LA-CEAL Community Advisory Board Corner

D’Andra Bradford Odom
Health Equity Director – Aetna Better Health of Louisiana
Community engagement is imperative to improving health outcomes amongst our most vulnerable populations. I believe community members should have the opportunity to feel valued and included in all decisions impacting their personal health.

Marla Cannatella, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine LSU Health-Baton Rouge Department of Internal Medicine LSU School of Medicine, New Orleans
The Covid-19 vaccine provides a path for all of us to return to some sense of normalcy. Given that the vaccine uptake is so low in our state, we all need to go the extra mile in encouraging vaccination. Meaningful conversation via community engagement can be a valuable tool.

Leonard Briscoe, MBA
CEO, Briscoe Investments
Community engagement is necessary because “everyone deserves to know what’s going on; informing the uninformed”

Veronica Magee-Jackson, M.A, M.Ed.
Deputy Director/Director of Prevention Services Brotherhood. Incorporated
Community engagement is vital in addressing the unique challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is only through active community engagement that myths are dispelled that overcome vaccine hesitancy and save lives.

Kieta Mutepfa
Community Liaison, Merck
“Community engagement is an imperative essential to addressing the immediate, current and long-term traumatic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically with Black and Brown people. The U.S. has a history of ignoring, pacifying then forgetting Black and Brown people. Our communities will no longer be forgotten.”

Michelle Nelson, DNP, APRN, FNP-C
Specialist in Minimally Invasive Surgery, The Surgeons Group of Baton Rouge
Community engagement is important as we work to improve the disparities COVID-19 has exposed, one community at a time. We are in this together to come back stronger and better than before.