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  • Core Knowledge Group

    The Core Knowledge Group (CKG) is a specialized advisory group, consisting of adult educators, health educators, health communication specialists, researchers, and academics. They advise the Health & Literacy Special Collection on issues such as content development, user needs and ease-of-use, and selection criteria.

    Cynthia Baur, Ph.D.
    Senior Policy Advisor, ehealth
    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

    Dr. Baur serves as co-lead for the Health Communication chapter of Healthy People 2010, which contains a national objective to improve the health literacy of people with marginal or inadequate literacy skills. She was involved in the addition of the health literacy measures in the 2002 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), and brings much knowledge and experience in health communication.

    Cathy Coyne, Ph.D.
    Associate Professor
    Department of Community Medicine
    West Virginia University School of Medicine

    Dr. Cathy Coyne served as an advisor to the Health and Literacy Compendium and Compendium Evaluation Projects. She was the HEAL:BCC Project Evaluator and is Principal Investigator on a number of other cancer education projects. Dr. Coyne's evaluation research and knowledge of the health and literacy fields is a great asset to the collection.

    Javiar Crespo
    Associate Director
    New England Regional National Network of Libraries of Medicine
    University of Massachusetts Medical Center

    Mr. Crespo is an advocate for accessible on-line consumer health information. He is Project Officer for the Plain Language Health Information Project that trains adult basic education teachers how to access reliable, easy-to-read health information on-line and links students to the MEDLINEplus interactive health tutorials.

    Deborah Dean
    Health Educator
    JSI Research and Training

    Ms. Dean is an applied health educator with many years of experience in public health. She is a top notch health education materials developer and has developed numerous easy-to-read, multi-lingual materials on a wide variety of health topics including smoking cessation, HIV/AIDS, and more. Her hands on knowledge of health education is an important addition to our CKG.

    Sara Gallow
    English as a Second Language Program
    Clark College

    Ms. Gallow received a LINCS Health & Literacy Special Collection Mini-Grant in 2002 and worked with 10 advanced ESL students to develop Student Directed Projects in Health. She combined EFF Standards with health literacy work that enabled her students to meet the health information needs of their families. With experience teaching health in the classroom, Ms. Gallow offers a teacher's perspective to the site.

    Marcia Drew Hohn, Ed.D.
    Director of Public Education
    Immigrant Learning Center

    Dr. Hohn was a recipient of a National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) Literacy Leader Fellowship in 1996-97. Her NIFL report on “Empowerment Health Education in Adult Literacy” explores the student perspective on linking health and literacy education. She is the author of several reports on the integration of literacy and health education including Literacy, Health, and Health Literacy: State Policy Considerations. Her most recent report details the impact and outcomes of health education embedded in Massachusetts’ adult literacy programs through a peer leadership model (available through mdrewhohn@aol.com).

    Amy Jones
    Health Literacy Coordinator
    Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education

    Ms. Jones works with health literacy teachers as part of an expanded health literacy pilot program in the state of Georgia. Her work involves supporting the integration of health and literacy education, and in some cases the use of technology, as a link to basic literacy services. She brings to the group an understanding of the support educators need to do health literacy work.

    Winston Lawrence, Ph.D.
    Coordinator of Adult Literacy Services
    Literacy Assistance Center

    Dr. Lawrence worked with the Institute of Adult and Continuing Education at the University of Guyana where he organized adult and continuing education programs. He is presently coordinating the development of the Literacy Assistance Center’s Health Literacy Initiative, specifically assisting teachers in incorporating health literacy into their curricula on a systemic basis.

    Andres Muro
    Director of Community Education
    El Paso Community College

    Mr. Muro coordinates the Health Literacy El Paso (HELP) program and received a Pfizer Health Literacy grant in 1998 in support of that work. HELP offers health literacy instruction to students enrolled in adult education programs in El Paso. His article What is Health Literacy and The El Paso Collaborative Health Literacy Curriculum
    support effective literacy and ESOL instruction.

    Andrew Pleasant
    Assistant Professor
    Rutgers University

    Mr. Pleasant is co-author of “Unweaving the Web: An Exploratory Study of Low-Literacy Adults’ Navigation Skills on the World Wide Web.” He is also co-author of “Health literacy: An Introductory Textbook” with C. Zacadoolas and D. Greer (forthcoming, 2005). He is currently working with the World Health Organization on a pilot project to improve the access to health research using the Internet.

    Beccah Rothschild
    Health Literacy Manager
    University of California Berkeley

    Ms. Rothschild is the Health Literacy Manager at the Center for Community Wellness at the University of California, Berkeley. At the Center, Rothschild manages the California Health Communication Project, a project aimed at improving the readability and usability of materials for HMO members throughout California. She is also currently teaching a basic health and literacy class to adult literacy students in Oakland, CA.

    Debbie Yoho
    Executive Director
    Greater Columbia Literacy Council

    Ms. Yoho is moderator for the LINCS-Health listserv. She served as a reviewer in the development of the Adult Literacy and Health Action Agenda and participated in the Adult Literacy & Health Caucus. She conducts health literacy training and is a strong advocate for building the connection between literacy volunteers and health care educators/providers.

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