Trenton Health Team
In the Trenton Health Team’s January newsletter, the nonprofit collaboration of Trenton hospitals and health organizations, which serves all six zip codes of the city, announced the hiring of several new staff members.
The organization, which is made up of “experts, advocates, community leaders, and residents,” has been around since 2006 and describes itself as “an innovative, multi-sector partnership dedicated to the health and well-being of the greater Trenton community.”
Entities involved with THT include the city’s “two hospitals, St. Francis Medical Center and Capital Health; its only Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), Henry J. Austin Health Center; and the City of Trenton Department of Health and Human Services,” according to its website, trentonhealthteam.org.
“We had a busy but productive close to last year at Trenton Health Team. We are starting 2023 with many new faces, as we’ve had a record number of new THT staff come on board,” CEO Gregory Paulson says in the newsletter, adding that he is “looking forward to getting to know all of them in the coming months.”
Recent additions to THT are as follows: Eric Morales, director of grants and development; Xurey Martinez, bilingual certified medical assistant for the community care team; Adia Allen, a community screening specialist for the community care team; and Dan Coghlan, senior program manager for the Trenton Neighborhood Initiative.
Three individuals have biographies currently available on the THT website, starting with Dr. Chris Kirk, who “joined THT as chief program officer in 2022 after spending more than two decades working to advance health equity via roles in governmental public health, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations.” Before joining THT, Kirk was the CPO of Norwescap, a “regional community action agency” based in Phillipsburg.
The new director of community engagement, Margaret Cowell, started her position in December last year “to lead THT’s efforts to build, sustain, and grow partnerships with local residents and community-based organizations (CBOs) to achieve improved health and well-being for community members.”
For 16 years, Cowell’s biography states, she worked with Arm in Arm, formerly known as the Crisis Ministry of Mercer County, where she was both a director of operations and a social services program director.
Easton Davis began his role as the population health program coordinator in November. The biography states that “he coordinates and manages projects in NowPow, a community resource and referral platform that allows users to partner with local health organizations better” to “provide a wide variety of referrals and subsequent follow-ups that best address the user’s social, financial, and health needs.”
Davis “also works with the Mercer County Overdose Fatality Review Team, a multi-sector program that uses data analytics to understand systematic opioid overdose patterns better” as a means of determining “harm reduction strategies to prevent future overdose deaths.”
Prior to THT, he established “a neighborhood wellness program directed at children and teens” and “another [that] involved converting a soup kitchen for the local houseless population into a soup delivery service due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” These community outreach programs were all completed during Davis’ undergraduate career.
More information: trentonhealthteam.org.
Eating for Your Health
Anju Dang, a registered dietitian and nutritionist, was welcomed into the board of trustees at Princeton’s Eating for Your Health by Suppers earlier this month. The late Dorothy Mullen established the nonprofit organization to share meals and strategies to show the benefits of adopting a healthier, more nutritional lifestyle.
Dang is the founder of AMD Life Sciences, LLC, also in Princeton, “which provides business development services to global life science companies.” She received her PH.D. in immunology from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark.
According to the newsletter, Dang “became interested in food and nutrition when she first heard about epigenetics in 2014. She was fascinated with the ongoing research in epigenetics and the influence of lifestyle in turning genes ‘on’ and ‘off.’ She wanted to take this powerful knowledge and translate it into a practical approach for people to empower their own health with lifestyle changes.”
“Anju brings her enthusiasm and nutrition expertise along with regional contacts we need to introduce new communities and households to a simplified and enhanced way of cooking and eating to support their health. For some, this way is only a few steps away—in their own kitchens,” EFYH continues. “For three-plus decades, she has contributed to cutting-edge research in proteomics, glycomics, drug discovery and stem cell technologies.”
“Her philosophy for her patients is the same as what she applies to her family and friends — food should fuel our body for optimal health and at the same time be ‘enjoyable,’” the release adds.
“When I learned about Eating for Your Health, I felt completely aligned with their values,” Dang says in a quote. “Eating for Your Health provides diverse programs to encourage the community’s health. I’m excited to bring my passion for empowering people to manage their health through nutrition and lifestyle change to the Eating for Your Health community.”
Formerly known as the Suppers Programs or Suppers, Marion Reinson took over as executive director in 2019 following Mullen’s cancer diagnosis and eventual passing. Reinson led the group throughout the pandemic and beyond under the mission of taking “nutrition out of the clinic and into the kitchen, where real change happens,” her bio on the EFYH website, eatingforyourhealth.org, says.
“Best of all, [Dang’s] philosophy and values mirror ours,” Reinson notes. “Food should fuel our bodies for optimal health and be ‘enjoyable’ without judgment.”
More information: eatingforyourhealth.org.
