SAHM Leadership Election
The election of SAHM officers will begin on Monday, November 18, 2024 and conclude on Wednesday, December 18, 2024. Learn more about your colleagues who aspire to serve SAHM in a leadership position below.
The upcoming election will be to determine the following SAHM leadership positions:
President-Elect (2025-26)
Two At-Large Board of Directors members (2025-28)
- Kamila Alexander, PhD, MPH, RN
- Beth Auslander, PhD
- Gordon Duvall, PNP, DNP
- Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, RN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FSAHM, FAAN
Two Nominations Committee members (2025-27)
Once the election opens, all members of SAHM eligible to vote will receive an email from eBallot with a unique Username and Password login credentials. Be sure to check your inbox and spam folder for the message. If you do not receive it, please email SAHM Headquarters to request for it to be resent.
President-Elect (2025-26)
Nuray Kanbur, MD, FSAHM
- State and explain the priority goals that you would set for your term as a President of SAHM. Include a statement of how you foresee your role as the primary public face of SAHM.
Fostering international collaboration, bringing diverse perspectives, and expanding SAHM’s impact and reach on a global scale.SAHM’s leaders launched an aspirational strategic planning process in 2020 and I had the opportunity to participate in the SAHM Aspirational Strategic Plan Development Ad-Hoc Committee as an international member of SAHM. In the advocacy and clinical strategies developed, it is clearly mentioned that SAHM’s role is to improve and optimize adolescents and young adults (AYA) health, well-being, and health equity in the USA and globally. I am genuinely looking forward to assisting SAHM to thrive on the fundamentals of the established principals of the organization as well as in leading an enduring organizational culture change with a broader international perspective.
The Ad-Hoc Committee agreed upon several overarching concepts, one being the plan would address global adolescent health and well-being and would be grounded in principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). I believe this alone is a transformation of the organization because as we all know that SAHM was more of a national US organization years back, and now the aspirational strategic plan precisely articulates that SAHM is a global organization. This aspirational and inspirational strategies are planned for the continued long-term success of SAHM and increased impact of the organization as well as for better serving SAHM’s diverse membership.
As SAHM becomes increasingly multidisciplinary and international, it provides outstanding opportunities to its members to learn from each other, build upon lessons-learned, and collaborate. SAHM would increase its organizational impact with collaborating with other societies across the globe, including the International Association for Adolescent Health (IAAH), International Pediatric Association (IPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), to better meet the needs of AYA within USA and across the globe. As an international member of SAHM, I have a profound and personal commitment to SAHM’s continued success and increased impact globally.
I was the Chair of the Plenary Committee for 2024 SAHM annual meeting. As an international member of SAHM, I had a vision and mission to make the plenaries more inclusive and to have more discussions relevant to the global Adolescent Health community. I have implemented a structural change: in addition to a US based and a youth speaker as we used to have, one international speaker was invited to each plenary which promoted outstanding discussions and moreover, provided opportunities to compare the situation in the USA to those in other parts of the world, e.g. AYA’s access to comprehensive sexuality education. Currently, I am the Co-Chair of the Plenary Committee for the IAAH 13th World Congress in 2025 and I will continue to assist networking between SAHM and IAAH.
I am a member of Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) on maternal, newborn, child, adolescent health and nutrition (MNCAHN) at World Health Organization (WHO)(2023-Present) and also a member of STAGE Working Group for “Care for child and adolescent health and wellbeing”. The purpose of this working group is to advise WHO for the child and adolescent health redesign on policies, interventions, and services to optimize child and adolescent healthy growth and development and well-being, and their programmatic implementation.
At the International Pediatric Association (IPA), I am a member of Strategic Advisory Group and Program Area Committee on Adolescent Health since 2021 and actively collaborate with my colleagues around the world in the working sub-group for “Training in Adolescent Medicine”. The goal of this working group is to strengthen the education and training of pediatricians all over the world through their respective national pediatric associations because not all countries are able to provide specialized care to their AYA.
In my potential role as the primary public face of SAHM, I will do my best to effectively lead our beloved SAHM with a refreshing international perspective, while maintaining the high level of academia, comradery and collaboration that SAHM is known for. As an international member actively involved in various global/international organizations, I believe I can bring valuable perspectives that would benefit SAHM by fostering international collaboration, bringing diverse perspectives, and expanding the organization’s influence and reach on a global scale.
Reclaiming previous gains in AYA Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and moving forward on Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Gender Equality
Though sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are core to human rights and dignity, recently there is a huge global push against SRHR. In addition, comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and gender equality are being challenged on multiple fronts in increasingly polarized and unequal world. Progress on CSE and gender equality are fundamental for AYA health and well-being. I have pro-actively advocated for these rights nationally and internationally over the years. I believe SAHM’s continued strong advocacy and increased collaboration with other organizations for these hard-won rights are essential now more than ever.The recent reversal in SRHR regarding abortion access in United States is concerning both at the national and international levels because this may eventually lead to global discussions and controversies that may adversely affect the health and wellbeing of AYAs. In my role as the President of the International Chapter of SAHM, we stood with our SAHM colleagues and made a call for renewed effort on the part of our collaborators across the globe to advocate for the SRHR and freedom of AYAs in their countries, including access to safe abortion. In my future potential role in SAHM’s leadership, I commit to promote dismantling inequities in AYA health through a sexual and reproductive health justice approach. Together we can turn the challenges to sexual and reproductive health inequities into opportunities by being cognizant about the social determinants of health and other risk factors. However, collaborative advocacy efforts are urgently needed within our multidisciplinary organizations, countries and worldwide.
