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Magdalena (Maggie) S. Merrill, MPH
Maggie Merrill brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience in community health and development. In both her professional and educational pursuits, Maggie has focused intensively on community organization, social ecology, program evaluation, and community capacity development.
Maggie has had broad experience with community health programs across Louisiana. She worked at the Louisiana Public Health Institute developing several programs, including the Center for Community Capacity (CCC) and Step Together New Orleans. During her tenure with the CCC, Maggie worked with many community groups across Louisiana, such as Better Health for the Delta, providing training and technical assistance so that communities could address the issues that they cared about. While at the CCC, Maggie was directly responsible for developing a community-based intergenerational mentorship program in Avoyelles Parish with funding from the Rapides Foundation. While developing the Step Together New Orleans program, which focused on Diabetes, Obesity and Asthma in New Orleans, Maggie organized the Community Consortium of over 80 members, and worked with several taskforces to revise the Community Action Plan.
Through the Center for Community Capacity, Maggie helped develop the Community Programs of The Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free living. Not only did the CCC create a mini-grant program that issued over 100 capacity-building grants to community groups across the state, but they also provided multiple trainings and technical assistance to help grantees integrate activities into their existing programs to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke.
In Washington State, Maggie now runs the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program of the Spokane Regional Health District. After the recent passing of a statewide initiative that makes all public places and places of employment smoke-free, Maggie has created and implemented an enforcement program covering all of Spokane County. This has involved policy creation, news coverage in multiple media channels, coordination with other enforcement agencies, and collaboration with many community partners.
Maggie Merrill brings with her many diverse life experiences. A native of Washington State, Maggie has lived and worked in five states and one foreign country. Born in Nebraska, raised in Washington, attended college in Maine, studied Social Policy and Art History in Ireland, lived and worked in Massachusetts, went to graduate school and worked in New Orleans, and back to Washington, Maggie has been fortunate enough to live and work in many different cultures. She is half Native American and half Greek, and grew up between both worlds. And through all of these experiences, she has developed the ability to assimilate to and appreciate all cultures.
Maggie Merrill received her B.S. in Biology from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. She received her Master of Public Health in Health Education and Communication from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Maggie was nominated to the Sigma Xi Research Society following college, and the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health following graduation from graduate school. Maggie hopes to pursue a PhD in Urban Studies in the future.
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