Our Team

GALA | Global Advocacy Leadership Academy

Our Team

Project Directors
Gary L. Kreps
Paula Kim

Senior Health Scholars
Lisa Sparks
Linda Neuhauser

Research Affiliates
Wonsun "Sunny" Kim
Camella J. Rising

Biosketches:

Project Directors:

Gary L. Kreps, Ph.D.
Co-director GALA
University Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Communication
Director, Center for Health and Risk Communication
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

His research focuses on health communication and promotion, information dissemination, cancer prevention and control, organizational communication, information technologies, multicultural relations, and risk/crisis management. His published work includes more thant 300 books, articles, and monographs concerning the applications of communication knowledge in society. Before his appointment at George Mason in 2004, he served as the founding Chief of the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch at the National Cancer Institute, the founding Dean of the School of Communication at Hofstra University, Executive Director of the Greenspun School of Communication at UNLV, and in faculty and administrative roles at Northern Illinois, Rutgers, Indiana, and Purdue Universities. He has received numerous awards and honors for his active program of research, teaching, and scholarship.

Paula Kim
Co-director GALA
Founder- CEO, Translating Research Across Communities-TRAC
Senior Research Fellow, Affiliate Faculty, Department of Communication
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

Paula Kim brings more than 29 years of executive and entrepreneurial experience in business and not-for profit ventures. Paula is recognized on the grassroots, national, and international levels for her consumer-focused leadership and innovation in business, healthcare and advocacy strategies. She is often sought out for her ability to bridge the gap between sectors and those with whom they must collaborate to accomplish their respective goals. TRAC is a global advisory consulting firm serving as trusted advisors to leading businesses, organizations, institutions, and governments.

Her commitment to advocacy and advancing research came from personal reasons – her dad’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 1998 and untimely death only seventy-five days later. In 1999, Paula was a co-founder of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) with Pam Acosta Marqhardt and Terry Lierman, the first national patient advocacy organization for pancreatic cancer. She served as Chairman of the Board, CEO and President through 2004.

Senior Health Scholars:

Lisa Sparks, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Studies, MS Health and Strategic Communication and Foster and Mary McGaw Endowed Professor in Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Sparks also serves as a full member of the Chao Family/NCI Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Irvine in the School of Medicine (SOM) in the Division of Population Sciences, and has a faculty appointment in the Program in Public Health (PHP), College of Health Sciences (COHS). Prior to joining Chapman in 2006, Dr. Sparks occupied positions at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she served as Director of Graduate Programs and General Education Courses, affiliated faculty with the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases and the Center for Social Science Research, and the University of Texas at San Antonio, positions she held until she joined Chapman. A highly regarded teacher-scholar whose published work spans more than 100 research articles and scholarly book chapters, Dr. Sparks is the author and editor of more than 10 books in the areas of communication, health, and aging with a distinct focus on cancer communication science.

Linda Neuhauser, DrPH

Clinical Professor of Community Health and Human Development at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health and Principal Investigator at Health Research for Action.

Her research and teaching are focused on transdisciplinary, translational, and participatory approaches to improve health interventions. She has a special interest in collaborative design and evaluation of mass communication that meets people's literacy, language, cultural, disability, and other needs. She is Principal investigator of the UC Berkeley Health Research for Action center that has worked with diverse populations to co-design multi-media health information that has reached over 40 million people in the US and internationally. She serves on national task forces on translational research, communication, and Internet health. She has won numerous awards for her work in health promotion and communication. She formerly served as a health officer in the US State Department in West and Central Africa. She holds DrPH and MPH degrees from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. (Publications)

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