2025 AIM Leadership in Action Conference

Mark Del Monte, JD, serves as the CEO/Executive Vice President of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Mark leads a strong executive team for the organization, which serves 67,000 pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists, and pediatric surgical specialists. Before this role, Mark served as the AAP’s Chief Deputy and Senior Vice President for Advocacy and External Affairs, where he directed the organization’s communications, public relations, and advocacy activities.

Before joining the AAP’s Washington, DC office in 2005, Mark served as Director of Policy and Government Affairs for the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth & Families, a national organization advocating for children and families with HIV/AIDS. Mark began his career working as a lawyer in his home state of California, providing direct legal services to low-income children and families affected by HIV.

Mark holds a law degree from the University of California (Berkeley) and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Gonzaga University.

Molly Howell serves as the Director of Disease Control and Forensic Pathology at the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (ND HHS). She previously spent 22 years in the state’s immunization program, including 19 years as ND HHS Immunization Director. Before joining ND HHS, she began her public health career as an intern with the Lincoln–Lancaster County Health Department in Nebraska. Molly holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and a Master of Public Health from the University of Massachusetts–Amherst.

Molly was an active member of the Association of Immunization Managers (AIM), where she served as Chair, sat on the executive committee, and represented AIM as its liaison to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). In January 2020, she was appointed to the National Vaccine Advisory Committee. Molly has authored multiple publications on immunization and infectious diseases in prominent journals, including the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, and the New England Journal of Medicine.

In 2021, she received the Public Health Worker of the Year Award from the North Dakota Public Health Association, the Friend for Medicine Award from the North Dakota Medical Association, and the Heritage Award for Citizen Focus from the North Dakota Governor’s Office.

Kathryn Ahnger-Pier, MPH, is the Associate Director of the Immunization Division at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH). She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and a Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in Epidemiology from the Boston University School of Public Health. Ms. Ahnger-Pier served as an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist for the Boston Public Health Commission before joining the MDPH Immunization Division in 2014 as an Immunization Epidemiologist and became the Associate Director in 2021.

In her current role, Ms. Ahnger-Pier helps oversee the daily operations of the division, manages the federal cooperative agreement operations budget and grant reporting, and directly supervises the activities of the Data Assessment Unit, the Massachusetts Immunization Information System (MIIS), and the Mobile/Community Vaccination Coordinator.

Mary Beth Kurilo is the Senior Director of Health Informatics at the American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA), where she oversees several teams focused on standards development, measurement, and technical assistance, and more efficient interoperability and use of immunization data across IIS, EHRs, and other health information technology systems. Prior to her work at AIRA, Mary Beth served as the Director of the Oregon ALERT Immunization Information System, or ALERT IIS. She holds masters degrees in Public Health and Social Work from the University of Washington.

Richard Hughes IV, JD, MPH, is a nationally recognized thought leader in vaccines and prevention, working and teaching at the intersection of public health and healthcare law and policy. He has led many efforts to expand and protect access to vaccines and preventive services and improve public health outcomes.

Mr. Hughes is a partner at Epstein, Becker & Green, where he leads a multidisciplinary team of attorneys and advisors. He was formerly vice president of public policy at Moderna, guiding the company’s policy strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He teaches vaccine law at The George Washington University Law School. Mr. Hughes is a popular public speaker, frequently publishes articles and commentaries, and is regularly quoted in prominent news media outlets.

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, LLB, Ph.D., is a professor of law and the James Edgar Hervey Chair in Litigation at UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). She specializes in vaccine law and policy, including exemption laws and tort liability related to non-vaccination. She is published in law reviews, peer-reviewed journals, and blogs on legal and policy issues related to vaccines and co-authored a book on Vaccines Law and Policy with Professor Y. Tony Yang.

Dave McCormick is the director of the Indiana Immunization Division at the Indiana State Department of Health. Dave leads a team of public health professionals committed to eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases. His department works with approximately 900 healthcare providers to deliver over $80 million of a publicly funded vaccine.

In July 2015, Dave was elected to the executive board of the Association of Immunization Managers (AIM). Dave has worked in public health for the past 28 years. Before joining the Indiana Immunization Program in January 2012, Dave spent five years working on lead and healthy-homes issues at the state level, including lead poisoning prevention and radon, and lead certification, enforcement, and remediation through grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In November 2009, Dave was appointed to CDC’s Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention.

