Staff

Renée Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD Founding Director

Renée Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD Founding Director

Renée Boynton-Jarrett is a practicing primary care pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, a social epidemiologist and the founding director of the Vital Village Networks. Vital Village works to improve community capacity to promote child wellbeing and advance equity through dedicated collaborative partnerships, research, data-sharing, and community leadership development in Boston and nationally through the NOW Forum and CRADLE Lab. She joined the faculty at Boston University School of Medicine in 2007 and is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics. She received her AB from Princeton University, her MD from Yale School of Medicine, ScD in Social Epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health, and completed residency in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her scholarship focuses on the role of early-life adversities as life course social determinants of health. She has a specific interest in the intersection of community violence, intimate partner violence, and child abuse and neglect and neighborhood characteristics that influence these patterns.
Close
Ronda Alexander, MA Director of National Partnerships - Project NOW

Ronda Alexander, MA Director of National Partnerships - Project NOW

Ronda Alexander is a native Detroiter dedicated to working with communities to reach their desired goals by aligning and leveraging their resources. Ronda joins us from the United Way for Southeastern Michigan where she served as the Director of Corporate and Community Alignment on the organization’s College and Career Pathways team. In her role at United Way Ronda worked to help external corporate partners find meaningful ways to engage with both students and educators; as well as worked across teams within the organization to align and leverage resources. Prior to joining United Way Ronda worked on the premier education initiative of Ford Motor Company Fund – Ford Next Generation (Ford NGL) for nine years. While at Ford Fund Ronda served a variety of roles including Professional Development/Technical Assistance Specialist and Program Manager for STEM initiatives. In all of her roles with Ford Fund Ronda worked with and supported multiple communities across the country as they worked to transform their communities through education.
Close
Diana Austria Rivera, MSW, MPH Program Director - Project NOW

Diana Austria Rivera, MSW, MPH Program Director - Project NOW

As a public health social worker, Diana is committed to advancing racial, economic, and health equity ensuring that communities most impacted by structural inequity can thrive in healthy communities of opportunity and are at the forefront driving policy and systems-level change. Born in the Philippines and raised in Houston, Texas, she graduated with a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and a dual Masters in Social Welfare and Public Health from University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the Vital Village team, she engaged in research, capacity building, and policy advocacy to build equitable food systems and inclusive health workforce policies at PolicyLink. Diana also brings experience in school-based health research, health career pathway programs, youth leadership development, community engagement, and immigrant health.
Close
Corin Bauman Network Equity Coordinator

Corin Bauman Network Equity Coordinator

Corin Bauman is a reflective practitioner who is passionate about cultivating collaborative leadership for social justice and supporting community-driven solutions. Prior to joining Vital Village, she worked in higher education student affairs for over ten years designing, implementing, and managing educational programs. She received her Master’s in Leadership for Sustainability Education from Portland State University, and her B.S. in Biology from the University of Portland.
Close
Olivia Bauwens Community Mobilization Coordinator VISTA

Olivia Bauwens Community Mobilization Coordinator VISTA

Olivia Bauwens graduated in May, 2024 from the Clemson University Honors College with a dual degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice, along with a minor in Spanish. She is originally from Indianapolis, IN. Throughout her college career, she enjoyed working and volunteering for various vulnerable populations in South Carolina. From 2023-2024 she found great pride and love for her work as a Registered Behavioral Technician for children with autism. For two and a half years she also served as an on-call victim’s advocate for women experiencing sexual assault within the county. She hopes to continue working to improve mental and physical wellbeing within the community in the future, and to do so while exhibiting kindness and empathy to all.
Close
Danielle Champagnie Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program Coordinator

Danielle Champagnie Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program Coordinator

My name is Danielle N. Champagnie, LPN, LS, LC. Born in Boston, Massachusetts. I’m a wife, mother of four children, a grandmother and proud member of my community. I was introduced to breastfeeding early on by seeing my mother breastfeed my siblings. I had one full term baby and three of my children were born premature so I spent a significant amount of time in the NICU-Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I faced many challenges with breastfeeding my full term and premature baby’s not fully understanding how to breastfeed, what to do about problems that arise with breastfeeding and the importance of breastfeeding a premature baby. Due to the lack of support and guidance I know first-hand the challenges that can arise with breastfeeding, especially for premature infants.

While working in the nursing field for 20 plus years, I was introduced to Vital Village Networks & ROSE by a family member and I fell in Love with helping Mothers/families during their birthing and breastfeeding journey. Since then I have completed the Mamatoto Lactation specialist training, Healthy Children Lactation Counselor training, the R.O.S.E Community Transformer training as a member of BMC Vital Village Network's Boston Breastfeeding Coalition and Madriella Doula training.

