Virginia is employed at the Human Services Department as a Staff Manager in the Medical Assistance Division Benefits Bureau. She has been with the department for five and a half years. Prior work experience includes 15 years in health care in the private sector. She graduated from New Mexico Highlands University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and is working on a Master's degree in Public Health at University of New Mexico. She enjoys reading challenging material and spending time with her daughters.

Originally from Long Beach, CA, Charlotte enlisted in the US Army and served during Desert Storm before she was injured and medically discharged. Because of her discharge, she was intrigued to help others with federal benefits. Now a Veteran Service Officer, Charlotte has worked for the New Mexico Dept of Veterans’ Services’ in Farmington for the past four years, making sure veterans and dependents apply for the State and Federal benefits they are entitled to. Ms. Atso is also District #1 Commander for Disabled American Veterans, Veteran Service Officer for the VFW District #1, a member of DAV Chapter 9, VFW Post 614, United Veterans of NW NM, and American Legion Post 93. She also currently serves as one of the National Association of Women Veterans State Coordinators as well as a member of Business and Professional Women/Women Joining Forces of New Mexico, and is excited to be a member of the Women’s Health Advisory Council. When she is not traveling, Charlotte volunteers for her church as Treasurer/Secretary and helps the local Boyscout troop. Ms. Atso lost her husband in 2002 and is a single mother of three children. She enjoys gardening, sports, swimming, and shooting, and currently attends San Juan College to further her education and language skills.

Rebecca Ballantine is a life-long resident of New Mexico. She is a Master’s Level Criminologist; serves as the Native American Liaison in the Juvenile Justice System of Children, Youth and Families for New Mexico. She has devoted both her professional and private life to improving the quality of life for the residents of the State of New Mexico. She is responsible for writing policy and procedure for Children Youth and Families and for the New Mexico Municipal League. She has served as a councilwoman in her hometown of Corrales and worked extensively with planning and zoning on a local level. She is a trained mediator, facilitator and grant writer. Prior to 1985 when she began her professional career, she raised two sons, worked as an artist and attended school.

Ellen Biderman co-founded and served as Co-Director of the Santa Fe Children’s Museum for 18 years. In 2003, she joined the staff of the Family Development Program at the University of New Mexico. Ellen has 25 years teaching experience with young children and also has been an instructor at the college level. She has always worked to assure that all children have equal access to quality education and programs. From 2003 to 2005 she served as board president for Santa Fe Women’s Health Services. She is passionate about women’s health and how a new model of health care delivery can only serve to also improve the lives of young children. Ellen has a Masters degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of New Mexico, and has contributed articles and training materials to various publications.

Currently serving as Deputy Secretary of the Indian Affairs department, Teresa is a native and life-long resident of the State of New Mexico and an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Isleta. Ms. Gomez is a graduate of Rio Grande High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993 and a Master of Arts in 1995, both in Political Science, from the University of New Mexico. Ms. Gomez has worked primarily in the non-profit sector, including most recently as the Deputy Director and Acting Executive Director for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, a national non-profit organization headquartered in Albuquerque. She also served as a Community Educator during her term at Futures for Children, a non-profit organization providing services to Native American children and families in New Mexico and Arizona. In June 2006, Ms. Gomez was appointed by Governor Richardson to serve as the Deputy Cabinet Secretary for the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department. Ms. Gomez served as an advisor for the American Association for the Advancement of Science – Committee on Opportunities in Science (AAAS-COOS). She has also served as the Board President for the Board of Education - Isleta Pueblo Day School and is currently serving as the Vice-President for the YWCA of the Middle Rio Grande and serves on the Junior Achievement Native American Advisory Council. Ms. Gomez also volunteers with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Sandia Preparatory School. Ms. Gomez and husband Eddie Gomez have a thirteen year old daughter, Adelina, and reside in Albuquerque.

An enrolled citizen of the Comanche Nation, Laura is the Executive Director of Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO) where she heads up a national Native American leadership development program and an international Indigenous leaders network. Before joining AIO, Harris was on the original fund-raising staff for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and prior to that, she worked in the Washington, D.C. office of U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM). During the 2004 U.S. presidential primary, Harris was Gov. Howard Dean’s National Native American Policy and Outreach Senior Advisor and during the general election, served on Sen. John Kerry’s Native American National Steering Committee. Harris has extensive experience on national, state and local campaigns and in political fundraising. Harris is a New Mexico State Director of INDN’s List (a national organization that recruits and trains Native American candidates and campaign workers). Over the past ten years, Harris has served on several national boards, including the Center for Policy Alternatives, Renewing Democracy through Interracial/Multicultural Community Building, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, and Las Adelitas. In 1997, President Clinton appointed Harris to a two-year term as Senior Consultant to the President’s Initiative on Race. She is a trained facilitator in the CogniScope ™ social system design process. Harris resides in Albuquerque and is the mother of Sam Fred Goodhope, a freshman at the University of San Francisco.