Bindy Crouch currently serves as the immunization program manager and the Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Immunization at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She joined the NYC Health Department in 2007, working in primary healthcare emergency preparedness and, subsequently, took time to practice family medicine at an Aboriginal Health Service in the Australian Outback and at the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium in Juneau, Alaska. Bindy returned to the NYC Health Department in 2018 to serve as the Director of the Adult Immunization Unit, later renamed the Immunization Infrastructure and Clinical Support Unit, within the Bureau of Immunization, until she became the Assistant Commissioner in 2023. Bindy has promoted evidence-based strategies to increase vaccination coverage across New York City and has participated in several public health emergency responses, including the H1N1, COVID-19, mpox, and asylum seeker vaccination campaigns.

Gerad Snowden Buffington graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi with a Bachelor of Science in Human Performance and Recreation, and then graduated from Mississippi College with a Master of Science in Biological Sciences. He worked as a pharmacy technician for two years and decided to go back to school in pursuit of a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree, and graduated from William Carey University School of Pharmacy.

Upon graduation from pharmacy school, Gerad worked for six months as a contract pharmacist for the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) in Jackson, MS. In the fall of 2021, he took a full-time pharmacist position with MSDH, working in the office of immunizations. He has been with the office of immunizations for nearly four years and currently serves as the vaccine manager.

Brigid K Groves, PharmD, MS, is Vice President, Professional Affairs at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). She leads, coordinates, and contributes to efforts and initiatives related to transforming the role of the pharmacist, advancing pharmacists’ patient care services, supporting coverage for pharmacists’ provided services, promoting the pharmacist’s role as a health care provider, and protecting the well-being of pharmacists and pharmacy personnel in the workplace. Additionally, she administers, directs, coordinates, and participates in the work of the Association related to the APhA Community-based Pharmacy Residency Program initiative and advancement of postgraduate pharmacy residency education and training initiatives.

Previously, Groves was a population health pharmacist at a pediatric accountable care organization. Prior, she held roles as a clinical and pharmacy practice coordinator at a large grocery-store-based community pharmacy chain. Groves has been heavily involved in professional pharmacy organizations for many years.

Groves earned her Master of Science in Pharmacy Administration in 2014 and her PharmD in 2012 at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy (OSU COP). Additionally, she completed a combined PGY1 and PGY2 pharmacy residency in community-based pharmacy administration at Kroger Pharmacy and OSU COP in 2014. Before her PharmD, Groves earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 2006 from John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Ron Balajadia is currently the program manager for the Immunization Branch, Disease Outbreak Control Division, Hawaii State Department of Health. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona in Biochemistry and his master’s degree at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Microbiology. Ron has more than twenty years of experience working in the field of immunization in the Pacific region. He began his career in immunization as the immunization program manager in Guam in July 1995. He was the Regional Pacific Immunization Consultant for the U.S.-Associated Pacific Islands, consulting with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), providing immunization guidance and assistance to the islands from 2005 – 2010.

Deepa Mavani is the Immunization Section Chief at the Connecticut Department of Public Health. In this role, she provides leadership and oversight for Connecticut’s statewide immunization programs, guiding strategy, policy, operations, grant management, and data systems to improve vaccine access, coverage, and equity.

Deepa has eight years of experience in Connecticut’s immunization program, including serving as Adult Immunization and Immunization Quality Improvement (IQIP) Coordinator. Her experience includes leading COVID-19 vaccine initiatives, vaccine-preventable disease surveillance and outbreak investigations, modernizing school immunization surveys and state vaccine data systems, and ensuring provider compliance with the Connecticut Vaccine Program.

Kaitlin Roberts is a Health Program Associate in the Immunization Section at the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Kaitlin is currently the program’s Grant and Contracts coordinator, overseeing the program’s contracts and managing the budget and grant reporting. In her five years with Connecticut’s Immunizations Program, she has served various roles, but she is most proud of her work with Connecticut’s Immunization Action Plan contracts.

Sarah Aho, MPH, serves as the immunization program manager for the state of Alaska. She earned her Master of Public Health from the University of Washington in 2012 and subsequently moved to Alaska to join the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies. There, she contributed to a wide range of project-based public health initiatives across the state, building a strong foundation for her transition into immunization work.

