Making Health Happen

Judith Weinstein, MA, MPH

Judith Weinstein, MA, MPH, entered the field of public health literally through the mail room, as bi-lingual secretary for the Africa Office at Jhpiego, an international reproductive health program at The Johns Hopkins University. She never expected that three decades later she’d be working on the greatest health issue of our time. Currently the Area Coordinator for HHS Regions 2 and 5 at the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she works to support state, local, big city, and territorial departments of health to build the COVID-19 vaccine and general public health workforce. Judith received her AB from Bryn Mawr College, an MA in French Studies from New York University, and her MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She will talk about her professional international journey working in global women’s reproductive health to working on a global pandemic from her home desk in Chicago.

Jared Lane Maeda, PhD, MPH

Dr. Jared Lane Maeda is currently a Mike Mansfield Fellow where he is spending a year learning about the Japanese health care system. Previously, he was a Principal Analyst in the Health Analysis Division at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), U.S. Congress. During his time at CBO, Dr. Maeda worked on various projects related to health insurance coverage expansions, hospital prices, and prescription drug prices and spending. In 2019, he received the CBO Director's Award for his work on single-payer health care systems. Previously, Dr. Maeda worked at Truven Health Analytics (an IBM Watson Company) and served as a Research Scientist at Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States. Dr. Maeda is a recipient of an agency for Health Care Research and Quality R36 grant. His research has been published in several leading journals, including Health Services Research, American Journal of Managed Care, Medical Care Research and Review and his work has been cited by The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Forbes.

Joe Iser, MD, DrPH, MSc

Dr. Joe Iser has a medical degree from the University of Kansas and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, General Preventive Medicine and Public Health, and Occupational Medicine, with a broad background in public health, primary care, and medical education. He has a Doctorate in Public Health in Health Policy from the University of Michigan and an MSc in Infectious Diseases from the University of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His interests include indigent care, infectious diseases, disaster medicine, environmental health, and international medicine. Retired after 24 years of active duty with the US Public Health Service, he is now the Chief Health Officer for the Southern Nevada Health District. Dr. Iser sits on a number of boards, including the Health Officers Association of California, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Nevada Public Health Foundation, and the School of Community Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Advisory Board. He is an officer for the Nevada Association of Local Health Officials and a former board member of the California Conference of Local Health Officers. He volunteers at several other community-based organizations and is active in county and state medical societies.

Heydi Correa Encarnacion, MPH

Heydi Correa-Encarnacion is currently a Government Consultant, Trainer for Fiserv in the Government Solutions department. As the general trainer for Anthem Indiana Medicaid, Heydi serves as a subject-matter expert for Medicaid policy (state and federal) as well as being a content developer for all general training offered to the Indiana Medicaid employee population. Training includes Medicaid 101, State Medicaid benefits, Anthem Medicaid benefits, and other issues affecting the Medicaid population Anthem works directly with. Heydi has also worked as a consultant for Health Management Associates Medicaid Market Solutions. With HMA MMS, she served as a subject matter expert on ACA policy updates for the CMS’ National Assister Training modules. She also provided technical assistance for all communication initiatives for the implementation of the new CoreMMIS system in the state of IN. In 2016, she finalized a fellowship as a Health Graduate fellow with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington, D.C. She focused on health policy surrounding the changes implemented by the ACA, current legislation, and appropriations distribution. She worked in close collaboration with the U.S. House of Representatives as well as APHA in advancing inclusive healthcare policies and national advocacy efforts. As a previous Health Educator for Positive Link, a program of IU Health Community Health, she worked primarily with Bienestar, a Latino outreach project through Positive Link in bringing prevention and awareness of HIV/AIDS to the local Latino Community. She developed health education initiatives, leading the program development and growth to ensure that the community is well versed on information about free testing offered through the project. She drafted, implemented, and deployed a county-wise Latino Health Needs Assessment which sought to increase accessibility, affordability, and quality care in Monroe County, Indiana. Heydi graduated from the Indiana University School of Public Health, Masters in Public Health program concentrating on Behavioral, Social and Community Health. In 2010, she graduated with a Double Bachelors of Arts and Science in Sociology and Spanish. She also earned a minor in Latino Studies and a certificate in Public Health. She is currently the Vice President and Marketing Director of Project Period, a non-profit focused on combating period poverty in Central Indiana.