CCHA Team
Julie Smithwick, CHW
Executive Director, CCHA
803-312-1723
julie.smithwick@sc.edu
Andrea Heyward, CHW
Director, CHWI
803-563-0690
heywarda@mailbox.sc.edu
Lisa Renee Holderby-Fox, CHW
Director of CHW Leadership
803-917-4519
LRHolderby-Fox@sc.edu
Evangeline Cornelius
Business Manager
803-638-8647
evangeline.cornelius@sc.edu
Soledad Bolden, CHW
Envision CHW Program Consultant
212-933-9391
sbolden@mailbox.sc.edu
Christanny Bryant
Program Assistant
803-904-1604
christanny.bryant@sc.edu
Erin Caple, CHW
Community Health Worker Coach
Sarah Covington-Kolb
Program Manager, EACH Mom and Baby Collaborative
803-200-2183
sc77@mailbox.sc.edu
Lillie Fox, CHW
Community Health Worker
803-602-8857
lillief@mailbox.sc.edu
M. Greg Green, CHW
Community Health Worker Institute Training Manager
803-673- 4610
mgreggreen@sc.edu
Mychelle Harris
Training Assistant
803-673- 3935
mychelle@sc.edu
Kayla Hill, CCHW, MHA
Training Specialist
803-394-3265
khill@sc.edu
Silvia Ortega, CHW
CHW Program Consultant
803-210-0983
silviao@mailbox.sc.edu
Kim Rawlinson, CHW
Community Impact Manager
803-646-2056
comerkd@email.sc.edu
Alex Scott
Special Projects Manager
803-904-0327
aescott@email.sc.edu
Ryan Scott
Executive Assistant
803-828-8709
rjscott@mailbox.sc.edu
Anjell Session
Administrative Coordinator
803-814-5378
robinsav@mailbox.sc.edu
Richard Strater
Research and Communications Lead
864-407-2586
rstrater@email.sc.edu
D'reardon Thayer
Training Specialist
803-903-3158
dthayer@mailbox.sc.edu
Kathia Valverde, CHW
Training Specialist
803-807-8035
valverdk@mailbox.sc.edu
Kathia Valverde
Kathia Valverde is originally from Costa Rica, she has lived in the United States for over 30 years. She has a BA degree in Accounting and Business Administration / English as a Second Language; and two Associate Degrees in Early Childhood and Liberal Arts. She has served as an interpreter and translator for South Carolina Department of Social Services, family court, several attorneys, and several medical entities in the state. She is the former Coordinator of the HABLA Project at UofSC which served the Latino community of the State with Interpretation and Translations through DSS. Kathia also served as the State Reproductive Health Coordinator at PASOs for the Latino community, part of a State-wide Initiative aiming to ensure that every person regardless of their ability to pay; has access to receive the contraceptives of their choice. Presently She is a Community Health Worker Project Coordinator for PASOs-CCHA working with youth 14- to 24-year-old counseling on life plans, unplanned pregnancies, STI’s, HIV prevention and resources. Her passion is to serve in solidarity, advocacy and activism for issues affecting minorities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ community and women rights. Her inspiration leads her to serve in several community councils, committees, boards, and local Schools. Kathia loves to travel de world, spend time with her family, she is an active lover of animals, nature, the ocean, and her garden.
Julie Smithwick
Julie Smithwick began her public health career in 1997 as a Community Health Worker in Ecuador, built on her CHW skills while pursuing her MSW degree, and then founded PASOs, a statewide organization that serves and advocates for Latin@ communities in SC. Under Julie’s leadership during over 14 years as PASOs’ executive director, the PASOs CHW team was recognized for their innovative work, receiving multiple national and statewide awards. In 2019, Julie led the vision and development of the Center for Community Health Alignment (CCHA). Julie has expertise in CHW training and program development, workforce sustainability, organizational leadership and growth, and leadership development, among other skills. She has contributed to multiple publications on critical community public health topics including perinatal health, CHW workforce development and authentic community engagement. Julie is a co-founder of the South Carolina CHW Association and the National Association of Community Health Workers, serves on the board of directors for Cooperative Health (an FQHC), and is Board President of the Blue Ridge Institute for Community Service Leaders.
