Alonzo Plough joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as chief science officer and vice president of Research-Evaluation-Learning in January 2014.

Alonzo has been a national leader in public health practice for over 25 years. He came to the Foundation from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where he was responsible for protecting the 10 million residents of Los Angeles County from natural disasters and threats related to disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies. He coordinated activities in emergency operations, infectious disease control, risk communication, planning, and community engagement.

Prior to this position, Alonzo served as vice president of strategy, planning and evaluation for The California Endowment from 2005–2009. Before to this, he served 10 years as director and health officer for the Seattle and King County Department of Public Health and also served as director of public health in Boston for eight years.

Alonzo earned his PhD and MA at Cornell University, and his MPH at Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. He has held academic appointments at Harvard University School of Public Health, Tufts University Department of Community Medicine, and Boston University School of Management. He is currently clinical professor of health services at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle. He has been the recipient of numerous awards for public service and leadership and is the author of an extensive body of scholarly articles, books, and book chapters.

Dr. Huang has been the Director and Health Authority for the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department since February 2019. Prior to this he served as Medical Director and Health Authority for the Austin Public Health Department, and as Chief of the Bureau of Chronic Disease & Tobacco Prevention at the Texas Department of State Health Services. He received his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Rice University, his MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, and his Master’s in Public Health from Harvard. While at Harvard he led the successful movement to have Harvard divest of their tobacco stocks. Dr. Huang completed his residency training in Family Medicine at Brackenridge Hospital in Austin and was Chief Resident during his final year. He served two years as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assigned to the Illinois Department of Public Health where he conducted epidemiologic studies in chronic disease and infectious disease outbreak investigations. Dr. Huang is the current President of the Texas Association of County and City Health Officials, and he is on the Executive Board of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. He was recently recognized by D Magazine, Best of Big D as “Best Public Official” for 2021. Dr. Huang is an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the University of Texas School of Public Health, and he served as an Assistant Professor with the University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School. He has been Principal Investigator for numerous CDC and State-funded public health cooperative agreements.

Ogechi Ugwulebo is a Wife, Mother, Certified Information Security Manager with advanced technical skills and hands on experience in software development, information security governance/risk management, data privacy, and regulatory requirements. She has over 20 years experience specifically within the Healthcare Information Technology industry. Ogechi also serves as the Founder and National President of the Association of Nigerian Women Entrepreneurs and Professionals (ANWEP), a 501c3 non-profit organization registered in the state of Texas that focuses on women empowerment by working to increase the number of girls/women in STEM education/careers through mentorship, outreach programs, coding workshops and boot camps, role modeling and support for women in crisis. As a leader, Ogechi inspires other minority women living in the state of Texas to give back to their immediate communities by making a positive impact through volunteerism and practical philanthropy.

Ogechi understands that role models and mentors help young women visualize themselves as Professionals and future Leaders which is why her mentoring efforts not only provide successful role models for future women in STEM, but also showcase the range of opportunities a STEM education makes possible. Ogechi recognizes that female education is a crucial component to poverty alleviation and investing in girls education also helps delay early marriage and parenthood. Ogechi believes that the key to ensure that aspiring women scientists stay in STEM, are mentors that they can emulate.

I have a degree in Chemical engineering and after working 16 plus years in the chemical industry , I decided to pursue community service. My experience with Disaster response started in school when I joined the Red Cross school team and got involved in activities like fundraising, in kind donation collection, and organizing blood donation drives for those in need. My passion for serving communities particularly those who have been impacted by disasters was instrumental in my transition from a regular chemical industry job to community service. My first experience and association with Sewa International started when we were responding to Hurricane Harvey during that time we were manning the helpline, collecting in kind donations and dropping them at a local warehouse / distribution center. Distribution of hot meals to first responders. Eventually started working as a Disaster case Manager which progressed to being a project manager as well, we helped an immigrant greenhouse farming community by rebuilding 22 homes and repairing 125 homes and 200 plus greenhouses.

We continued our effort of responding to disasters right at the onset of Pandemic-COVID, by distributing masks, sanitizer, hot meals to first responders, food distribution in low income communities, plasma donor registry, webinars. We partnered with a local public health team and started Pop up vaccine clinics, we have organized 35 plus such clinics and immunized around 1500 plus individuals. Currently we have hired 14 community Liaisons to work in rural communities to understand the vaccine hesitancy and other health issues prevailing in these rural
communities.

For Other Disaster related work of Sewa International, kindly visit https://www.sewausa.org

I represent the Texas Association of Healthcare Interpreters and Translators (TAHIT- PSA) and a regional CHW/promotora organization. As a certified Spanish healthcare interpreter and a medical anthropologist, I have dedicated most of my career to Hispanic Health and Culturally Competent initiatives.