Fundamentalism in societies with various religious and cultural backgrounds continue to consolidate political influence, to propagate misinformation and the promotion of the retrograde policies and laws that roll back the sexual and reproductive health services. Concurrently, legal protections against gender-based violence are being reversed, CSE is under attack, LGBTIQ+ is being criminalized in various parts of the world including the developed countries.
However, the real issue is not solely the culture or the religion itself, it is mainly the capacity for nurturing tolerance to people who are not like you or who disagree with you. Every country, regardless of the dominating culture or religion, should aim to foster tolerance and respect for diversity in every aspect of life. Whenever a society builds the social circumstances in which tolerance emerges, children and adolescents will grow up with positive core beliefs that will make them feel empowered and will build a better future for all.Training adolescent health professionals and building a future global adolescent workforce
The growing demand for adolescent health and medicine services globally cannot be disputed. Sustainable improvement in adolescent health and well-being worldwide requires establishing and strengthening global training of health professionals in adolescent health and medicine.Internationally, the adolescent health workforce is in very short supply for the foreseeable future relative to the needs and demand. Many SAHM members, US national and international, are leading the health care providers who are committed to serve AYA. They not only provide such services in their home countries but also in countries trying to set up new facilities or programs by providing support in many different ways. These include accepting international medical graduates to their training programs, organizing conferences for continuing education and conducting research and publishing their findings which also guides professionals internationally.
SAHM’s important training efforts illustrate the society’s long-standing commitment to multi-disciplinary continuing education. However, I believe that SAHM is well positioned to have big gains in regards to growing and supporting a future global adolescent workforce of diverse, multidisciplinary healthcare professionals, with small efforts. SAHM is an organization already excelled in many areas for caring AYA through clinical, teaching, research, and advocacy education. SAHM already has the most powerful asset, human resources to achieve this. I foresee my potential role as a lead in coordination of education and training activities in collaboration with other international organizations, to substantially increase the number of diverse AYA health and medicine professionals to reflect the cultural diversity of the AYA population.
- What are the most effective actions that SAHM can take to improve the health and well-being adolescents and young adults from communities that have been marginalized?
No one can be denied their human rights because they are different from others, whether by race, ethnicity, sex, culture, religion, language or other grounds.I have actively participated in DEI efforts of the Diversity Committee (2018-2024) with SAHM position papers, statements, anti-racism tool-kit, commentaries and presented workshops at annual meetings. I have co-authored and committedly share the perspectives in all the statements written on behalf of SAHM. Here, I will share my vision for the very next steps SAHM can take:
- To drive institutional improvement to achieve social justice, we must start with SAHM, critically and periodically assess our processes within the organization with a DEI lens.
- To revise and update SAHM’s position papers and tool-kits on anti-racism and health equity in communities that have been marginalized, to provide resources and practical implications for AYA healthcare providers for their daily encounters with AYAs, for community, institutional level, and advocacy action.
- To implement periodic educational activities in the context of continuing medical education to equip health care providers with the clinical tools they will need to foster positive anti-racist self-determination thoughts and behaviors among AYA.
- To address the need and advocate for critical multicultural education and inclusive curricula in schools that involves racial and political socialization, to dismantle systemic racism, to propel AYA to action towards anti-racism, and to reduce the health inequities.
- To give space and voice to AYA and their families with lived experiences and resistance.
- To encourage youth programs to seek and use culturally grounded approaches and to facilitate youth-led participatory action research which has the potential to deconstruct the systemic racism and catalyze long-lasting social change.
- To empower all SAHM members to lead from where they are and to use their privileges to actively oppose systemic racism in their home institutions, states or countries.
- Provide a brief personal statement describing your qualifications to be President of SAHM, including knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from previous leadership positions in SAHM and other organizations/institutions.
I am a member of SAHM since 2008. I have held numerous leadership positions at SAHM, making me knowledgeable about SAHM as an organization and giving me a deep understanding of its operations and recent history. I was a Member, SAHM Board of Directors (2020-2023); President, SAHM International Chapter (2020-2023); Member, SAHM Diversity Committee (2018-2024); and Member, SAHM Aspirational Strategic Plan Development Ad-Hoc Committee (2021-2024). I have served on the SAHM Program Committee since 2010 in various capacities including Chair, Plenary Committee (2024); Member, Plenary Committee (2023); Member, Planning Committee for Educational Sessions/Workshops and Hot Topics (2017-2022); reviewer, Abstract Review Committee (2010-2015).I was awarded SAHM 2019 International Chapter Recognition Award- Northern Hemisphere for my dedication to training in adolescent health and founding a PhD Program in Turkey. I was designated as Fellow, SAHM (2020) honouring my long-standing commitment to the welfare of adolescents.
I completed my pediatric residency at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey (2000). I had my first international experience in Adolescent Medicine as a Stecker Scholar at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Ohio State University (2005). I completed my Adolescent Medicine clinical fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto (2007-2009). Then, I returned to my home country and have made significant contributions to the field of Adolescent Health and Medicine in Turkey as one of the few leaders, until 2021. I held many leadership positions, including Vice-Dean, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine (2015-2016).
Since 2021, I work at the Division of Adolescent Health, University of Ottawa, Canada; Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, where I assumed the role of medical lead for Adolescent Eating Disorders Program (2023-2024).
I am a member of Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) on MNCAHN at WHO (2023-present) and IPA’s Strategic Advisory Group and Program Area Committee on Adolescent Health (2021-present).
María Verónica Svetaz, MD, MPH, FSAHM
- State and explain the priority goals that you would set for your term as a President of SAHM. Include a statement of how you foresee your role as the primary public face of SAHM.
