Presenters' Biographies

Gloria Coronado, PhD is an epidemiologist and the Mitch Greenlick Endowed Senior Investigator in Health Disparities at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. She completed in training at Stanford University and the University of Washington. Dr. Coronado’s research has focused on understanding and addressing disparities in the occurrence and burden of disease in underserved populations, with a special emphasis on the Latino population in the Pacific Northwest. She has developed several innovative and cost-effective interventions to improve rates of participation in cancer screening among Latinas. In 2009, she participated in the National Hispana Executive Leadership Program. She has served as a mentor to several underrepresented undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and doctoral students.

Melissa Sileo received her Master’s degree in Social Work from Boston University in 2000. Her professional experience began within the clinical realm of social work in pediatric medical settings, working with children with chronic and terminal medical diagnosis. Melissa also advanced her medical social work experience by working in Hospice care. Her current professional focus is on developing programs that provide direct service and support to anyone affected by cancer. She brings these experiences to the LIVESTRONG where she is the Director of Navigation Services. She oversees the strategic planning, operations, as well as process improvement for the LIVESTRONG Navigation Services program, which provides national phone and email based support to anyone affected by cancer. She also oversaw the development of the Austin based LIVESTRONG Cancer Navigation Center, which provides in-person support for those affected by cancer in the Austin.

Alejandro Queral is a Program Officer for the Northwest Health Foundation where he supports the work of grantees and partners to ensure a robust public health infrastructure. He brings more than 13 years of experience in local, state, national and international advocacy in a variety of policy fields, ranging from environmental and public health issues to international human rights and U.S. civil rights law. Alejandro has post-graduate degrees in biology and law.

Hector Osuna was born December 16, 1981 in México City, México. At the age of ten his family immigrated to the U.S.A. Mr. Osuna attended elementary, middle school and high school in The Dalles, Oregon. During his high school years he participated in cross country and track and field; was part of the 1998 state cross country championship team. After high school he attended Clackamas Community College and Spokane Community College; ran cross country and track for both of the schools. After obtaining his Associate of Arts degree, he transferred to Portland State University and graduated with a B.A. in Community Development.

Mr. Osuna’s previous employment and internship opportunities have centered in the non-profit and public sectors to name a few: El Programa Hispano-Catholic Charities of Oregon, Hacienda Community Development Corporation, Metro Regional Government, and Bureau of Development Services Land Division Section. Hence, those experiences in community based organizations, community development corporations, in city agencies and in a metro regional government, have provided him with comprehension of what their abilities and constraints are in relation to community involvement/engagement, fostering partnerships creating and implementing policy, public education for land use, transportation and environmental issues.

Olivia Quiroz is the Program Coordinator for the Community Wellness and Prevention Program, with the Multnomah County Health Department. Olivia has more than five years experience in Public Health and is currently working with multidisciplinary partners to implement a comprehensive strategy using policy, systems change and environmental change towards chronic disease prevention. Olivia has a B.S degree in Health Promotion and Education from Oregon State University.

Dr. Thornburg will speak about the latest research on maternal and childhood nutrition and the link to vulnerabilities for adult onset diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer in the next generation. This is powerful and compelling new research that brings a new sense of urgency to our understanding of health and wellness. Dr. Thornburg has served on numerous study sections and advisory boards at the National Institutes of Health. He leads clinical studies designed to determine the role of maternal diet and body in regulating fetal growth in women of Oregon. Dr. Thornburg has published well over 125 papers on pregnancy and fetal development and co-authored a leading book on placental physiology.

Lawrence Wallack has been Dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs Portland State University since 2004. He is also Emeritus Professor of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley and was a founding senior fellow and first President of the Rockridge Institute, a California-based think tank and later a senior fellow at the Longview Institute.

He was the founding director of the Prevention Research Center (1983-86), the first federally funded national alcohol research center with a primary emphasis on prevention. From 1986 to 1995 he was the principal investigator for the California site of the Community Intervention Trial to Reduce Smoking (COMMIT). This project funded by the National Cancer Institute was the largest randomized community trial ever developed for the prevention of smoking.

In 1993 he was the founding director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group, an organization conducting research and training in the use of media to promote healthy public policies. Dr. Wallack is one of the architects of media advocacy — an innovative approach to working with mass media and communities to advance social and public health issues. He has published extensively and lectures frequently on news media and public health policy issues. He is the principal author of News for a Change: An Advocate’s Guide to Working with the Media, (Sage, 1999) and Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention (Sage, 1993).

Dr. Wallack has been honored with several awards. He was one of the original recipients of the Innovators Award (2000-05) from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This award recognized lifetime achievement and innovation in the area of prevention. Other awards include:

• Distinguished Wellness Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley (1997)
• Alfred W. Childs Distinguished Award for Faculty Service, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley (1996-97)
• University of California Health Net Wellness Award Lecturer (1994)

Dr. Wallack has appeared on Nightline, Good Morning America, the CBS Evening News, the Today Show, Oprah, and numerous local news and public affairs programs. He has consulted with a wide range of local, state, national, and international organizations on public health, social change, and mass media. His research has received substantial funding from major philanthropic foundations, state, and federal agencies.

He is currently President, Board of Trustees of the World Affairs Council of Oregon, and also serves on the Boards of Directors of the Institute for Portland Metropolitan Studies, the national Policy Consensus Initiative, and the Praxis Project. He is also a member of the Oregon Health Improvement Plan Committee of the Oregon Health Policy Board and has served as a member on several Institute of Medicine committees.

