Jordan Barron-Kennedy

Jordan Barron-Kennedy is the Community Systems Manager for the Maternal and Child Health Section at Oregon Health Authority (OHA).  He manages the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program, Public Health Nurse Home Visiting Program, and the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program.  In addition, he is the project lead for the Oregon Universally offered Home Visiting (UoHV) Initiative and manages the Family Connects Oregon Program Team.  In this role, he is responsible for leading and coordinating the strategic planning, program development, management, and integration of the Family Connects Oregon Program with the early childhood and home visiting system partners to enhance Oregon’s home visiting system.

Prior to joining OHA in June 2018, he attended the University of Edinburgh Business School in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, obtaining his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Strategic Planning and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).  He comes from a strong public health background, possessing a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Policy degree from Saint Louis University School of Public Health’s Health Management and Policy program.  He has a passion for working with the public sector, advocating for improving population health, and reducing inequities for marginalized populations. 

Before attending the University of Edinburgh, he served as the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Title V Program Manager at the Rhode Island Department of Health in Providence, Rhode Island.  In this role, he developed and grew a program from the ground-up, defining the role of MCH across the Department of Health.  He led state-wide and national, multi-disciplinary, and cross-sector projects and teams to create and implement far-reaching, high impact projects.  This included work with the Rhode Island Medicaid Program to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including developing an initiative to redesign the health care delivery system and its funding mechanism for Medicare/Medicaid dually eligible individuals.  He also worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs - Quality Management Department to overhaul the compensation and pension process for veterans.

When Jordan is not working, he enjoys exploring the local music scene in Portland and becoming familiar with all Oregon has to offer.

Fun Fact:

I had very odd ambitions as a child.  I always thought I would be a surgeon, probably orthopedics or neurosurgery, and simultaneously an accountant. 

Bobbie Bowman-Meza        

Bobbie Bowman-Meza is a Public Health Nurse Consultant for Family Connects Oregon.  She provides nursing practice consultation and technical assistance for communities implementing the Family Connects model.

Bobbie has over 20 years of public health experience.  She has worked for women’s health projects in the US and Latin America and at a Maternal/Child hotline.  Her background is in program and project management, database development, and teaching childbirth and lactation.  As a nurse home visitor for 11 years, she provided Maternity Case Management, Babies First! and CaCoon services.  She served as CaCoon Coordinator for 4 years and as a project manager for a culturally specific Maternal/Child medical home.  She is an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and bilingual in Spanish.

When Bobbie is not working she enjoys traveling, hiking, and keeping up with her two daughters, who are active in theater, dance and gymnastics.  She is also a part-time manager/photographer/groupie for the musical endeavors of her husband, nephew, and niece.

Fun Fact:

I’m from Missoula, Montana where the slogan is “a place, sort of.”  When I was a child I envisioned myself as an archeologist or working in international development.

LaShanda Friedrich

LaShanda Friedrich is a Health Systems Integration Specialist for Family Connects Oregon.  She leads the collaboration with healthcare systems to develop billing and reimbursement structures for Family Connects Oregon.

LaShanda has a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Behavioral Health Sciences from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  For the past 10 years, she has worked in adolescent health and is excited for the opportunity to work in another part of the life course.

When she is not working, she enjoys going to barre3, hot yoga or spin class, international travel, watching historical documentaries, and playing with her cat, Gabrielle.

Fun Fact:

I am from Lexington, North Carolina, aka the Barbecue Capital of the World!  Every fourth Saturday in October, thousands of people descend upon Lexington to celebrate the world-famous Barbecue Festival.  When I was a kid  I envisioned myself as District Attorney.  I even won the third-grade drawing contest when I drew myself in a courtroom.

Allison Mobley 

Allison Mobley is a Research Analyst for Family Connects Oregon.  She addresses the program's data needs, providing support around the interoperability of data systems, identifying and responding to local level systems needs, and supporting program evaluation activities.

Allison started as a researcher for a large advertising agency working on McDonald’s, but made the switch to social marketing, using the same techniques to promote health issues.  She has a Master's degree in international health with a focus on health communications from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. She has worked in a variety of roles including as a HIV/AIDS educator in the Peace Corps in Malawi; director of behavior change communication on HIV/AIDS in Uganda; family planning lead on USAID’s flagship social and behavior change communication project; communications lead for HIV prevention clinical trials; and a campaign developer and evaluator of social marketing campaigns in Oregon for teen pregnancy prevention, contraceptive access, and smoking cessation for youth.

When Allison is not at work she loves to cross country ski, hike, and dance to zydeco music.

Fun Fact:

Growing up as an Army brat I lived in various US states (Georgia, Hawaii, Washington) and countries (Okinawa, Germany).  This probably influenced my passion to work internationally in Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Yemen.

Jessica Engelmann

Jessica Engelmann is an Administrative Support Specialist for Family Connects Oregon.  She provides administrative and project management support to the Family Connects Oregon team, acting as a liaison between the Oregon Health Authority and project partners. She supports project communication, stakeholder engagement, and team planning for Family Connects Oregon.

Jessica's background is in City Planning, primarily in transportation.  She has a Master's degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.  She recently took time to be the primary caregiver for her two young daughters.  Prior to this, she was a Senior Planner at TriMet, the Portland metro region’s public transit agency.  While at TriMet, she worked on planning and partner coordination and managed a project that evaluated and advocated for better pedestrian infrastructure near bus and rail stops.  As a city planner, she always had an interest in the intersection between public health and urban planning.  She has experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors and enjoys being able to bring her organizational, data analysis, and communication skills to a variety of projects. 

When Jessica is not at work you can find her working on landscaping in her yard, reading books, watching movies, and cooking and sharing tasty meals with friends and family.

Fun Fact:

I grew up in a small, rural, university town in Wisconsin.  My best friend lived two corn fields away.  We would walk through the fields to get to each other’s houses, playing in streams and climbing trees along the way.