Priority Goal 1—In light of the rapidly changing global landscape, my mission as President Elect is to develop a Global Community-Based Participatory Action (CBPA) Plan designed to safeguard local and regional youth, alongside their providers and clinicians. This plan is not merely a proposal; it represents a vital step toward our common goal of enhancing youth and workforce well-being through community engagement. I intend to accomplish this by strengthening the existing structures of SAHM from the ground up and aligning various associations to support these efforts throughout my term as President Elect. Concurrently, I propose elevating the Advocacy and Diversity Committee Chair to the Board of Directors (BOD) to ensure their voice is prominent in our meetings. Integral to this plan is utilizing our List-serve to distribute polls that gauge how SAHM can best support our workforce’s well-being, including options like webinars, chats, and asynchronous training as appropriate.Rationale: We are witnessing a global shift towards nationalism and xenophobia, further marginalizing individuals with historically underrepresented identities. The new world order increasingly revolves around identity—privilege and power—rather than capitalism or socialism. As developmentalists, we find ourselves in a challenging position, with our science-based care politicized worldwide, resulting in numerous regional challenges that threaten the well-being of both youth and their caregivers. These challenges differ by region, country, and state within the U.S.
Clear evidence suggests that to reduce inequities, we must align our actions with community needs—focusing on our teens, their communities, and their caregivers (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, “Ending Unequal Treatment,” 2024). Advocacy and involvement enhance well-being by making individuals part of the solution and fostering a community for recharge; these actions are among the most effective anti-oppressive measures. Many of these initiatives are included in the SAHM Aspirational Plan, which I will emphasize as essential. My role is to ensure that the decision-making processes within SAHM is grounded in local and regional needs assessments.
Priority Goal 2—As President, I will work to bring a more ecological and participatory perspective to our governance and training
- Ensure the genuine inclusion of youth voices and leaders from diverse identities within our SAHM operational and governing structures.
- Continue researching and training our members on creating inclusive spaces that empower all youth (including male, white, and historically marginalized groups) to expand their critical consciousness to enable all youth to celebrate the unique contributions of all, and that protects their sense of worth or identity development.
- Enhance our ability to foster one of the most protective relationships in our youth’s lives: coaching parents of teens.
- Consider hosting a Pre-Conference dedicated to two tracks: Critical Consciousness (both for white males and for youth with historically marginalized identities) and Parenting Coaching.
Rationale: Honoring youth voices is a crucial anti-oppressive strategy in community work. We require tangible approaches to incorporate these voices into our Society and Governance. Adolescent development can be exponentially supported by creating nurturing contexts that act as protective environments. Both historical and contemporary research highlight the importance of context in identity development, illustrating how societal forces that have historically marginalized certain groups can influence identity formation. Additionally, we must investigate how to counteract hostile influences on young males’ identities and prevent their radicalization through nationalistic propaganda.Current Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently issued an advisory emphasizing the profound impact parents have on the health of our children and society: “Today’s parents face immense pressures, including concerns for their children’s health and safety, financial stress, and navigating the complexities of technology and social media, amidst a youth mental health crisis and an epidemic of loneliness that disproportionately affects young people.” While some of us have long recognized the importance of parental well-being and style, I commit to prioritizing training and resources that empower all to act as Parent Coaches and supporters, regardless of their background. It truly takes a village; therefore, let us focus on the most critical sphere of influence to protect our youth, and the one we can influence.
Priority Goal 3: Support Global Efforts to Unite, Highlight, and Organize Youth Integrative-Strength based approaches to Health Worldwide. This goal seeks to enhance and align global initiatives aimed at advancing Youth Integrative Health, with two specific sub-goals:
- Create Three Regional Think Tanks for the Development of Training Programs for the “Southern Hemisphere”
The objective is to establish three Think Tanks focused on the creation, funding, and implementation of training programs (synchronous or/and asynchronous) like EuTEACH (synchronous training) tailored to three key regions: Latin America, Africa, and Asia. These Think Tanks will serve as collaborative platforms where regional leaders and experts can develop culturally relevant and effective training materials.
I will continue the work initiated in Latin America, where I’ve already established relationships with regional leaders, including Past President Manuel Oscos-Sanchez. This will serve as a pilot model to demonstrate how to create regionally-led, asynchronous training materials, grounded in local contexts and informed by the expertise of regional leaders.
- Strengthen National and Global Intersectoral Coalitions
I will continue supporting national and global intersectoral coalitions that recognize health as deeply connected to the unique opportunities presented by different contexts, following an ecological model of health. This approach emphasizes the importance of collaborative efforts across sectors to improve youth health outcomes.
Rationale By 2025, it is projected that 90% of the global youth population will reside in developing countries, with approximately 60% in Asia, and the remainder in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. A significant portion of these youth, particularly in Africa and Asia, live in rural areas, highlighting the urgent need for targeted initiatives that address their unique challenges and opportunities.
My primary goal is to launch three Think Tanks focused on developing asynchronous, competency-based training programs tailored to the needs of youth in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. These programs will be accessible through our website, offering localized content in each region’s languages. I will leverage Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) principles to identify and engage regional leaders who will help create contextually relevant training materials driven by local knowledge and expertise.
I am already serving as the SAHM liaison to CODAJIC, and during my tenure on the Board of Directors, we successfully integrated SAHM into the existing Intersectoral Pact for the Comprehensive Promotion of Adolescence and Youth, under the leadership of Past President Manuel Oscos-Sanchez.