Alberto Moreno is the Executive Director for the Oregon Latino Health Coalition, a statewide organization whose mission is to eliminate health disparities for Latinos in Oregon. As the Executive Director his focus is on addressing longstanding health inequities for Latinos in Oregon through policy and systems reform. Key policy priorities include ensuring that all pregnant women in Oregon have access to prenatal care services and that all children in Oregon truly have equal and unabridged access to timely medical care.

Mr. Moreno also worked as the Migrant Health Coordinator for the Office of Multicultural Health and Services for ten years. As the Migrant Health Coordinator, Mr. Moreno’s role is to seed new Migrant Health Centers throughout Oregon. To date Mr. Moreno has been instrumental in starting three new Migrant Health Centers in Oregon with over $3.9 million leveraged on behalf of Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers.

Mr. Moreno began his career in Migrant Health when he founded a Community/Migrant Health Center in Southwest Washington and later became the Health Services Director with Sea-Mar Clinics. He has also worked on various initiatives including development work related to starting a Human Rights Commission and continues to work to secure prenatal care access for unqualified immigrant women in Oregon. Mr. Moreno also drafted and brokered a Binational Health Accord between Mexico and Oregon. Additionally, he is a founding member and the past Chair of the Oregon Latino Health Coalition, Board Member of United Way, Board Member of CASA and Co-Chair of the Latina Maternal and Child Health Taskforce and past President of the Oregon State Hispanic Employees Network. Previous to his arrival in Oregon, Mr. Moreno was instrumental in developing a culturally and linguistic model of care for Latino children entering the foster care system in Illinois. Mr. Moreno has also worked as a bilingual, bicultural child and family therapist for over 12 years.

Mr. Moreno is a native of Durango, Mexico and is bilingual and bicultural. He received his BS in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his MSW from the University of Illinois-Jane Adams.

Amy Frohnmayer works with the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology Program at Oregon Health & Science University as a research assistant. She assists Dr. Rebecca Block with studies regarding psychosocial correlates of dealing with cancer as an AYA, including a focus on the experiences of young Latino men with cancer. She received her undergraduate and master’s degrees in psychology with a primary academic focus on coping with life-challenging illness. Her interest in the plight of AYAs living with cancer stems from personal experiences and from volunteer work helping young adults deal with the life-altering challenges posed by serious illness. She aims to incorporate clinical work with AYAs affected by cancer and other life-challenging illnesses into her career as a psychologist.

Dr. Rebecca Block is a licensed clinical social worker with a PhD in social research. She is one of only a few PhD prepared social workers engaging in research in adolescent and young adult oncology. Block is currently working on studies related to psychosocial outcomes, mental health, socio-emotional development and fertility preservation decision-making. She is particularly interested in the cancer experience of Latinos and cancer care disparities. Dr. Block is co-chair of the Standards of Care Task Force in the Lance Armstrong Foundation Young Adult Alliance, the mental health director for Camp Starlight and co-chair for the Camp Starlight Planning Commission, and a member of the Board of Directors for Oncology Youth Connection. The synergy of life experience, clinical and research skills, and connection to social and professional community continues to inspire, motivate and move Dr. Block in all of the work that she does.

Stephen Manning Stephen Manning is a partner of Immigrant Law Group PC. He is Chair of the Amicus Committee for the American Immigration Lawyers Association on which he coordinates nationwide litigation strategies to advance the rights of immigrants and asylees. He is the recipient of the Edith Lowenstein award for Excellence in Advancing the Practice of Immigration Law. As a member of the legal team at ILG, he received the Gerald R Robinson Award for Excellence in Litigation. He is the past Chair of the Oregon Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

He graduated cum laude with a law degree from Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College. Stephen represents immigrants and their families in all immigration matters. He has been tireless in his federal litigation efforts before the district courts and appeals courts. He also volunteers extensively in the community and enjoys tackling difficult cases.

He has lectured widely on immigration issues and has been a frequent speaker on immigration and immigrant-related topics. Stephen believes in being direct and approachable. He encourages his clients to take a meaningful role in the preparation of their case - often thereby reducing costs. He believes that his well informed clients, acting with him as a partner in their own cases, should always make the final decisions in these most important matters.

Eduardo Angulo is the founder and the current Chairman & Executive Director of The Salem/Keizer Coalition for Equality, a multi-racial, multi-cultural community organization that works on issues of equality in the justice and education systems in Oregon. The Coalition is a multi-racial, multi-cultural community organization made up of 8 Latino community organizations that work for equality in justice and education in Oregon.

Eduardo graduated from Linfield College in McMinnville with a double major in Political Science and Spanish. Eduardo is also a professional Spanish legal translator-interpreter, with over 25 years of experience.

On June 2010, he graduated from the Three-Year-Master Executive Leadership Program for Educators designed by the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and its Graduate Schools of Business and Education.

He was a member of the Oregon Race To The Top Design Team and this past August was named by Governor Kitzhaber to be part of the Oregon LearnWorks to help implement the new Outcome Based Education Reform Initiatives. He is part of a Working Group in the development of the new Oregon Waiver Application from NCLB.

Jaime Guzman is co-founder of Oregon Dream Activist, an undocumented led volunteer based organization and the Northwest Immigrant Youth Alliance; which, through grassroots organizing, advocacy and direct collective action, they aim to develop a sustainable movement for justice and equality led by those most affected. Jaime is the lead organizer of the education not deportation campaign in Oregon which focuses on stopping deportation for undocumented youth.

Jaime attended Roosevelt high school and completed his high school diploma at Beaverton high school at age 17. He attended Portland Community College for 1 year before fully dedicating himself to community organizing. Jaime, now 26 years old, is a father, a husband; undocumented and unafraid. He plans to continue his tireless efforts in addressing the inequities and obstacles undocumented youth face through higher education and his work as the coordinator for the education not deportation campaign through the Oregon dreamer activist and the Northwest Youth Alliance.