Monica Baskin is a Professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. She is a licensed psychologist and behavioral scientist whose work focuses on examining and addressing the social determinants of health and health disparities.
Devon M. T. Sims is the Director of Public Health Services at Scientific Technologies Corporation (STC), leading the public health training, consultant and interoperability services team. Prior to STC, Devon was an Epidemiologist for state and local health departments in Alabama for 7 years; supporting the immunization, disease surveillance, environmental and vital statistics divisions. She received her Master of Public Health and Master of Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Nick Sims is Assistant VP, Early Childhood Education and Healthy Communities at United Way of Central Alabama, where he works specifically with their Success By Six, Help Me Grow, and Safe Routes initiatives. He earned an MPA from the University of Alabama-Birmingham in 2008, specializing in Community Development and Planning. After graduation, he worked with the Jefferson County Commission in the Department of Land Planning, and the Jefferson County Health Action Partnership during their Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative. As a community planner, Nick focused on plans and policies which encourage the development of livable, walkable communities. Nick pursued working with Safe Routes because of its dual focus — programmatic work to educate students on active transportation; and policy and project-related work which strives to improve the physical environment to be more conducive for walking and biking. Nick is married and has a son, Charlie. Outside of work, Nick enjoys hiking, coaching youth sports, and is a member of the Friends of Rickwood (America’s Oldest Ballpark).
Prior to joining Jones Valley Teaching Farm, Amanda’s roles have included: Assistant Director at the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, Assistant Vice President of Community Health & Wellness at the United Way of Central Alabama, and Marketing Manager at Cooking Light Magazine. Read more about Jones Valley Teaching Farm’s mission to effect change in education while strengthening healthy food access with a student-by-student, school-by-school approach by visiting www.jvtf.org.
Greg Townsend is currently a Health Service Administrator at the Jefferson County Department of Health in Birmingham, Alabama. Gregory has been employed with the agency for 21 years (Birmingham Area Hospice Administrator-8 years) and works as a project manager in the Quality Improvement & Decision Support Division. Gregory holds a Bachelors Degree in Industrial Technology from Sam Houston State University, a Public Health Leadership Certificate from the MidSouth Program for Public Health Practice from the University of Alabama Birmingham and is a graduate of the South Central Public Health Leadership Institute at Tulane University. Gregory also has a Master of Arts in Public and Private Management from Birmingham Southern College. Gregory is very active in his community where has served on numerous community agency boards, and volunteers with many groups that seek to empower adults and youth to live healthier lives. Gregory is married to Pamela (29 years) and they have two beautiful daughters Sh’Nese (27) and Ashleigh (20). The family attends the Sixteenth Baptist Church where he serves as the outreach/evangelism coordinator for the Deacon’s Ministry.