As part of this effort, I will work to integrate WONCA (World Organization of Family Doctors) into our network. As a co-founder, alongside Dr. Tellier (Canada), of the WONCA Special Interest Group for Adolescent and Young Adult Health, I will collaborate with the current SIG Chair, SAHM member Dr. Muna Chowdhury, and the newly elected WONCA president, Viviana Martinez-Lacabe.
The GAMA group’s recent publication (JAH, 2020) expanded the definition of youth health to encompass the idea that adolescents should have the support, confidence, and resources to thrive in environments characterized by secure and healthy relationships, empowering them to realize their full potential and rights. These intersectoral coalitions aim to create traction on these specific areas.
As the primary public face of SAHM, my role is to continue promoting our organization as a leader in youth health, grounded in the best available science and expertise. I will showcase our commitment to translating knowledge into actionable guidance for young people and their families. My responsibility is to highlight how we build partnerships of care with youth and families, empowering them to make informed decisions about their health. Ultimately, it is their choice to determine what works best for them, and our role is to provide the most effective options.
I will also emphasize that I am part of a collective of dedicated scholars and advocates who champion youth autonomy and leadership. Together, we work to support young people’s agencies and ability to shape their futures.
Furthermore, I will continue advocating for increased investment in youth health, stressing how SAHM trains public health professionals, researchers, clinicians, and educators, all advocates equipped to nurture and guide young people’s journeys. I will encourage everyone to invest in us.
Through my public advocacy, I will continue demonstrating how creating spaces where youth can thrive—developing their identities, leveraging their strengths, and realizing their vision—benefits society. Investing in youth health is not just an investment in their future but in the future of all of us.
After all, I come from Former Senator Paul Wellstone’s land, and I, too, firmly believe that “we all do better when we all do better.”
- What are the most effective actions that SAHM can take to improve the health and well-being adolescents and young adults from communities that have been marginalized?
- We must continue to include diverse perspectives in all committees and leadership positions. Congratulations to SAHM and the Nomination Committee for achieving the most challenging (not generally accomplished) yet most effective intervention in influencing equitable outcomes in an organization: bringing diverse leadership to the forefront. We now have two women, both immigrants from developing countries (Turkey and Argentina), champions of diversity, that had pushed the boundaries of our Society regarding diversity and international inclusion as candidates for President. This is how progress is made!
- Creating participatory processes that center youth voices is crucial. Integrating them into our governance while considering representation from various identities is essential. Collaborating with civil rights organizations like the ACLU and SPLC is vital to challenging the use of race/ethnicity in creating a culturally concordant workforce, which is now proven critical for achieving equitable outcomes. Until that gets reversed, using positionality and lived experience of marginalization serves the purpose. We should lead training centers to do the same, so we ensure future diverse representation.
- Building participatory efforts from the ground up, starting with our chapters, is essential for incorporating diverse voices and needs from different regions. We should map our chapters to identify “orphan regions” and find ways to include them. Chapters should have youth representatives, especially those with marginalized experiences, and report quarterly to the Advocacy and Diversity Committee Chairs about new challenges and gains, who will organize critical issues for the Board of Directors and connect our Chapters with SIGs and Committees.
- We must create processes and benchmarks at various levels to foster internal accountability and ensure representation from frequently marginalized groups.
- Lastly, we must intentionally collect and elevate the voices and lived experiences of those facing marginalization and oppression (“center on the margins”) to guide our actions.
- Provide a brief personal statement describing your qualifications to be President of SAHM, including knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from previous leadership positions in SAHM and other organizations/institutions.
I can trace my journey as an immigrant through the 28 years I’ve been a member of SAHM. I began with the International Chapter, then joined the Diversity Committee, becoming its Chair in 2015—a pivotal year as the nation grappled with heightened conversations around racism, power, and privilege.
In response, I led the development of a Position Paper linking racism to health, culminating in the creation of SAHM’s anti-racism toolkit. This collaborative initiative propelled my election to the Nomination Committee (2020–2022) and, later, to the SAHM Board in 2022. Serving on the Board when our work became increasingly politicized gave me a broad, nuanced perspective on our organization’s challenges and opportunities. I feel that providing a continuum is vital for SAHM.
Alongside my work with SAHM, I have contributed to WONCA (see above). In collaboration with WONCA’s Women and Children SIG, we worked with the WHO and the “1.8 Billion Youth for Change” initiative, where I presented youth-led participatory action research at their conference.
I am a faculty member of the MN LEAH program, where I trained, and I am currently being considered for full professor status at the University of Minnesota.
I have served on the Medical Executive Committee of my hospital (Minnesota’s largest safety net hospital) during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, and from there, I was chosen to be at the MN COVID Ethic committee, where we created an equity-based formula to distribute COVID treatment (plasma) and vaccines. Then, I became the first Health Equity Clinical Outcomes Medical Director, where I brought an equity lens to our Hospital Quality & Safety Team.
These experiences deepened my ability to navigate complex, high-stakes situations and create meaningful, actionable change. I am ready to continue leading SAHM in the next challenging years.
At-Large Board of Directors (2025-28)
Kamila Alexander, PhD, MPH, RN
- State and explain the priority goals that you would set for your term as an at-large member of the SAHM Board of Directors.
My priority goals as an at-large member would include expanding and enhancing SAHM’s commitment to interdisciplinary policy, practice, and research. As a public health nurse, I would actively promote meaningful inclusion of all disciplines across committees and working groups as well as ensure it is incorporated into the organization’s strategic plan activities.
