Apryl R. Brown, MD is an APHA Governing Councilor and Policy Co-Chair of the Community Health Planning and Policy Development Section. She is a member of the APHA Education Board. In her community, she oversees the operation of the Detroit Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), which is a local unit of the national community based organization Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps. The mission of the Detroit MRC is to address public health issues such as improving health literacy among the general public, increasing disease prevention, eliminating health disparities, and strengthening public health preparedness to be utilized during natural and/or man induced disasters and emergencies. At the University of Michigan Center for Public Health and Community Genomics, Dr. Brown works as a community outreach associate recruiting community-based organizations to attend activities pertaining to the field of genetics. As an adjunct faculty member at Wayne County Community College District, she teaches introductory biology and human anatomy and physiology to students pursuing various careers in the health care profession. In addition to belonging to APHA, Dr. Brown is a member of various public health, honorary, and civic organizations. She looks forward to continue participating in the APHA and working in the public health profession.

Priti Irani, MS is a Research Scientist in the Office of Public Health Practice at the New York State Department of Health. She assists local health departments, hospitals and community partners with planning initiatives. Before joining the NYSDOH in 1999, Priti worked for nine years as Public Health Educator at Schenectady County Public Health Services, and coordinated a Parent AIDS Education Program for Cornell Cooperative Extension, Schenectady County. Priti has a Masters in Science in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She also has a Masters in Biochemistry from Baroda, India and worked as a journalist for two years in Mumbai (India).

Tammy Pilisuk, MPH is Unit Chief, Provider Education of the Information and Education Section of the California Department of Public Health's Immunization Branch, where she has worked for the past eight years. Before that, she worked for many years with the Family Caregiver Alliance to advance policy reform for long-term care. Tammy also has a long-standing volunteer relationship with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, serving as chair of the northern California Government Relations Committee, winning a national leadership ward in 2001. In 2008, she was nominated to the Society's Federal Activism Council which advises the Society's public policy leadership. Her proposal for developing health care reform principles won acceptance of the full NMSS Board and the Society's "principles" document has now become the centerpiece of their advocacy efforts across the 50 states. Tammy is a graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and lives in Berkeley CA.

Ellen R. Shaffer, Ph.D is a Co-Director of the Center for Policy Analysis, an independent organization dedicated to protecting human health and expanding access to health care, water, and other vital human services, in an era of economic globalization. She is also an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco. She served as senior health policy advisor to U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone from 1992 to 1995, guiding staff work on national health care reform and managed care patients' rights. Her proposal for a state-based universal health service, under a grant from the California Health Care Options Project, extended her work with U.S. Representative Barbara Lee on H.R. 3000, the U.S. Universal Health Service Act. She co-authored the chapter on politics in the latest edition of Our Bodies Ourselves. She serves on the Executive Board of the American Public Health Association. She has a Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley, a Ph.D. from the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist.

John Steen is a consultant with over 35 years of experience in community health planning, state health regulation, management consulting, public health and health policy. He was Assistant Director of the Health Systems Agency of NYC, 1978-1986. Subsequently, he was Executive Director of a New Jersey health planning agency, a consultant in Westchester County, NY, and Director of Georgia’s Regulatory Compliance/ Certificate of Need program. He has been a professor and lecturer in health policy. In recent years, Mr. Steen’s consulting engagements have been principally in certificate of need and community health promotion initiatives. For the American Health Planning Association (AHPA), he has concentrated on researching health policy issues in health planning, health regulation and public health.

Lauren Tobias, MPA is Deputy Director for the Division of Policy for the Office of Health Systems Management, New York State Department of Health. Prior to joining the New York State Department of Health, Ms. Tobias worked for Family Planning Advocates of New York State as a private consultant and prior that as Director of Public Policy. Ms. Tobias served as a Senior Legislative Associate for the Majority Leaders’ Research Office of the New York State Assembly. Ms. Tobias earned her Master of Arts in Public Affairs and Policy from the Rockefeller College of the State University at Albany.