Rosemary Caron, Ph.D., M.P.H., Professor of Health Management and Policy, is delighted to rejoin the NH-ME LEND faculty after a three-year hiatus while she served as department chair. She has high praises for the opportunity to work with the interdisciplinary group of LEND faculty and trainees and to contribute to the high-quality of the training experiences. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of New Hampshire, Rosemary worked for more than a decade as a public health practitioner in both the public and private sectors. She served as the assistant state epidemiologist in the Bureau of Health Risk Assessment and served as the chief of the Bureau of Health Statistics and Data Management for the NH Department of Health and Human Services.
Rosemary shares her expertise and outcomes from community-based participatory research methods on the topics of cultural competence and addressing health disparities grounded in her experience working in Manchester NH. For example, trainees examine a case of a 2-year Sudanese child who eventually died from lead poisoning several weeks after her refugee family’s arrival in New Hampshire. Trainees come to appreciate the importance of culturally and linguistically sensitive practices in the context of public health. For more information about this case, read this article on Fatal Lead Poisoning, New Hampshire 2000.
Learn more about Rosemary Caron’s many other accomplishments.
Julie Smith, B.S., Family Faculty rejoined the NH-ME LEND Faculty following her completion of her LEND traineeship with the 2017-2018 cohort. Prior to being a LEND trainee, Julie served as the Family and Clinic Coordinator for the Seacoast Child Development Clinic from 2008-2017. Julie shares her expertise as a family support specialist and parent of a young man the autism spectrum. She came to New Hampshire 20 years ago, leaving behind a 10-year career as a clothing designer to focus on caring for her son born 9 weeks prematurely and later diagnosed with autism. Her family’s story includes many collaborative efforts to build a productive and fulfilling life for their son. After participating in the NH Leadership Series, Julie went on to establish a autism parent group in her community for parents of young children, and served on numerous state work groups to improve the quality of life for individuals on the spectrum across the life span. She presently leads the parent group, ASD Friends for seacoast parents whose children are transition age youths and young adults with autism. In her role as vice-chair of the Community Partner’s Family Advisory Council, she is presently co-leading a 100 Letter Campaign in response to families’ concerns of the implementation of federal regulation which will end their right to choose their case management and services from their local area agency. In September, Julie was hired as a part-time Clinic Coordinator at Child Health Services at the Manchester Community Health Center where she is looking forward to integrating her professional experiences with her mentoring of other family members in the LEND program on the best ways to support families as they navigate the services system.