An additional priority would be to bolster continued efforts to engage perspectives and experiences from members living in regions of the US currently underrepresented in SAHM’s member as well as those living in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) around the globe. Benchmarks for this priority would include evaluating the numbers of new members from underrepresented US regions and LMICs, numbers who join committees and SIGs and the numbers of members from underrepresented US regions and LMICs who move into leadership roles. This priority aligns with SAHM’S commitment to retain existing members and recruit new members.
Finally, I would support innovative strategies to enhance interdisciplinary student/trainee involvement and leadership in the organization. I would support development of activities designed to ensure that SAHM is a welcoming organization and everyone can find their place in contributing to our goal of advancing adolescent health.
- What are the most effective actions that SAHM can take to improve the health and well-being adolescents and young adults from communities that have been marginalized?
One opportunity to highlight our expert clinical practice and research could be development of a rapid dissemination strategy for members to express thought pieces or summarize published works in digestible formats that are focused specifically on highlighting strengths and solutions with marginalized youth.. Using strategic communications approaches, SAHM could enhance its footprint across many domains of research, education, and practice. Establishing a blog aligned with the Journal of Adolescent Health, refreshing our social media presence, and implementing an Op-Ed committee are a few ideas that could bring light to the great amount of work SAHM members are doing with marginalized communities. Additionally, one of SAHM’s biggest strengths is in its advocacy efforts for adolescent health and well-being. In this time of extreme risk for the lives of many youth experiencing marginalization due to LGBTQ+, racial, or ethnic identities or loss of autonomy in many aspects of their health, we, as an organization should be seen as the premiere voice for supporting youth needs, promoting youth-centered solutions to real-world issues, and advocating for policy changes that protect health.
SAHM should leverage existing expertise on community engaged practice and scholarship, promote evidence-based best practices, and demonstrate models that will shift paradigms for the adolescent health field. Some specific activities we could implement are to create a seat on the organization’s leadership team for a current youth impacted by marginalization. Additionally, the organization could commit funding for several travel scholarships to offer youth an opportunity to attend our annual meeting. We could also include issue-focused youth summits as part of our annual meeting activities. These strategies could ensure that marginalized youth voices are centered in our organization’s structure, ensuring long-lasting impact on the youth we support and serve as clinicians and researchers.
- Provide a brief personal statement describing your qualifications to serve on the SAHM Board of Directors, including knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from previous leadership positions in SAHM and other organizations/institutions.
I am an Associate Professor, Director of the PhD and Postdoctoral programs, and inaugural holder of the Natalie and Wes Bush Rising Professorship at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. I am also founding director of the Threads Research Lab, which brings students, scientists, and communities together through research and human connections as a transformational way to create sustainable healthy relationships. Derived from over 15 years of clinical practice as an advanced practice public health nurse, my passions for research, advocacy, and clinical practice centers on supporting healthy sexual and reproductive health of Black adolescents and young adults.
I joined SAHM in 2014 and have contributed to its mission throughout the last 10 years. After receiving the honor of Finalist for the 2018 New Investigator Award, I joined the HIV/STI Committee and served as Co-Chair and Chair from 2019 – 2023. As Chair, I provided leadership in practice, advocacy, and research activities for interdisciplinary clinicians supporting sexual and reproductive health care. For example, our committee updated all sexual and reproductive health clinical guidelines available to practitioners engaged in this specialty area on the SAHM website, We also published a position paper that describes recommendations for improving health outcomes for adolescents living with HIV/AIDS globally.
In 2020, my leadership was recognized when I became an inaugural fellow of the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators. I have held numerous leadership roles that highlight my ability to drive impactful health initiatives. I am dedicated to training and mentoring early career scientists, especially those with nursing backgrounds and who identify as someone living with a racially or ethnically marginalized experiences. I bring strong skills in developing and implementing initiatives grounded in health equity to this nomination for at-large member and look forward to serving alongside the numerous adolescent health leaders in this great organization.
Beth Auslander, PhD
- State and explain the priority goals that you would set for your term as an at-large member of the SAHM Board of Directors.
I believe that relationships are key to enhancing opportunities for both promoting adolescent and young adult (AYA) health and addressing threats to it. Relationships help foster the creative design and implementation of effective AYA health solutions while also serving as a protective factor against burnout for those of us supporting AYA. Therefore, in a term as an at-large member, my first priority goal will be to foster collaboration across disciplines and systems serving AYA. Working with my colleagues, I will identify factors that both hinder and enhance collaborative efforts and also share and develop solutions for addressing those factors. Initial steps for promoting relationships and collaboration could include: 1) increasing interdisciplinary representation within SAHM membership, committees, and leadership and 2) more intentionally promoting the concepts of interdisciplinary communication, integrative care, and team-based science within SAHM’s annual meeting programming.
A second priority goal of mine is to bring more attention to the role that social science can play in advancing the health of AYA and those serving AYA as well as in addressing misinformation and disinformation that can hinder our collective health. I will collaborate with my colleagues to increase the presence of social science AYA research, knowledge, and related tools on SAHM’s website and at SAHM’s annual meeting. - What are the most effective actions that SAHM can take to improve the health and well-being adolescents and young adults from communities that have been marginalized?
