Carmen Ashley is Chief of the Program Development and Services Branch in the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In her current capacity, she oversees two teams that manage cooperative agreements funded to local education agencies and non-governmental organizations. She is also currently the Principle Investigator for the Teens Linked to Care (TLC) pilot initiative, which seeks to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing school-based substance use/risky sex behavior prevention programming for high school teens in rural communities. Prior to her current position, Carmen was a Public Health Analyst in DASH’s Office of Policy, Communication, and Strategy, where she worked within and across other CDC divisions to identify and address risk and protective factors related to risky behavior among adolescents.

In addition, Carmen was a Team Lead in DASH’s Program Development and Services Branch for three years. Before joining CDC, Carmen was the Associate Director for Programs and Operations in the Applied Public Health department at Emory University. She has over 20 years of experience working on school-based adolescent issues for other public health agencies such as the American Cancer Society, the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Carmen is an active member of the American Public Health Association, the American Society for Public Administration, the American School Health Association, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Carmen holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Furman University, a Masters of Public Health Degree from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and she is currently pursuing a doctoral student at Valdosta State University. She is also Master Certified Health Education Specialist. 

Dr. Kathleen Ethier is the Director of CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) in the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP). Prior to her appointment as Director of DASH, she served in a variety of capacities across CDC. Her work in these positions has focused on developing strategic direction for agency priorities, best practices for using data for decision-making and improving program evaluation. Prior to joining CDC, Dr. Ethier spent six years on the research faculty at Yale University studying HIV, STDs, and unplanned pregnancy prevention among women and adolescents. Her research has included psychosocial, behavioral, organizational and clinical factors related to women’s health, maternal health and adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Dr. Ethier earned her PhD in social psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Earl Myers is a Lead Grants Management Specialist with over twenty years of experience at the U.S. Department of Education working with discretionary and formula grant programs administered by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), Office of Safe and Supportive Schools (OSSS). As a member of OSSS, Earl manages the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant program, a discretionary grant program focused on expanding the pipeline of high-quality, trained mental health service providers for employment in schools and local educational agencies (LEAs). Earl also manages an ED contract awarded to the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) that provides information, technical assistance, and support to several OSSS discretionary grant programs focused on improving school climate and conditions for learning.