NNED Virtual Roundtable – Building the Evidence: Innovative Partnerships to Move Community-Defined Evidence to Best Practice

Dr. Gayle K Porter is a clinical psychologist. She is an internationally known expert and lecturer in the area of mental health, particularly as it relates to Black children, women and families. Dr. Porter is the Co-director and developer of The Gaston & Porter Health Improvement Center, Inc (GPHIC) which is responsible for providing culturally competent information and training -on effective and evidence based interventions, models, materials, and resources to reduce emotional and physical health disparities especially in relationship to minority children and adults at the local, state and national level. One of the major activities of the Center was the development of the Prime Time Sister Circles® (PTSC) program. The PTSC, co-developed by Dr. Porter and Dr. Marilyn Gaston, is an evidenced-based, free, support group intervention for mid-life Black women. It is designed to help them: reduce their blood pressure and unmanaged stress and depressive symptoms; improve their nutrition and; increase their physical activity.
Dr. Porter was the first Black psychologist to be on the psychiatry faculty of Johns Hopkins. She was also the director of two outpatient mental health clinics for children and families for the Washington, D.C. Commission on Mental Health Services. She helped developed and was the first full time director of a school-based mental health programs in 19 schools in East Baltimore for Johns Hopkins University/Hospital. Dr. Porter currently serves as a leader/mentor to promote diversity and inclusion initiatives to American Institutes for Research (AIR) staff; and advises AIR on topical issues of expertise especially related to emotional and physical health of minority women and minority community engagement.

Dr. Jami Bartgis completed a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Oklahoma State University and internship at the University of South Florida, Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI). She is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and has spent her career working for both tribal and urban American Indian communities across the United States. Dr. Bartgis previously served an Assistant Professor of Research at the University of Oklahoma Health Health Sciences Center, Indian Country Child Trauma Center. She has worked on the national level in her role as the Director of Technical Assistance and Research at the National Council of Urban Indian Health. Highlights of her community work include the development, implementation and evaluation of children’s mental health systems; a range of community-based participatory research projects to advance health knowledge and practice; partnerships with State/County Mental Health and Substance Abuse Departments to support Systems of Care for American Indian populations; and the honor of working with thousands of tribal youth and family members as a direct service provider, community-based researcher/evaluator, and data driven policy advocate for a healthier world.

Kenneth J. Martinez, Psy.D. retired, is a psychologist and was principal researcher at the American Institutes for Research. He is Clinical Assistant Professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and was State Children’s Behavioral Health Director in New Mexico. He is past Chair of the Children, Youth and Families Division of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, representing the 50 states and territories. Dr. Martinez served on the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Symposium Planning Committee at the Carter Center and is past Vice President of the National Latino Behavioral Health Association. He is on the SAMHSA National Advisory Council, an advisory board member of the SAMHSA National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health, an advisor to the Institute for Translational Research in Adolescent Behavioral Health at the University of South Florida, and a board member of New Mexico Voices for Children. He testified before Congress on the mental health needs of children and youth in the juvenile justice system and presented at a congressional briefing with Dr. Jane Knitzer on the mental health needs of children and youth. Dr. Martinez has authored articles and book chapters and conducted numerous trainings and presentations on cultural and linguistic competence, disparity reduction, community defined evidence, children’s mental health, and social issues. He graduated from Stanford University and was a Ford Foundation Fellow at the University of Denver, earning a Psy.D. in child clinical psychology in 1978. In 2017 he received the Career Achievement Award from the University of Denver.

Marina Castillo-Augusto is the Chief of the Community Development and Engagement Unit within the Office of Health Equity at the California Department of Public Health, where she oversees an innovative $60 million dollar statewide initiative, the California Reducing Disparities Project, a pilot program aimed at reducing mental health inequities for targeted racial, ethnic, and LGBTQ communities. With over 20 years working at the state level, Ms. Augusto has a track record for reaching out and engaging diverse and hard to reach populations. Through culturally responsive program design and implementation strategies, she effectively helps influence policy and systems change. She has received numerous awards including the Public Health Acknowledging My Efforts Award; the Office of the Attorney General Award for Teamwork, Leadership and a Commitment to Excellence; and a Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Award. Ms. Augusto received a BS in Criminal Justice and MS in School Counseling from California State University, Sacramento.

Nancy Csuti is the Vice President of Research, Evaluation & Strategic Learning at The Colorado Trust, a grantmaking foundation dedicated to achieving health equity in Colorado. In her role she is responsible for creating a framework for establishing strategic priorities, measuring results and evaluating the impact of the foundation’s work. She develops and oversees The Trust’s research, evaluation and strategic learning activities to maximize impact of The Trust’s grantmaking. She speaks and writes extensively about issues related to creating impact in philanthropy, and the role of evaluation for learning in advancing a foundation’s mission.
Prior to come to The Trust, she worked on evaluations in Asia and Africa. She holds a master’s degree in Maternal and Child Health and a doctorate in international health / epidemiology from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Rafael Colonna is a Research Scientist at the California Department of Public Health Office of Health Equity. At the Office of Health Equity, he oversees the California Reducing Disparities Project’s Statewide Evaluation Contract and supports evaluation activities throughout the initiative. Rafael received his BA in Sociology at the University of California, San Diego, and his MA and PhD in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. Rafael has been an active volunteer and organizer in LGBTQ organizations including the San Diego Hillcrest Youth Center, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), and UC Berkeley’s Chancellor Advisory Committee on LGBT Communities. Rafael’s scholarly and community organizing work has been recognized with awards from the American Sociological Association, the Emerald Literati Network, the San Diego LGBT Center, and the San Diego Greater Business Association.