An effective action that SAHM can take to improve the health and well-being of AYA from marginalized communities is to partner with the youth from these communities. We need to look for more opportunities to incorporate their voice into research, clinical care, education and advocacy efforts, so that we can better develop effective solutions. I believe we should build upon SAHM’s prior efforts of inviting AYA to the annual conference and identify and remove barriers to the attendance of those from marginalized communities. I also would like us to consider how SAHM could include their perspectives into some of our committee work. Additionally, through our resources and education at the annual meeting, SAHM could further educate members and key stakeholders on the meaning and types of marginalization and its impact on AYA health and factors influencing marginalization (e.g., prejudice/racial discrimination, income equality, lack of access to quality education and health care). Thought leaders in this area could be invited to speak at SAHM’s annual meeting and SAHM members/attendees could be encouraged to submit workshops, posters, and presentations on their work with AYA from marginalized communities. School-based health care models could be highlighted as an evidence-based care practice shown to improve equitable access to care. Moreover, SAHM could collaborate with school health organizations (e.g., National Center for School Mental Health, School-Based Health Alliance) on educational trainings, research projects, policy and legislation efforts, and advocacy strategies to advance the health of AYA from marginalized communities. - Provide a brief personal statement describing your qualifications to serve on the SAHM Board of Directors, including knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from previous leadership positions in SAHM and other organizations/institutions.
I am a Licensed Psychologist and Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. After earning a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Florida State University, I completed a LEAH fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine.
I have held leadership roles in multiple mission areas (i.e., research, clinical care, and service). Through my research in vaccine hesitancy and youth mental health, I led and co-led teams on NIH and industry-sponsored research studies. These teams were productive as evidenced by numerous publications and presentations at national conferences, including a presentation at SAHM that earned the Vaughn Rickert Award. For the past 9 years, I have been fortunate to serve as the Mental Health Director of a school-based health center (SBHC) that serves a highly concentrated, minority/low-income population. I oversee all mental health programming and staff on our mental health team. Under my leadership, our SBHC’s mental health staffing doubled. Evidence-based practices became our norm. New and stronger collaborations were made with our school, academic, and community partners, resulting in improved care for our youth and multiple collaborative grant awards. Our care model expanded from one solely focused on intervention to one that emphasizes mental health promotion, prevention, and intervention. Within SAHM, I previously chaired and served as a member of the vaccine committee and also served as a committee member on the abstract committee. As vaccine committee chair, I led our committee in completing multiple position statements.
Through these leadership experiences, I learned to set priorities and timelines, communicate effectively with colleagues from across disciplines, create implementation plans, continuously monitor progress, adjust, and assess processes and outcomes. Importantly, I realized that embracing a nonjudgemental, growth mindset can be key to promoting collaboration among teams and ultimately the products of those teams.
Gordon Duvall, PNP, DNP
Candidate responses will be available shortly.
Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, RN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FSAHM, FAAN
- State and explain the priority goals that you would set for your term as an at-large member of the SAHM Board of Directors.
As a long-time SAHM member, I would like to help the Board address issues related to lower post-COVID engagement from our members by increasing the offerings supported by SAHM, enhancing the connections between regional chapters and national SAHM, and creating a plan to increase membership across the disciplines representing wholistic adolescent health. While each region and state has varying challenges with adolescent health related to structural, social, and individual factors, national SAHM can address many of these alarming trends by offering webinars throughout the year in addition to the large national conference. This can serve a dual purpose of reengaging SAHM members, enhancing knowledge and skills to address emerging and persistent adolescent health challenges, and can also enhance the connection between regional chapters and national SAHM. Regional chapters could assist with this by creating and offering to host these webinars, and national SAHM can provide the Zoom mechanism for dissemination. Finally, I would like to assist with the creation of a plan to increase membership across the disciplines representing holistic adolescent health. With the aging of the adolescent health workforce, competing priorities for conference attendance and time allocation, and tightening budgets within practice and academic settings, it appears as though the active membership in SAHM is dwindling across disciplines with non-physician representation dwindling the most. I would like to propose a needs assessment that engages with formerly active members and new constituency groups to see how best to cross-pollinate with other active groups and increase membership.
- What are the most effective actions that SAHM can take to improve the health and well-being adolescents and young adults from communities that have been marginalized?
There are three main pillars that need attention to most effectively meet the complex needs of all communities of adolescents made vulnerable and marginalized by social and structural barriers. First, advocacy. Since youth are often unable to advocate for themselves through voting and policy making, we are adolescent providers need to be aware of and actively work with leaders and legislators to address policies that restrict or create barriers to access to care at the organizational, local, state, and national levels. To do this, SAHM, can vigilantly inform members of pending or worrisome policies and assist with advocacy events and trainings to prepare members to serve in that role. Another strategy that SAHM is very successful at is supporting the rigorous development of Position Statements to advocate for comprehensively addressing adolescent health issues. The second is research. The SAHM national conference serves as a platform for disseminating best practices and research-based evidence to support adolescent health. Through the conference stage and the careful selection of champions for SAHM-issued awards, faculty, clinicians, and students can increase their knowledge of and ability to scale up evidence-based practices. The third way that SAM can continue to improve the health of adolescents is through education and supporting the adolescent health workforce pipeline. Without robust attention to the dwindling pipeline of adolescent providers across disciplines, we will continue to have a growing problem with availability and access to experts in adolescence across the nation.
- Provide a brief personal statement describing your qualifications to serve on the SAHM Board of Directors, including knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from previous leadership positions in SAHM and other organizations/institutions.
In my 25 years as a nurse, I have focused on adolescent and young adult health through positions with the United States Peace Corps, Indian Health Services, and nonprofit organizations, and as a nurse scientist and educator dually trained in nursing and public health. Each of these experiences has allowed me to address sexual and reproductive health, mental health, and substance use among youth and young adults especially those experiencing housing instability. My research, teaching, and service focus on promoting health equity among vulnerable and marginalized youth and identifying modifiable behavioral, psychosocial, and structural risk factors related to the uptake of and adherence to prevention behaviors to develop and test scalable interventions. I work closely with community partners and an interprofessional team to ensure that research results can be translated into policies and programs that drive health equity. I am dedicated to preparing the next generation of adolescent and young adult healthcare professionals, emphasizing nurse clinicians and scientists. Specifically, I mentor undergraduate and graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral students, and trainees. I serve as nursing faculty with the BCM-TMC LEAH.