Rebecca Salter
Rebecca is excited to serve as an ally for the SE Community Health Workers in her new role as Network Coordinator! Rebecca earned her undergraduate degree from Clemson University in Health Education and Promotion – igniting her passion for public health.
Following graduation, Rebecca worked for the Arnold School of Public Health in the Office of Graduate Student Services for over seven years. She is excited to be a part of the Arnold School family again. Rebecca earned her M.Ed. degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs in 2018 from the University of South Carolina.
Rebecca lives in Columbia, SC and has two young sons that always keep her on her toes. Since becoming a mother she has a strong passion for maternal and child health and would love to learn how to better support this population as a Community Health Worker one day. Rebecca has always had a strong desire to help others and is excited to be working alongside such a passionate group to elicit change in the Southeast and beyond.
Erin Caple
Hello, My name is Erin Caple. I am one of the newest members of the CHWI’s Envision Team, as a Community Health Worker Coach. I currently reside in Delaware and am very excited to be a part of the team! I have over 10 years of experience obtaining and providing resources to community members to assist with any barriers that they may come across. I come from a strong training and educator background focused on community engagement. I am a Certified Community Health Worker Trainer & a Chronic Disease Self-Management Program Lay leader as well. I have a rather large interest in learning the health inequities in different communities and providing support and creative ways to make a change and for communities to live happier lives.
Lillie Fox
“If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.” These lines govern the life of Lillie Fox. She has been serving the community for over 40 years. Ms. Fox has been involved in all aspects of community service from mentoring, molding, teaching, and organizing; enlightening and reaching out to all those in need. Lillie Fox worked in all facets of servant leadership from school, churches, prison, to other arenas. Noticeably, her special dedication has been to care for babies, mothers, fathers, and families for the last three decades. She was awarded the Algenon Sidney Sullivan award for outstanding community service on May 8, 2008. Lillie is a member of the South Carolina Community Health Worker Association (SCCHWA) , SE/CHW work group, and serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Community Health Workers (NACHW). Fox is a graduate of Coker University, where she earned her Bachelor in Social Work (BSW) and South University, where she earned her MA. She has also been certified as a Community Health Worker by SCCHWA.
Andrea Heyward
Andrea has over a decade of professional experience serving the non-profit, public health, and healthcare sectors. Over the years, she has provided consultation to numerous organizations to build their programmatic and organizational capacity. Andrea’s professional work extends beyond the state of South Carolina; however, she dedicates her personal time serving her local community through board and committee service for organizations such as The Hive Community Circle (Board Chair), Homeless No More (Board of Directors), Birth Outcomes Initiative Birth Equity Workgroup, and the United Way of the Midlands (Partnership Committee). As a Master Certified Health Education Specialist, Andrea is most proud of her work as a health educator, working alongside community health workers and grassroots leaders to improve access to quality services, address social determinants of health, and advocate for redistribution of resources to better serve communities. Her passion for health equity and utilizing the strengths of communities to foster change brought her to the Center for Community Health Alignment where she currently serves as the Director of the Community Health Worker Institute. Andrea has a Master of Health Science degree in Health Education and Health Communication from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a Bachelor of Arts in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina.
Kim Rawlinson
Kimberly brings over ten years of experience to CCHA in health disparity reduction by fostering community outreach and engagement in underserved and rural communities in South Carolina. She has spent most of her public health career working with academic and community-based organizations coordinating and conducting cancer-related community outreach programs. As the Community Health Worker Specialist, Kimberly’s primary role is to coordinate a community-based research project centered on meaningful community engagement, assist with integration of the community health worker (CHW) model into organizations and health systems, and provide support to CHWs and organizations.
Kimberly is a graduate of the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health, where she received a Master’s Degree in Public Health. She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Tuskegee University.
She enjoys working for and collaborating with organizations whose focus is to improve health equity for all people. It is through the CCHA that Kimberly believes that she can bring about change and help to bring a voice to those who are most affected by health inequities.