I am working towards obtaining my I.B.C.L.C., so I can continue to work with families in diverse communities. My goal is to provide physical and emotional support, be a resource to families by providing education and helping them with challenges, understanding the importance of breastfeeding, and support families with babies in the NICU to successfully breastfeed at home. In my role as a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor program coordinator, I have coordinated and facilitated training and professional development for lay community members in training to become breastfeeding peer counselors and certified lactation counselors. I also coordinate shared resources, support training, and opportunities for breastfeeding peer counselors/ to learn basic breastfeeding information, including the benefits of breastfeeding, overcoming common barriers, getting a good start breastfeeding, and preventing and handling common breastfeeding concerns. I am the Recipient of Vital Village 2021 Excellence in Mentorship Award for outstanding dedication to the community and passion for lactation mentorship.
Close
Milan Chuttani Data Analyst

Milan Chuttani Data Analyst

Milan Chuttani is a public health professional focused on spatial analytics, data visualization, and web development. Milan graduated from Dartmouth College in 2018 with a B.A. in Government and a minor in Computer Science. Prior to joining Vital Village Network, Milan completed a fellowship at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developing web applications and GIS tools to support the COVID-19 pandemic response and public health initiatives for globally mobile populations. Milan enjoys transforming spatial, qualitative, and quantitative data into compelling narratives that promote health equity.
Close
Marisol De Ornelas, MSPH Research Associate - CK Ready Study

Marisol De Ornelas, MSPH Research Associate - CK Ready Study

Marisol De Ornelas has a Master of Science in Public Health at Boston University School of Public Health. Marisol’s passion for public health began while growing up in her home country, Venezuela, and experiencing first hand the devastating consequences of health inequity. She is passionate about the development, evaluation, and dissemination of public health interventions that focus on early childhood development and education. More broadly, her public health interests include environmental justice, translational research, public policy, Latinx communities, nutrition, and child and maternal health.
Close
Suzeth Dunn-Dyer, MS, MA Community Impact Associate

Suzeth Dunn-Dyer, MS, MA Community Impact Associate

Suzeth Dunn-Dyer has 20 years of experience in the planning and executing of trauma-informed community development initiatives in the city of Boston. She helped develop and led the planning and execution of community wellness programs for more than 3000 low income families in Roxbury and lower South End, in the areas of Youth Development, Workforce Development, Education,Community Wellness & Public Safety.
Close
Vianelly García Spanish Translator

Vianelly García Spanish Translator

Vianelly García (she/her) born and raised in the Dominican Republic. As a teenager her family and her moved to the smallest state, Rhode Island. She recently recieved a Bachelor of Science in Health Science with a minor in Sociology from Boston University. Vianelly is currently persuing Master of Public Health at Boston University's School of Public Health. Over the last couple of months, Vianelly has combined her passions for public health, healthcare and addressing social needs by working at small community vaccine clinics throughout Massachusetts. She hopes to make a meaningful impact in public health and healthcare by using her knowlege and life experiences to push foward health initiatives in communities in need.
Close
Desiree Hartman Senior Program Coordinator

Desiree Hartman Senior Program Coordinator

Desiree (Desi) Hartman is currently pursuing her Master of Social Worker (MSW) at Boston University and graduated from Colorado College in 2016 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Global Health. During college, Hartman conducted field research on infant attachment in multiple caregiver settings and cultivated a GlobeMed partnership with the Western Organization for People Living with HIV/AIDS (WOPLAH) in Kenya. Desi is passionate about early childhood development, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), child rights, maternal child health, migration and working with local leaders in the pursuit of justice, dignity, and health equity for all children and families.
Close
Alexandria Jones Associate Program Director

Alexandria Jones Associate Program Director

Alexandria Jones is a relationship and mission-driven professional with a focus on systems thinking and its intersection with human-centered cultures and outcomes. Prior to Vital Village, she worked in higher ed administration and philanthropy, and has years of experience in the cultivation, coordination, and management of events, programming, and teams. As an alumna from Berklee College of Music, majoring in Music Therapy, she is passionate about music’s ability to empower others.
Close
Smith Guillaume H. Lamothe Program Associate

Smith Guillaume H. Lamothe Program Associate

Smith Guillaume H. Lamothe, is a trained Community Health Worker with CHA and currently serves on the MACHW Board. He is an IHI trained Improvement Advisor. He has been a long time Community Champion with Vital Village. He has expertise in Public Relations, Clinical Health Education, Case Management, and Program Coordination in the health sector. He, along with his wife live in Boston and are the proud parents of three young men. Smith Guillaume is active in the Haitian American Community of Boston. He is also a member of Family Ministry in Action where he serves as its Executive Director.
Close
Jei Laura Food Systems Program Coordinator