For years, I have assumed increasing roles at SAHM including co-chair and chair of Special Interest Groups for Nursing Research, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Runaway and Homeless Youth. I have been an abstract reviewer nearly annually and participated in the conference planning committee As part of my role with SAHM, I have first-authored and co-authored several position statements published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, including statements on long-acting reversible contraceptive use in adolescents, PrEP use among adolescents, sexual health needs of male adolescents, sexual consent, and on the impact of COVID-19 on youth experiencing homelessness. I also served as President-elect and then President of the Texas SAHM Regional Chapter from 2021-2023.
Nominations Committee (2025-27)
Preeti Galagali, MD
- State and explain the priority goals that you would set for your term as a member of the SAHM Nominations Committee.
My priority goals as a member of the SAHM Nominations Committee would be:
1. To select SAHM members for leadership positions who have demonstrated core values of excellence, leadership, integrity and collaboration with a health equity lens for all AYA. In addition, those in current and past leadership roles in SAHM chapters, committees, board of publications, national and international professional and nonprofit organizations would be considered. This would enable SAHM to have the best national and international leaders to make an impact locally and globally on adolescent health and well-being.
2. To include equity, diversity, geographical location and professional discipline as vital parts of the selection process. This is to ensure that all voices are seen, get an opportunity to speak and heard by SAHM in alignment with SAHM’s Aspirational Strategic plan.
3. To develop objective assessment tools in form of questionnaires to capture the potential and ability of the nominees. Information regarding current and past leadership roles, academic achievements and dreams, goals and innovative action plans for SAHM would be collected. These would be evaluated individually and collectively by nominations committee members to select the appropriate candidates for SAHM in various leadership roles.
4. To frame questions to enable members to make an informed decision that would align with SAHM’s mission and vision and unbiased choice while voting.
5. To elicit feedback from the candidates and membership regarding the nomination and election process for quality improvement. - Provide a brief personal statement describing your qualifications to serve on the SAHM Nominations Committee, including knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from previous leadership positions in SAHM and other organizations/institutions.
I am, Dr. Preeti Galagali, MD, PGD AP, FIAP, Director of the Bengaluru Adolescent Care and Counselling Centre and Clinical Lead of the Adolescent Clinic at Manipal Hospital, and honored to be considered for the Nominations Committee. I am one of the first pediatricians to be formally trained in adolescent medicine in 2005 and was among the pioneers of comprehensive healthcare services for adolescents in India. I am currently the Vice President-elect of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) and have played a key role in advancing adolescent care in India.
As an active member of SAHM for 11 years, I have held leadership roles, including Co-Chair of the Nutrition Committee and Secretary of the International Chapter. I serve as a member of the Program, Mental health and Youth Engagement Committees. I have contributed to nine position papers and facilitated 11 workshops at Annual Meetings.
At the global level, I co-chair the Education Committee of the International Association of Adolescent Health (IAAH) and have co-authored papers on education and climate change. I served as the Convener of the Adolescent Committee of the Asia Pacific Pediatric Association 2016 and a member of the IAAH Nomination Committee.
In India, I co-authored the first IAP Adolescent Practice Guidelines, guidelines on Digital Wellness and Child Protection. In my role as Chairperson of the IAP Adolescent Health Academy my contributions included website development, launch of Indian Journal of Adolescent Medicine, national Teen Suicide Prevention Program and an online learning module for teachers. I have led the development of 15 IAP training modules, have contributed to over 100 peer-reviewed publications and given over 200 scientific talks.
With my leadership experience, advocacy work, and vision for improving adolescent healthcare globally, I hope to contribute to the Nominations Committee and continue my service to SAHM.
Sydnee Lucas, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
- State and explain the priority goals that you would set for your term as a member of the SAHM Nominations Committee.
My priority goals as a member of the SAHM Nominations Committee are to best ensure a transparent and inclusive nominations process, which identifies qualified and diverse candidates amongst all healthcare disciplines aligned with SAHM’s mission and values. I believe when we actively seek out and encourage participation from a broad range of adolescent health disciplines, we help build a strong and diverse candidate pool that truly represents those working with and for our AYA population.
Ensuring the nominations experience is accessible for all interested is key to achieving this goal. Providing clear and timely communication about each nomination, the process, and offering support to those interested should be foundational to the experience. In addition, I hope to treat the process as one we can continuously improve upon based on feedback each time.
Finally, as a nominations committee member, I’d hope to play a role in strengthening the organization’s leadership pipeline. The committee members have a unique opportunity to identify potential future leaders and, ideally, foster mentorship and development opportunities through collaboration with other committees, SAHM members, and SAHM leaders to continue the growth and success of the organization. - Provide a brief personal statement describing your qualifications to serve on the SAHM Nominations Committee, including knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from previous leadership positions in SAHM and other organizations/institutions.
In my role as Texas SAHM secretary for the past three years, I’ve worked to highlight members, facilitate member collaboration, and streamline communication within our chapter. I’ve also tried to help bring to life the ideas our members share with me. Examples of this were a region-based listserv, as well as a newsletter archives.
In my current role chairing the SAHM Nursing SIG alongside my co-chair, we have targeted efforts to increase member engagement within the nursing sector of adolescent health that we hope expands to all disciplines caring for adolescent and young adult clients. We’ve developed a plan to create a platform for sharing best practices, fostering research and professional collaboration, and offer a safe place for professional development opportunities.