Since joining Alaska’s immunization program in 2016, Ms. Aho has held several key leadership roles, and in 2022, she assumed the position of program manager. Ms. Aho oversees statewide immunization efforts, including guiding programmatic improvements, strengthening vaccine confidence, and supporting routine immunizations. She values the opportunity to address both immediate public health challenges and long-term strategic goals, working closely with a dedicated team and partners across Alaska and the nation to protect and promote community health.

Jessica McClellan is the program manager for the Utah Statewide Immunization Information System (USIIS) at the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, where she has served for 11 years in both the immunization program and USIIS. She leads statewide system modernization, data quality improvement, and interoperability initiatives, partnering closely with providers, schools, payers, and local health departments. Her favorite aspects of the work include immunization forecasting, enhancing data quality, and writing SQL queries that strengthen program insights.

Rebecca Coyle is the Executive Director of the American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA), where she oversees the development and promotion of tools and best practices to support the implementation of immunization information systems as an essential tool in preventing and controlling vaccine-preventable diseases. Ms. Coyle has a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in public health.

Rebecca began her work in the immunization community in 2002 as the School & Childcare Coordinator for the Idaho Immunization Program. She worked as a CDC Public Health Advisor before returning to Idaho as the immunization program manager and joined AIRA in 2010 as its Executive Director.

Richard Hughes IV, JD, MPH, is a nationally recognized thought leader in vaccines and prevention, working and teaching at the intersection of public health and healthcare law and policy. He has led many efforts to expand and protect access to vaccines and preventive services and improve public health outcomes.

Mr. Hughes is a partner at Epstein, Becker & Green, where he leads a multidisciplinary team of attorneys and advisors. He was formerly vice president of public policy at Moderna, guiding the company’s policy strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He teaches vaccine law at The George Washington University Law School. Mr. Hughes is a popular public speaker, frequently publishes articles and commentaries, and is regularly quoted in prominent news media outlets.

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, LLB, Ph.D., is a professor of law and the James Edgar Hervey Chair in Litigation at UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). She specializes in vaccine law and policy, including exemption laws and tort liability related to non-vaccination. She is published in law reviews, peer-reviewed journals, and blogs on legal and policy issues related to vaccines and co-authored a book on Vaccines Law and Policy with Professor Y. Tony Yang.

Mary Woinarowicz is the Immunization Unit Director at the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services. Mary has been with the North Dakota Immunization Unit since 2011, serving as the North Dakota Immunization Information System (NDIIS) Sentinel Site Coordinator and NDIIS Manager. She received her Master of Arts degree in Sociology with a focus in Educational Foundations and Research from the University of North Dakota. Mary is currently the co-chair of the American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA) Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee, previously served as chair of the AIRA Resource Development Recommendations Workgroup, and has previously served multiple terms on the AIRA Board of Directors. Mary has been the lead author and co-author on several papers published in the Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, Public Health, American Journal of Public Health, and the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

Leah Koeppel is a dedicated public health advocate with a passion for driving policy and systems change. She brings extensive experience across public health, nutrition, program management, and policy, applying a creative and interdisciplinary approach to her work. Currently serving as the Interim Immunization Division Chief at the DC Department of Health, Leah has also led initiatives in COVID-19 response, food systems and food access, and international nutrition. She holds a Master of Public Health from the Tufts University School of Medicine and a Master of Science in Food Policy & Applied Nutrition from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

Brigid K Groves, PharmD, MS, is Vice President, Professional Affairs at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). She leads, coordinates, and contributes to efforts and initiatives related to transforming the role of the pharmacist, advancing pharmacists’ patient care services, supporting coverage for pharmacists’ provided services, promoting the pharmacist’s role as a health care provider, and protecting the well-being of pharmacists and pharmacy personnel in the workplace. Additionally, she administers, directs, coordinates, and participates in the work of the Association related to the APhA Community-based Pharmacy Residency Program initiative and advancement of postgraduate pharmacy residency education and training initiatives.

Previously, Groves was a population health pharmacist at a pediatric accountable care organization. Prior, she held roles as a clinical and pharmacy practice coordinator at a large grocery-store-based community pharmacy chain. Groves has been heavily involved in professional pharmacy organizations for many years.