Kristine “Kooch” Apodaca Jacobus is a native of northern New Mexico and daughter of former prominent Highway Engineer Ernest Apodaca. Kooch holds several degrees from New Mexico Highlands University. Having been an active educator serving as a teacher, counselor and administrator in New Mexico for a number of years she has extensive knowledge of education policy. Following her education career Kooch served as a staff member in Senator Jeff Bingaman’s Albuquerque office. Upon leaving Senator Bingaman’s staff, Kooch worked with Governor Bill Richardson’s campaign in order to better education by assisting in the passage of two education Constitution Amendments. Following the successful campaign, she joined the Department of Finance and Administration as Deputy Director for the Office of Education Accountability. Recognizing a need for greater health related services Kooch was appointed to the Health Policy Commission as Deputy Director, actively supporting the Governor’s initiatives for statewide health policies. Kooch believes that woman’s health issues affect everyone in the state and recognizes the value of providing accurate information to citizens. Kooch’s hobbies include different crafts, cooking and baking. She is married to Guy Jacobus and has three children and two grandchildren.

A native of Colombia, Belinda worked with homeless children in Bogotá and Barranquilla during the mid 1980’s. In 1986, she joined a U.S.-based, international not-for-profit organization which took her to 38 countries over a 12-year period. The majority of her work centered on community development and the establishment of preschools in North Africa and Eastern Europe. In 1996 she pursued a degree in Early Childhood Education. Following her graduation with honors, Ms. Martinez accepted a position at a women's crisis center in Pinellas Park, Florida, where she served as a counselor and teacher. In 2002, Ms. Martinez moved to New Mexico where she was employed as a Case Manager with Cuidando Los Niños, a not-for-profit agency dedicated to providing child care for homeless families struggling to become self-sufficient. In 2006, while pursuing her Master’s Degree in Social Work from New Mexico Highlands University, she worked as a statewide Promotora (community health worker) Coordinator for New Mexico Primary Care Association. Currently, Ms. Martinez works with First Choice Community Health Care as a Behavioral Health Specialist at Rio Grande High School in Albuquerque. In addition to pursuing her ongoing educational goals, she enjoys Latin dancing, music, museums and the arts.

Following her retirement from the City of Albuquerque, Mary was appointed by Governor Bill Richardson to serve as Executive Director of the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women. The position offers the opportunity to empower women and girls in New Mexico to lead productive and fulfilling lives. Increasing awareness of the rights, responsibilities, and interests of women and girls in New Mexico has and continues to be her lifetime goal.

As the Statewide Coordinator for the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) with the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, Connie coordinates training, protocols, outreach, and program development for these advanced trained nurses throughout New Mexico. Prior to joining the Coalition, Connie served four years as the Executive Director for the Albuquerque SANE Collaborative – a program that serves over 450 sexual assault patients per year. With 15 years experience in injury prevention, Ms. Monahan has been instrumental in creating and implementing policy, curricula, research, and program development in domestic and sexual violence as well as child and traffic safety. She received her Masters in Public Health from the University of New Mexico. Connie maintains a part-time business as a technical writer. For recreation, she putters in the garden, walks her dog daily, practices the harmonica, swims, and studies Italian. She travels to Italy often with dreams of figuring out how to visit more often and welcomes every opportunity to practice her stuttering Italian.

A Filipina-American from Manila and Honolulu, Michelle is of Tagalog, Hawaiian and Portuguese ancestry. She earned a BA in Speech and Communication from Marquette University in 1990. In 1992 she completed the nine-month Walk Across America for Mother Earth where she was introduced to the environmental and indigenous sovereignty movements. Since then she has worked with several Indigenous elders and community leaders nationally, specifically around the issues of environmental health and justice. In that time she had the opportunity to participate in a four month occupation of a sacred indigenous site in California called Ward Valley and a three month project to perform a street theater circus in 18 autonomous villages and refuges in the war-torn state of Chiapas, Mexico. She worked as a youth program coordinator for four years with a native environmental non-profit organization called Shundahai Network and helped to establish an indigenous healing center called Poo-Ha-Bah located in Death Valley where she worked as the development director for three years. She has been living in New Mexico since 2000 and currently works for Tewa Women United as the coordinator of their Indigenous Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights Program. Michelle is participating in the first statewide Infant Mental Health Institute to graduate as an Infant Mental Health Specialist in May of 2008. She is a homebirth midwife, a certified doula, massage therapist and childbirth educator. She is the mother of three beautiful children all born at home.

