Chantelle Archer, MPH, Chair

Chantelle has been the Chair of the Health Education Committee (HEC) since 2019. She has an MPH from Southern CT State University with a focus in Community Health Education. Since obtaining her master’s, Chantelle worked as a health educator for Mobilizing Against Tobacco for Connecticut’s Health (MATCH) and as a Policy Analyst for Avenir Health, a global health organization. In 2016, she joined the CT Dept. of Public Health and supported efforts to implement the Healthy CT 2020 State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) as well as encouraged use of DPH’s performance management system. She now works in DPH’s Office of Oral Health program. Chantelle wanted to be involved with the HEC because she believes in prevention and wants to use her experience to educate populations, especially communities of color and other vulnerable populations about health issues and how the conditions in which we live, work, and play affect one’s quality of life. In her spare time, she enjoys doing Zumba and bike riding.

Jamie Luckhardt, BS, CHES, Core Member

Jamie is a Covid-19 Contact Tracer with the City of Meriden Health and Human Services Department. She graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with her bachelor’s degree in Public Health in 2018. She started her career in 2015 with the Wallingford Health Department, assisting them with their Community Health Improvement Plan, where Healthy Living was a main focus. From there she interned at The American Heart Association, under the supervision of the Community Health Director, working collaboratively with the Department of Public Health to evaluate data from the CheckIt! Challenge, a National Blood Pressure Symposium. Jamie is a Certified Health Education Specialist, dedicated to educating her community on the importance of heart health and healthy lifestyle choices.

Dena Miccinello, BS, Core Member

Dena is the Prevention Coordinator for Durham Middlefield Local Wellness Coalition. She grew up in Shelton, CT and attended SCSU to receive her Bachelor of Science in Public Health. Dena was a lifeguard for 10 years and a nanny where her passion of helping others started. Her work insubstance use prevention is the way she now helps community members live a safe and healthy life. Dena is a member of the Health Education Committee because connecting health education specialists to resources and helping others make professional contacts is important to a successful prevention community. In her free time, she enjoys baking sourdough bread, hiking, and spending time with her loved ones.

Tayhlor Williams, Core Member

Tayhlor is a graduating senior at Barnard College in New York City, where she majors in Psychology on the pre-medical track. She was inspired to pursue a public health education alongside her medical education due to her experience as a health equity intern with Hartford Healthcare, where she worked on projects that illustrated how social determinants of health, such as education, socioeconomic status, race, and language can dramatically impact health outcomes. Motivated to use what she learned, Tayhlor joined Peer Health Exchange as a volunteer health educator, and she now teaches a skills-based health curriculum on mental health, sexual health, and substance abuse in under-resourced New York City high schools. She has found enormous fulfillment in equipping people with the tools they need to take control of their lives and lead healthy lifestyles, and she joined CPHA’s Health Education Committee to learn more about how she can contribute to CT’s health education efforts and connect with local public health interests and professionals who share her same values.