Dakshu Jindal
Dakshu Jindal is a doctoral student in the department of Health Services Policy and Management at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. She received her masters and bachelor’s degree in Economics and has over 4 years of work experience in health policy and financing in developing countries such as India and the Philippines. Her research interest includes tobacco cessation, maternal and child health, community health and spatial access to health services.
Alex Scott
Alex serves as the special projects manager at the Center for Community Health Alignment (CCHA) and is a passionate CHW ally. Since 2020, she has had the pleasure of collaborating with, learning from, and supporting CHWs through her work at CCHA. She is especially passionate about finding sustainable, holistic, and engaging ways to address social determinants of health and health inequities, particularly through support of the CHW workforce.
Alex received her Master of Public Health degree from the University of South Carolina and her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Clemson University.
Alex’s background includes work within the fields of sexual health, translational research, and international student affairs. These experiences built the foundation that would eventually lead her to her current work with CCHA, which centers around statewide efforts to further demonstrate the impact of CHWs across South Carolina. In particular, her work aims to support CHW workforce sustainability and the implementation of recognized best practices, which help CHWs work at the height of their scopes.
Sarah Covington-Kolb
Sarah has a Masters in Social Work and a Masters in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
For over nine years, she managed the implementation, training, and research for the Centering Pregnancy model of group prenatal care for over 400 groups in Greenville, as well as more than 20 practice sites around the state. She has gone on to provide training and technical assistance for group prenatal care with Group Care Global in Paraguay and China.
She loves all aspects of public health work, with many communities and agencies. Before Centering Pregnancy, she managed a health collaborative for the Durham County Health Department, coordinated large refugee relief programs in the US and Africa with the International Rescue Committee, led international education seminars in Europe with International Uddannelses Center, conducted research in Mexico with Milenio Feminista, and assisted Prospect Hill Community Health Center with farmworker health outreach.
Her specialties are facilitative training and education, research coordination, supporting teams through systems change, data collection and analysis, grant writing and reporting, and program implementation. She speaks Spanish and is particularly interested in eliminating health inequities for communities of color here in the US.
She lives in Greenville with her family, too many cats, a garden she always needs to weed, a dance class she has to get to, and many bookshelves.
Indira Gutierrez
Indira Gutierrez is a doctoral student in the Health Promotion Education and Behavior department in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. She received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at North Carolina State University where she conducted research on hunger and homelessness. Her research interests include social determinants of health, nutrition, and cognition. She is currently a graduate assistant on a few research projects:
1.The Duke Endowment funded Social Determinants of Health Community Pharmacy Capacity Building Project lead by CCHA.
2.The Investigacion sobre Redes Interpersonales y Salud (IRIS) project to address cancer disparities among Latinos by leveraging sociocultural processes that increase the effectiveness of communication interventions lead by Dr. Jim Thrasher.
3. A Food Policy Study focused on identifying which nutrition policies most effectively promote healthy eating for Mexican Americans leveraging data from the International Food Policy Study (IFPS) lead by Dr. Rachel Davis.
Carmen Blanco
As a Training Specialist for CCHA’s Community Health Worker Institute, Carmen will assist in the development and implementation of trainings that help increase the capacity of Community Health Workers and community-serving organizations.
Carmen brings years of experience working in community health & wellness, addressing areas such as: physical fitness/nutrition, behavioral & mental health, homelessness, and chronic disease prevention. Prior to joining CCHA, Carmen worked as a Substance Misuse Preventionist, Community Health Worker, Adjunct Professor, and fitness professional. She has also served as an AmeriCorps and Peace Corps volunteer.
Carmen is a proud Washingtonian (DC) and a graduate of the University of Maryland. She is a member of the SC Community Health Worker Association, SC Association of Prevention Professionals and Advocates, and (fun fact) is a 250-hour registered yoga teacher trained in trauma-informed practice.
Carmen sits on the Board of Directors for Rise in Resiliency, a nonprofit currently working abroad with local community leaders to support grassroots initiatives. Carmen strongly believes in the power of community as a driving force to affect inequity, stigmas, and injustice. She is passionate about social justice and is excited to be a part of the CCHA team where she can assist in addressing health inequities
Mychelle Harris
Mychelle Harris is currently serving as the Training Assistant for the CCHA’s Community Health Worker Institute, a division of the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health.