Originally from Santa Fe, Giovanna grew up in Oxford, England and spent summers in Mexico City visiting family. She received her bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico and her Master’s degree in Public Policy from the London School of Economics. Giovanna began her career working on campaign finance issues and moved on to raise money for democratic women to run for office in New Mexico. Giovanna was the Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico for over five years, in which time the state moved from a B- to a B+ grade for reproductive health. She was appointed by Governor Richardson to his transition teams for both the Department of Health and the Human Services Department in 2003, and served as Vice-Chair of the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women from 2005 to 2006. Giovanna was a columnist for the alternative newspaper, the Weekly Alibi, in 2005 and currently volunteers for Women’s Focus on KUNM 89.9fm. Giovanna was appointed to the Center for American Progress Women’s Health Leadership Network in 2005 and is currently the Co-Chair of the board of Emerge New Mexico, an organization dedicated to training women to run for office. In July 2006, Giovanna was appointed by Governor Richardson to be the first ever Women’s Health Policy Advisor, charged with establishing the Governor’s Women’s Health Advisory Council and developing and promoting women’s health policy for the state of New Mexico.

Director of Comadre A Comadre Project, Elba earned her doctorate in Community Health, through the UNM College of Education Health Education Program. Her doctoral dissertation entitled "Refusals and Delays in the Treatment of Breast Cancer among New Mexico Women" examined barriers to treatment completion in underserved women in the state. Ms Saavedra has 10 years of extensive experience in research and community based efforts focusing on barriers in breast cancer care among New Mexico’s ethnically diverse and under-served women. She has written several New Mexico Department of Health reports examining barriers to care in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer among these populations. In 2002, Dr. Saavedra, along with several community breast cancer survivor advocates, co-founded the Comadre A Comadre Project which is committed to empowering the lives of Hispanic/Latina women and their loved ones through advocacy, education, information, resources, and support about breast health and breast cancer. Dr. Saavedra is currently on faculty as an Assistant Professor for Research at the PPD-Health Education Program, College of Education at the University of New Mexico.

Dr. Trott is Director of Santa Fe Women's Health Services, a Department of Health and Human Services sponsored National Community Center of Excellence in Women's Health. She is the board president of the American College of Women's Health Physicians (ACWHP) and member of ACWHP's Curriculum Development Committee, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP), Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine department of internal medicine, and a core faculty member of the Northern New Mexico Family Practice Residency Program. She has an interest in complexity science and women's health. She is co-author of Concept mapping: A tool to bridge the disciplinary divide (Hoffman, E.,Trott, J., Patterson-Neely, K. . Am J Obstet Gynecol 2002; 187:S41-3). Dr. Trott received her BA in chemistry from New York University, her MD from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has had a practice in internal medicine and women's health in Santa Fe, NM for the past 25 years.

Mr. Williams is the Deputy Director at the New Mexico Office of African American Affairs (OAAA), where he advocates for the state’s African Americans and other minorities on matters related to health care, education, employment, fair housing, criminal justice, and various other issues. Mr. Williams also conducts diversity and cultural sensitivity training programs. Prior to joining the staff at OAAA, Mr. Williams was the Investigations Officer for the City of Albuquerque’s Human Rights Office. There he investigated discrimination complaints regarding employment, housing, and public accommodations. Including eight years in the medical field of the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Williams worked more than twenty years in the regulatory health care industry. He was a Quality Assurance Analyst at St. Vincent Hospital, in Santa Fe, NM, and a Health Facilities Surveyor for the NM Health & Environment Department/Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). In this capacity Mr. Williams was responsible for regulating the delivery of services in all health care facilities in New Mexico. He was also the Director of the Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation Unit. He left the healthcare field to become Corporate Director of Diversity Programs for Sun Healthcare Corporation, where he was responsible for compliance relating to affirmative action, EEO, and diversity. He currently serves on the Governor’s Women Health Advisory Council, the Human Services Department’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Disproportionate Minority Contact, APS School Health Advisory Council, Sub-committee Co-chair - Intel 2007 Int’l Science & Engineering Fair Host Committee, and the Race Matters Working Group.