holds a master’s degree in Communication, Culture & Technology from Georgetown University.
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