Mychelle is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and holds a B.S. in Public Health. Mychelle plans to continue her career in the health promotion field at CCHA while she pursues her M.S in Public Health from the University of South Carolina.
Mychelle came to CCHA first as a volunteer and officially joined the team as a staff member in January 2022. While a volunteer she supported CCHA in planning assisting to implement the first ever Southeast Community Health Worker Network Summit, as well as working behind the scenes to develop training materials for the CCHA team.
As the Training Assistant, Mychelle will assist the Community Health Worker Institute’s Training Manager and Training Specialists in coordinating, developing and implementing training programs for SC CHWs and partners.
Mychelle believes passionately in the power of Community Health Work and looks forward to continuing to support the CCHA team in their work towards health equity for all.
Kayla Hill
Kayla D. Hill, MHA, CCHW is a Certified Community Health Worker, health equity advocate, & data strategist with 5+ years of community health experience in health collaboratives, academic health systems, long term care facilities, and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Kayla believes relationship building & connection are foundational in implementing sustainable, cross sectorial strategies to improve rural health outcomes.
In 2021, her contributions to the development & implementation of mobile COVID-19 testing and vaccination services in North Carolina were presented at the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved Annual Conference. In her role as Community Health Equity Coordinator with Live Healthy Spartanburg & United Way of the Piedmont, she focused on promoting community-led initiatives and creating space for collaborative action planning between neighborhood associations, national health collaboratives, & local government. In 2023, she graduated from the Spartanburg County Foundation’s Grassroots Leadership Development Institute & the Highland Neighborhood Leadership Institute, a program of the Spartanburg County Foundation & City of Spartanburg.
Kayla is a native of Boiling Springs, SC, but spent much of her childhood in rural Spartanburg, Cherokee, & Union counties. Kayla graduated from Wofford College in 2017 with two Bachelor of Arts in Sociology & Spanish. In 2019, she graduated from the Gillings School of Global Public Health, at UNC Chapel Hill, with a Master of Healthcare Administration.
Kayla enjoys spending time with her family, journaling/reading in nature, watching documentaries, & listening to podcasts. She currently volunteers as a bilingual administrative support staff at St. Luke’s Free Medical Clinic & is a member of the South Carolina Community Health Worker Association.
Mychelle Harris
Mychelle Harris is currently serving as the Training Assistant for the CCHA’s Community Health Worker Institute, a division of the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health.
Mychelle is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and holds a B.S. in Public Health. Mychelle plans to continue her career in the health promotion field at CCHA while she pursues her M.S in Public Health from the University of South Carolina.
Mychelle came to CCHA first as a volunteer and officially joined the team as a staff member in January 2022. While a volunteer she supported CCHA in planning assisting to implement the first ever Southeast Community Health Worker Network Summit, as well as working behind the scenes to develop training materials for the CCHA team.
As the Training Assistant, Mychelle will assist the Community Health Worker Institute’s Training Manager and Training Specialists in coordinating, developing and implementing training programs for SC CHWs and partners.
Mychelle believes passionately in the power of Community Health Work and looks forward to continuing to support the CCHA team in their work towards health equity for all.
D’reardon Thayer
D’reardon Thayer is a training specialist with the Center for Community Health Alignment. He is a native of Dover, Delaware and a graduate of Delaware State University. He has over twenty years of experience working with underserved communities. D’reardon has a strong training and educational background focused on community engagement. He is experienced in conducting outreach, providing education, and facilitating access to healthcare resources.
D’reardon’s previous employments include working in foster care, youth development, as an employment specialist, job coaching for individuals with disabilities, outpatient therapy for youth and families, as well as numerous volunteer positions in local communities. He is passionate about community health work with a commitment to empowering communities. D’reardon is dedicated to improving community well-being through education and collaboration. He currently resides in Delaware with his wife and four daughters.
Christanny Bryant
Christanny is joining the CCHA team with over 10 years of experience in Community Health. She graduated from Benedict College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and attained a Master’s Degree in Health Care Administration from Webster University. Christanny has a passion for improving health outcomes for underserved communities as well as a niche for technology and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the CCHA team through advocacy, program design and implementation.