Emily is skilled at facilitation, organizational development, fostering collaborations, arts integration, qualitative data analysis and evaluation design. With a masters in Medical Anthropology and over 25 years of experience, she is able to help groups define their goals, articulate their visions, and develop solid plans to achieve them. Emily often works at the intersection of art and public health, helping communities utilize the arts as an effective tool for health promotion. She brings a strong focus on cultural appropriateness and health equity as well as an interest in qualitative data to all of her work. She is a systems-thinker who develops frameworks, planning models, and new methods of capacity building for communities and organizations.
Emily is a certified prevention specialist and has extensive experience in community-level prevention in the areas of substance abuse, suicide, teen pregnancy, obesity and HIV. She served as a member of the statewide epidemiological work group that identified the emerging opioid epidemic in 2006, and has partnered with the Department of Public Health on multiple initiatives, including the following:
- Toolkit for the application of CLAS (culturally and linguistic appropriateness services) standards to public health initiatives
- Statewide plan to mitigate the harms of expanded gambling in Massachusetts
- Comprehensive workforce development plan for substance abuse prevention practitioners
Additionally, Emily serves as the Community Art Director for The Beautiful Stuff Project, a creative reuse center in Somerville, MA.
Email: emily@connectionlab.org.
Websites: glassandlead.com, connectionlab.org