Since September 2022, I’ve also served as nursing faculty for the Baylor/TMC LEAH Grant. This position has allowed me to work alongside an incredible interdisciplinary team and I am grateful for the collaboration and constant learning that exists among our faculty and fellow cohort.
Throughout these roles, I’ve tried to bring unique approaches, strong organizational skills, and an unwavering commitment to advancing the field of AYA healthcare. My efforts have centered on breaking down silos between disciplines, fostering collaborative environments, and creating opportunities for professionals to grow and excel in this area of healthcare I feel so passionately about. Thank you so much for your consideration of me for the SAHM Nominations Committee.
Lisa Mihaly, FNP
- State and explain the priority goals that you would set for your term as a member of the SAHM Nominations Committee.
I am deeply committed to SAHM’s mission, vision and values. Membership in the nominations committee would allow me to participate more actively in supporting SAHM’s progress towards a genuinely diverse and inclusive organization. I seek opportunities to continue to integrate adolescent health trainees, providers and researchers from a range of disciplines. As a clinician educator, I am committed to supporting the involvement of SAHM members at every stage of training. As a non-physician in a historically physician- dominated space, I will bring a unique perspective to the work of creating an inclusive SAHM leadership structure. I bring important experience supporting inclusive environments – for example, as a co-director of the UCSF FNP program, where many of our students are first generation to college and / or come from historically excluded communities.
I am excited to bring my passion for adolescent health, my experience in SAHM leadership, and my commitment to diversity and advocacy to the nominations committee.
- Provide a brief personal statement describing your qualifications to serve on the SAHM Nominations Committee, including knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from previous leadership positions in SAHM and other organizations/institutions.
I hope to have the opportunity to serve on the nominations committee and believe that my experiences at SAHM – and elsewhere – would make me a valuable member of the committee. I have been a member of SAHM since I was a LEAH NP trainee in 2003 and have been an active participant in formal and informal SAHM work since then. I have been a member of the Northern California SAHM chapter since 2004 and served as co-president for several years. I’ve also been a member of (and then consultant to) the Advocacy Committee since 2009, where I also served as Chair from approximately 2009 to 2012. I have been an active member of the Diversity Committee since 2020, and I have just taken on the role of Secretary for this committee starting in 2024. Additionally, I contributed to the strategic direction of the organization as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee from 2009 to 2010 and served on the BOD Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity from 2021 to 2022. Since I was a trainee I have been an active member of the Nursing Special Interest Group.
When I’m not at SAHM meetings, I am full time faculty at the University of California San Francisco, where much of my work and scholarship focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Since 2020, I have been a co-director of the Family Nurse Practitioner program in the UCSF School of Nursing. Approximately one third of our students come from historically excluded communities; we work to create an inclusive and equitable environment for them. I am also faculty in the UCSF School of Medicine, where I direct the LEAH Nurse Practitioner Training Program. My other professional home is the National Organization for Nurse Practitioner Faculty, where I am an active member of the Diversity Special Interest Group.
Diane Straub, MD, MPH
- State and explain the priority goals that you would set for your term as a member of the SAHM Nominations Committee.
As our adolescent and young adult patients around the world face increasing threats, we will need to redouble our efforts to fight on their behalf, to include continuing to provide accessible, compassionate, multi-disciplinary, and evidence-based clinical care; educational opportunities for all levels of trainees; cutting edge research that advances our considerable evidence base; and advocacy on all levels. SAHM has been fortunate to have courageous, tenacious, vocal, and passionate leaders on all of these fronts. My leadership style has always been to “lead from behind”, striving to provide the support and opportunity to enable others to succeed. As a member of the Nominations Committee, I would hope to leverage my extensive experience and connections, including clinical, education, research, and advocacy work, ranging from local to national (with broad representation across the US) to international in scope, as outlined below, to help select the next generation of SAHM leaders to enable us to navigate the uncharted waters ahead.
- Provide a brief personal statement describing your qualifications to serve on the SAHM Nominations Committee, including knowledge, skills, and perspectives gained from previous leadership positions in SAHM and other organizations/institutions.
I have been a member of, and actively participated in, SAHM, for 25 years. I served on the Board of Directors (2018-2020); on the abstract committee (2008-2020), as Co-Chair (2013-2015) and Chair (2015-2017); on the Program Committee (2014-2017); and as the STI SIG Co-Chair (2006-2016). Currently I serve on the Diversity Committee, co-lead SAHM’s informal Division Chief forum, and assist with the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SAHM. I started the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the University of South Florida (USF), and now lead the Section of Adolescent Medicine at the University of Colorado (CU). My academic career has included significant clinical, education, and research roles. I have served as Medical Director of USF’s AYA Clinic and Ybor Youth Clinic, and of six Florida Department of Juvenile Justice sites. I served as Associate Program Director for the Pediatric Residency Program and as one of the College of Medicine Career Advisors at USF (2012-2021), and have supervised training programs in adolescent medicine at both USF and CU. I served in leadership roles within the National Institute of Health’s multi-center research collaborative Adolescent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions, at the national and site level, as well as in many other team science roles, including a Fogarty grant focused on research on adolescents and HIV in India. My advocacy work has helped enact impactful change such as updating Florida’s HIV testing statutes to align with CDC guidelines and implementing a statewide program to enable provision of nPEP to victims of sexual assault in Florida. In all of these roles, I have had the privilege of meeting and collaborating with a broad swath of folks passionate about all aspects of adolescent health and medicine. These are the experiences and connections I hope to leverage as a member of the Nominations Committee.