Jei Laura Food Systems Program Coordinator

Jei is a herbalist, mixed media artist, earth tender, and community organizer, dedicated to centering decolonial ways of relating with one another, the land, and our more-than-human kin in order to build liberated futures. Their work in food justice began during their time pursuing their BA in Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. Since then they’ve gone on to continue this work at the grassroots and institutional level as an educator, gardener, cook, and facilitator for social change. Jei currently resides on unceded Muh-he-con-neok (Albany, NY), where they’re spending their time documenting the legacies of Black and Brown community members and organizing a free dinner series for a collective of QTBIPOC+ folks in the area.
Close
Hassan Lubega Research Manager - CK Ready Study

Hassan Lubega Research Manager - CK Ready Study

Hassan Lubega graduated from Boston University in 2020 with a bachelor's in science in Behavior & Health from the Sargent College of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation. He particulary focused his studies on minority health disparities, and he values the importance of bringing an intersectional lens to healthcare. After working on the CK-Ready Team as a research intern, he joined the permanent staff and is excited to have the opportunity to continue to work with the study.
Close
Saghi Malekanian Strategic Communications Lead

Saghi Malekanian Strategic Communications Lead

Saghi is a designer and strategist, passionate about the intersection of creative disciplines with social impact. She has worked in design, marketing, and consulting, using human-centered solutions to design for people and community needs, and communicating with them through storytelling. Saghi received her Master’s in Professional Studies (MPS) in Design Management from Pratt Institute and her Bachelor's in Interior Design (BID) from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Close
Phoebe McIntosh Community Engagement and Maternal Health Intern

Phoebe McIntosh Community Engagement and Maternal Health Intern

Phoebe is a recent graduate of Tufts University, where she studied Community Health, Sociology, and French. Prior to work with Vital Village Networks, Phoebe gained valuable experience working in local health departments facilitating harm reduction campaigns and conducting community-centered research. With a passion for health equity, Phoebe believes deeply in the importance of community engagement and is particularly interested in nonprofit operations. With hands-on experience in development, she brings an enthusiasm for capacity building to the team at Vital Village Networks.
Close
Arvind Pawar Data Analyst and Data Systems Coordinator

Arvind Pawar Data Analyst and Data Systems Coordinator

Arvind Pawar is a Data Analyst specializing in data wrangling, visualization, geospatial analytics, and predictive analytics. He earned his Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology from the University of Mumbai, India, in 2017 and completed his Master of Science in Data Analytics with a major in Statistical Modeling from Northeastern University, Boston, in 2020. Prior to joining Vital Village Networks, Arvind held significant roles, including Product Data Analyst, Data Scientist for Digital Marketing and Market Research, and Business Analyst for Forecasting and Planning research. Arvind thrives on solving intricate challenges and effectively conveying insights to diverse audiences, highlighting his passion for the field.
Close
Leidy Quiceno, MS Coalition Builder & Strategist

Leidy Quiceno, MS Coalition Builder & Strategist

Leidy has over a decade of experience working in partnership with communities throughout the Commonwealth as an educator, community grassroots mobilizer, strategist, and advocate to strengthen coalitions, organize, engage youth, and advance community-based research. Leidy is a member of the Village, an alumnus of the Certificate in Community Leadership and Advocacy Fellowship, and a member of the Steering Committee for our National Community Leadership Summit.

Leidy joins us as a Coalition Builder and Strategist and will guide our newest area of work around the Greater Boston Birth Equity Coalition, and support both local and national partnerships and learning journeys around coalition strategy and community leadership, and family and caregiver engagement and leadership in participatory research.
Close
Sarah X Rojas-Rogalewicz, MS Research Associate - CK Ready Study

Sarah X Rojas-Rogalewicz, MS Research Associate - CK Ready Study

Sarah X. Rojas-Rogalewicz is a healthcare professional with research interests that focus on the relationship of race and ethnicity to language, cognition, and health-related quality of life. She previously worked in diverse capacities in pediatric neuroimaging research, EEG research, and social work services outside Philadelphia. Most recently, Sarah assisted in multiple MRI studies including (ECHO) Environmental Influences on Childhood Outcomes at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Born in Colombia and raised in Miami, Florida, she received her MS in Neuroscience at Columbia University, and BS in Communication Science Disorders from Pennsylvania State University. Her experience and passion for language justice is multifaceted involving advocacy, multilingualism, cultural awareness, and interpretation. Currently, Sarah is a Master of Speech Language Pathology candidate at Boston University with a commitment to helping marginalized populations with limited resources and accessibilities.
Close
Stacey Ruiz, MS Clinical Research Coordinator II, CK Ready Study

Stacey Ruiz, MS Clinical Research Coordinator II, CK Ready Study

Stacey Ruiz is passionate about research on the social determinants of health and fostering health equity among Latine/o communities. She earned her Master's of Science in Global Health and Population from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Stacey has experience conducting community-based quantitative research with a focus on Latin American communities, both domestically and internationally. She has collaborated with UNAIDS and El Salvador’s Ministry of Health, exploring the associations between patient health knowledge, trust in physicians, and treatment adherence among people living with HIV in San Salvador.