Groves earned her Master of Science in Pharmacy Administration in 2014 and her PharmD in 2012 at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy (OSU COP). Additionally, she completed a combined PGY1 and PGY2 pharmacy residency in community-based pharmacy administration at Kroger Pharmacy and OSU COP in 2014. Before her PharmD, Groves earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 2006 from John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Mary Woinarowicz is the Immunization Unit Director at the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services. Mary has been with the North Dakota Immunization Unit since 2011, serving as the North Dakota Immunization Information System (NDIIS) Sentinel Site Coordinator and NDIIS Manager. She received her Master of Arts degree in Sociology with a focus in Educational Foundations and Research from the University of North Dakota. Mary is currently the co-chair of the American Immunization Registry Association (AIRA) Standards and Interoperability Steering Committee, previously served as chair of the AIRA Resource Development Recommendations Workgroup, and has previously served multiple terms on the AIRA Board of Directors. Mary has been the lead author and co-author on several papers published in the Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, Public Health, American Journal of Public Health, and the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

Leah Koeppel is a dedicated public health advocate with a passion for driving policy and systems change. She brings extensive experience across public health, nutrition, program management, and policy, applying a creative and interdisciplinary approach to her work. Currently serving as the Interim Immunization Division Chief at the DC Department of Health, Leah has also led initiatives in COVID-19 response, food systems and food access, and international nutrition. She holds a Master of Public Health from the Tufts University School of Medicine and a Master of Science in Food Policy & Applied Nutrition from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.

Brigid K Groves, PharmD, MS, is Vice President, Professional Affairs at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). She leads, coordinates, and contributes to efforts and initiatives related to transforming the role of the pharmacist, advancing pharmacists’ patient care services, supporting coverage for pharmacists’ provided services, promoting the pharmacist’s role as a health care provider, and protecting the well-being of pharmacists and pharmacy personnel in the workplace. Additionally, she administers, directs, coordinates, and participates in the work of the Association related to the APhA Community-based Pharmacy Residency Program initiative and advancement of postgraduate pharmacy residency education and training initiatives.

Previously, Groves was a population health pharmacist at a pediatric accountable care organization. Prior, she held roles as a clinical and pharmacy practice coordinator at a large grocery-store-based community pharmacy chain. Groves has been heavily involved in professional pharmacy organizations for many years.

Groves earned her Master of Science in Pharmacy Administration in 2014 and her PharmD in 2012 at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy (OSU COP). Additionally, she completed a combined PGY1 and PGY2 pharmacy residency in community-based pharmacy administration at Kroger Pharmacy and OSU COP in 2014. Before her PharmD, Groves earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 2006 from John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Becky Prall, RN, serves as the Immunizations Section Director for the Kansas Immunization Program at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Becky has been with the immunization program since 2016, serving in roles of a Regional Immunization Nurse, Immunization Nurse Educator, VFC Manager, Vaccine Operations Manager (overseeing COVID, VFC, VFA, and Vaccine Distribution), and became the Section Director three years ago. Becky has been a registered nurse for over 20 years, previously working as a VFC Coordinator at the clinic level.

Becky’s advocacy and dedication to immunization work come as a response to her oldest son experiencing complications in 2009 due to the H1N1 flu. Having endured 15 days on a ventilator and almost 30 days of hospitalization, and then months of rehab to return to the “new normal,” she hopes that her vaccine advocacy can prevent other parents from ever needing to face the fear and uncertainty that comes from such serious hospitalization of a child.

Merideth has worked for the state of Vermont for over 14 years, 11 of those years doing immunization-related work. She has held a variety of roles within the immunization program, which helped her gain a comprehensive understanding of program operations from multiple perspectives. Two years ago, she moved into the program manager role. Merideth is a true vaccine advocate and can convey scientific information to broad audiences. Her passion for public health and innovative problem-solving are forefront of her daily work.

Karen Ernst serves as the Director of Voices for Vaccines, where she works to build vaccine confidence by fostering peer-to-peer engagement and collaborative advocacy. Her efforts focus on strengthening partnerships between families and public health organizations to support increased vaccine uptake and to expand the scope of grassroots advocacy. Under her leadership, Voices for Vaccines has explored innovative approaches to public health outreach, including podcasting, social media, online education, and advocacy training, to promote informed vaccine acceptance. Before joining The Task Force for Global Health, Ms. Ernst was an educator, teaching English composition at St. Catherine University and high school English in Minnesota. She also authored a history of Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity and developed the organization’s Speaker’s Bureau handbook. Her personal encounters with vaccine-preventable illness and vaccine hesitancy inspired her transition into public health advocacy. Ms. Ernst holds a Master of Arts in English literature and writing from Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota.