Health and Risk Communication Center 3rd Annual Day of Innovation

Laura M. Kollar, Ph.D. – Dr. Kollar’s career has focused on populations disproportionately affected by specific public health challenges and working to achieve health equity through applied research and evaluation. She has extensively worked to reduce health disparities and support health equity via research and community-based work within, but not limited to, African American communities, American Indian and Alaska Native communities, Hispanic/Latino communities, sexual and gender minority communities, low resource communities, and others disproportionately affected by injury and violence and other public health issues. Dr. Kollar regularly collaborates on health equity efforts with other staff; CDC Centers, Institutes and Offices; other federal agencies; state and local health departments; and private and non-private organizations supporting and establishing communities of practices for knowledge sharing and subject matter expertise support. She has co-represented the agency on Missing or Murdered Indigenous People with colleague and Senior Health Scientist Delight Satter.

Laura’s interests include community-level prevention partnerships, health and wellness in American Indian and Alaska Native communities, prevention efforts for disproportionately affected communities, and health communication and behavioral interventions. Laura received a BA in Social Relations and a MA in Health Communication from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, and a PhD in Communication Studies (health communication specialty) from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.  Laura has varied research and evaluation experience from managing public health programs at Michigan State University College of Nursing, Northwestern University Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health and the University of Georgia Department of Communication. Previously, Laura served as a behavioral scientist in the CDC National Center for Injury Prevention and Control’s Division of Violence Prevention.

Amanda Lick, M.A. – Amanda graduated from Michigan State University with a master’s degree in health & risk communication. She currently works as the Director of Community Health Solutions with Emergent BioSolutions. Her career has consisted of positions focused on program development, sales, advocacy, policy, and strategic communications, always with her 'Why" at the center of every opportunity in front of her. Amanda believes that communities are our extended family, dedicating her time as an elected park commissioner, trustee for the Little Manistee Watershed Conservation Council, and assistant varsity basketball coach. Amanda enjoys building relationships that foster new insights and growth, the roar of the crowd while listening to live jazz, adventures outdoors in the woods and being near water, and spending time with her beautiful family and pups. 

James W. Dearing Ph.D. – Jim Dearing (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is Brandt Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University.  Dearing studies the diffusion of innovations, including the adoption and implementation of new evidence-based practices, programs, technologies, and policies.  He studied under and collaborated with Everett M. Rogers for 20 years.  His research and teaching spans dissemination science, implementation science, program sustainability, and the psychological and sociological basis of the diffusion process.  He has worked with research and practice improvement teams in toxic waste remediation, nursing care, injury and fatality prevention, cancer survivorship support, HIV/AIDS prevention, community engagement, and healthcare organizations.  He has been PI for research grants from NSF, EPA, NCI, AHQR, and private foundations including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Jim was PI for an NCI Center of Excellence in Cancer Communication Research and is a fellow of the International Communication Association.  Recently, Dearing co-led a study assessing the implementation of a tele-mentoring model among medical specialists and general practitioners at 34 sites in North America and works as a diffusion scientist with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff to design and launch the Adoption Accelerator to speed the spread of drug overdose prevention innovations. He is a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors to the U.S. EPA.  Previously he was Senior Scientist with Kaiser Permanente.