Before joining Boston Medical Center, Stacey served as a research fellow for Reform for Resilience, contributing to research on the root causes of migration across the Northern Triangle as part of the White House’s Partnership for Central America initiative. In her role as a Clinical Research Coordinator at BMC, Stacey has contributed to studies exploring early relational health among English- and Spanish-speaking low-income parent-child dyads, as well as a transportation support program for low-income families with infants in the NICU. In her free time, Stacey enjoys exploring local coffee shops and panaderias.
Close
Leah Savage Digital Communications Coordinator

Leah Savage Digital Communications Coordinator

Leah recieved her BA in media studies from the University of Maine with a minor in history in May, 2022. She has a passion for identifying creative solutions in human-centered research and design, and has applied these principles to work in the social sciences, tech, accessiblity, and community mobilization. Leah places empathy and curiosity at the forefront of her work; she recognizes the importance of community-driven solutions to support a more equitable and sustainable future, as well as the crucial role of communication in coalition building and mobilization.
Close
Ishaan Shah Medical Student Research Intern

Ishaan Shah Medical Student Research Intern

Ishaan Shah graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2020, with a degree in Political Science. In the past, he has worked for California’s Department of Healthcare Services, the Odom-John Lab at Washington University School of Medicine, and Kol Rinah Early Childhood Center as a teacher’s assistant. He previously worked for the CK-READY Study through Gephardt’s Civic Scholars program in an effort to better understand the social, financial, emotional, and physical barriers that mothers and their families during the postpartum period. In 2020, he rejoined the study as a full-time Americorps VISTA, allowing him to learn more about community-based participatory research, civic engagement, and children’s and family advocacy. Ishaan is currently a medical student at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine.
Close
Clare Viglione, MPH, RDN Research Manager - CK Ready Study

Clare Viglione, MPH, RDN Research Manager - CK Ready Study

Clare graduated from Columbia University in 2013 with a Masters in Public Health. At Columbia, Clare worked in the Population and Family Health Department on the Getting Ready for School project and on SKIP!, the toddler physical activity intervention in Early Head Start. She has held research positions with Harvard Prevention Research Center, Boston Medical Center, and New York University in addition to health education roles with Harlem Children’s Zone and the New York City Department of Health. She also completed a Dietetic Internship at Harvard Medical School/ Brigham and Women’s Hospital to become a Registered Dietitian and has practiced primary care clinical nutrition focused on diabetes and women’s health. Clare is pursuing a Doctorate in Public Health at San Diego State University & UC San Diego with plans to develop equitable, cost-effective familial interventions targeting social-emotional development and childhood obesity.
Close
Hailun Wang, MS, MPH Data Analyst

Hailun Wang, MS, MPH Data Analyst

Hailun Wang is a Master of Public Health candidate with a focus on Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation, at Boston University. She has diverse experiences in integrating Geographic Information System (GIS) into program design and evaluation, such as urban planning, disaster response, and health education. She is passionate about helping people live a healthier life by implementing health programs in less privileged communities. With this goal and the strengths and skillsets that she has obtained from her previous experiences, she is committed to increasing access to healthcare in under-resourced settings through community empowerment and mobilization.
Close
Jenny Weaver, RN, IBCLC Breastfeeding Scholar Program Lead Mentor

Jenny Weaver, RN, IBCLC Breastfeeding Scholar Program Lead Mentor

Jenny Weaver is a nurse and lactation consultant dedicated to building equitable breastfeeding support for families. As an active member and leader in the Vital Village Boston Breastfeeding Coalition since 2016, she has participated in building sustainable pathways for community members who desire to serve their communities as lactation peer counselors and consultants. Along with these Breastfeeding Scholars and Coalition members, she has provided breastfeeding and parenting support as the IBCLC co-facilitator in our multiple support groups. She provides direct breastfeeding support to families, and mentoring for counselors, on our Breastfeeding Warmline. Jenny believes that breastfeeding, in addition to its health benefits for our children, is a vital source for empowering parents, families and communities. Jenny utilizes her 25 years of experience in lactation, and current leadership in our Boston Breastfeeding Coalition, towards the core breastfeeding support and educational goals of our mission. She currently serves on the Vital Village staff as the Breastfeeding Scholar Lead Mentor. Jenny has her RN, BSN from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She has been an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) since 1998.
Close