Community Core: Health and Wellness Evidence for Everyone

Dr. Amy Headings is the Director of Research and Nutrition at Mid-Ohio Food Collective, a role she has held since 2011. She collaborates with local and state health care partners to address food insecurity and healthy food access for the treatment and prevention of chronic disease. Amy has worked with Feeding America, The Ohio State University, and others on initiatives to understand the impact of emergency feeding on dietary intake and health outcomes in food-insecure populations.

As the leader of Mid-Ohio Farmacy, nearly 30,000 patients have been screened and provided the opportunity to connect to the fresh food they need every week. The program has resulted in lower primary care costs and improvements in health outcomes. Amy sits on several local, state, and national advisory committees including the State Nutrition Action Committee and the Helene Fuld Health Trust National Institute for Evidence-based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare Community Core, and has been an expert panel member for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Eating Research program. She also worked with OSU Extension to write Pantry Panic, an Ohio 4-H project book that helps students gain a clearer picture of hunger in their communities. Amy is a registered and licensed dietitian and holds a doctorate in human nutrition from The Ohio State University.

Latisha Chastang is the Deputy Chief of the Office of Community Assistance at the Ohio Department of Development (Development), overseeing client services, quality assurance, operations, energy assistance, and community service programs. Latisha also serves as the first Advisory Board Chair for the Community Core at the Fuld Institute. Prior to joining Development, Latisha served as the Director of Emergency Assistance of IMPACT Community Action, serving Columbus and Franklin County, where she managed a $70 million budget and 45 employees.

She secured over $15 million in new funding to the agency and assisted in creating innovative services and programs with over 15 years of service. Latisha has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Human Resources from Franklin University and a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from Capella University. She is active in her community, currently serving on the Board of Health for Franklin County Public Health, Focus Learning Academy, and The Women’s Business Center Advisory Board. Latisha and her husband, Carl, reside in Columbus, Ohio, with their two children, Xavier and Danielle, and two dogs, Dashie and Brian.

Deborah Danner-Gulley, BSN, RN, has been employed at Area Agency on Aging, District 7 for 30 years. She has worked in multiple Medicaid waiver programs including PASSPORT, Assisted Living, Residential State Supplement and the Ohio Home Care Waiver. Currently she serves as the Director of Case Management Services at AAA7. Deborah is a graduate of Holzer Medical Center School of Nursing and Ohio University. She holds Care Management Certification (CMC) through National Academy of Certified Care Managers and is a member of the National Association of Certified Geriatric Care Managers/Aging Life Care Association.

Dr. Cornett was Program Manager for Patient/Consumer Health Education at OSU Medical Center for 21 years, where she established a comprehensive patient / health education system across The Ohio State University Medical Center. Under her direction over 3,000 titles of patient education handouts were written by OSU staff. She also developed a consumer health education library within the medical center with easy-to-read materials.

For 13 years, Dr. Cornett was Director of the OSU/AHEC Clear Health Communication Program, where she implemented a statewide program to raise awareness about health literacy issues, train students and practitioners in the health professions, provide consultation for organizations, and research low health literacy issues. She developed computer-based CE modules for professional education, and presented over 500 workshops, training more than 10,000 health care professionals in patient education and health literacy. In 2014 Dr. Cornett founded a 501C3 statewide collaborative for health literacy (Ohio Health Literacy Partners, Inc.). Dr. Cornett has a BS and MS in Nursing, and a Ph.D. in Adult Education

Ryan Johnson

Ryan E. Johnson is the Section Chief for Community Engagement and Participatory Planning at Columbus Public Health.  In this role within the health department, he utilizes skills as a researcher and planner to implement a wide variety of public health education and promotion activities.  Ryan works to eliminate differences in health status between racial and ethnic minority and non-minority populations by providing leadership and guidance on the best ways to address racial and ethnic health disparity and specific health needs of racial and ethnic minority groups. Ryan ultimately envisions a society where the opportunity for health equity exists for all persons and, ideally, eliminates the social and economic barriers to good health.  Ryan utilizes his public health expertise along with his community passion to assist minority communities. He:

• Works directly and collaboratively with all communities of Columbus & Worthington to find and resolve public health issues.
• Promises to create relationships that lead to environmental changes and overall health improvement.
• Brings community voices into health planning and programming to better serve community needs and improve health.
• Influences, motivates and empowers others to help the community and the department to advance equity.

Ryan has earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Public Health degree from The Ohio State University. Ryan (a Columbus native) and his wife Yakira live on the Eastside of Columbus with their two children, Kayla and Janae.

Shaunta Stanford, EdD, APRN-CNP, ACNP-BC, CCRN, Director, Community Health Worker Training Program, Clinical Assistant Professor of Practice, Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Specialty, The Ohio State University College of Nursing

Dr. Shaunta Stanford is the director of the Community Health Worker (CHW) Training Program and assistant professor of clinical practice in the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner specialty track at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. She has been a nurse since 2001 and a trauma nurse practitioner since 2010. She currently practices nursing at Grant Medical Center, a Level I Trauma Center.

As the director of the CHW Training Program, Shaunta is responsible for facilitating training for individuals to become certified Community Health Workers. She works closely with community organizations to foster partnerships and develop collaborations that address health conditions that disproportionately impact historically disadvantaged communities to reduce health disparities and improve healthcare and quality of life. She currently serves on the Ohio Board of Nursing CHW Advisory Board. Shaunta received her BSN from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2001 and her Master of Science in Nursing from Wright State University in 2009. She obtained her Doctor of Educational Leadership in 2022 from Northern Kentucky University.

Tarik L. White, M.Ed., pHCLE, Ohio 8 Improvement Liaison, Center for Continuous Improvement, Ohio Department of Education

Mr. Tarik White has over 30 years of experience as a classroom teacher, administrator, advocate, consultant, lobbyist, leader, presenter and mentor for adults and young people in Ohio and throughout the Mid-West. Tarik has provided targeted management, policy recommendations and programmatic support for government education agencies, trade associations, philanthropic agencies, higher education institutions and non-profit groups both within the state of Ohio and throughout the United States.

A Columbus native and graduate of the local city public school system, Tarik’s professional career began as a Science and Biology teacher with Columbus City Schools and includes leadership roles with the Columbus State Community College in the Department of Diversity, Study Abroad and TRiO Programs. Currently, he serves as the Assistant Director in the Office of School and District Improvement for the Ohio Department of Education’s Center for Performance and Impact.

Mr. White holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology/Secondary Education from Kentucky State University, Post Baccalaureate work in Organic Chemistry from The Ohio State University, and a Master of Educational Administration, Policy and Leadership from Antioch University-McGregor.