Ilse Argueta is a Policy Development Manager at TFAH. She works with the Policy Development team to support TFAH’s activities to identify and help scale health promoting programs and policies through convenings, webinars, and other key projects, with a focus on health equity and social determinants of health. Prior to joining TFAH, Ilse worked as a Health Policy Analyst for Mathematica, a health policy research organization. In that role, her work focused on supporting policy analyses and technical assistance efforts focused on addressing health-related social needs through Medicaid 1115 waivers. She also has experience supporting mental health initiatives and conducting community-participatory research in underserved communities.
Ms. Argueta received a Master of Public Health degree from George Washington University with a concentration in Health Promotion, and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from the University of California Davis.
Ryan Fox is the Senior Public Affairs Officer at TFAH. He helps lead media relations efforts and provides communications support to TFAH leadership and staff. Ryan began his career as a newspaper reporter, after earning a B.A. in print journalism at Howard University where he was selected to participate in the New York Times Institute for emerging student journalists of color. He went on to cover government, public safety, and education at the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, OH and The Capital in Annapolis, Md. He later transitioned to nonprofit communications, beginning with the Center for Community Progress, an advocacy group focused on revitalizing vacant spaces and abandoned buildings, and later with the Coalition for Community Schools at the Institute for Educational Leadership. He most recently worked in strategic communications at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore, Md and at the W. Haywood Burns Institute. Ryan is a member of the board of directors at Media in the Public Interest, the nonprofit affiliate of Public News Service newswire.
Rochelle Patterson is the Executive and Operations Assistant at TFAH. In her role she provides administrative support to TFAH’s Executive Vice President and the Chief Operating Officer. In addition, Patterson develops processes to ensure smooth office operations and provides staff with IT support.
Prior to joining TFAH she worked in executive assistant roles at Sandy Springs Bank, Public Health Vaccines, LLC, and Lockheed Martin. Ms. Patterson studied Business Administration at the College of Southern Maryland and Northern Virginia Community College and earned a certification in Electronics & Computer Technology at Brightwood College.
Breanca Merritt is TFAH’s Director of Policy. In that role she leads a portfolio of policy initiatives, convenings, and partnerships designed to develop and support health promoting programs and policies and advance TFAH’s policy goals.
Prior to joining TFAH, Merritt was the Chief Health Equity and ADA Officer for Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA). In that role, she served as director of FSSA’s Office of Healthy Opportunities (OHO), which identifies and addresses social determinants of health through implementing equitable policies and programs for millions of Indiana residents. Prior to joining FSSA, she was the Founding Director of the Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy (CRISP) at the Indiana University Public Policy Institute. Her work at CRISP supported nonprofits and state and local government by providing community- and data-informed research for decision making in human services. Before launching CRISP, Merritt was a Senior Research Analyst within the IU Public Policy Institute, served as project manager for the NIH-funded American Indian Diabetes Prevention Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and as a research associate for the Project for Equity, Representation and Governance.
Merritt has a Ph.D. in Health Promotion Sciences from the Hudson College of Public Health at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, an M.A. in political science from Texas A&M University, and a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma.
Stacy Molander is TFAH’s Chief Operating Officer. In this role, she works in partnership with TFAH’s President and CEO to shape and implement the organization’s strategic direction and organizational priorities and helps build and execute strategic partnerships to promote public health and equity. In addition, she oversees TFAH’s core business functions and internal operations.
A mission-focused executive and accomplished leader, Molander has extensive experience in the non-profit and corporate sectors. Most recently, she served as the Chief Operating Officer of Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), a national non-profit organization working to ensure that every family, in every zip code, has affordable access to healthy food. During her decade of service at PHA, Molander led the development of partnerships with Fortune 500 companies that improved the nutritional composition of food products, increased availability of healthy food, and created opportunities for physical activity. She led the creation and execution of PHA’s signature campaign, Pass the Love—a collaboration with Netflix and Higher Ground Productions, a production company founded by former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. The campaign delivered more than a million meals to low-income families in communities nationwide. Prior to PHA, Molander served as Senior Vice President and General Manager at Pierce Global, an Omnicom marketing agency. Molander spent nearly a decade in policy and communications with roles at CNN, Discovery Communications, and on Capitol Hill. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Communications with a minor in International Studies from American University and completed the Nonprofit Financial Stewardship Program of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Program.
Brandon Reavis is Senior Government Relations Manager at Trust for America’s Health (TFAH). He leads TFAH’s advocacy of the behavioral health portfolio, focusing on substance misuse, suicide, and mental health.
Most recently, Brandon served as Chief Counsel for Senator Jon Ossoff on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where he directed all investigative activity for the majority staff. He previously served as Chief Investigative Counsel for Senator Claire McCaskill on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Counsel and Policy Advisor for the late Congressman Elijah Cummings on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. In these roles, Brandon investigated drivers of the opioid epidemic, rising prescription drug costs, emergency room expenses, child exploitation, and federal waste, fraud, and abuse, among other issues.
Brandon earned a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University in International Relations and received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. Following law school, he worked at Tsinghua University Law School in Beijing, China, as a Henry Luce Scholar.
Monica Rao is the Senior Officer of Grants and Business Management at TFAH. She is a management professional dedicated to bringing operational excellence to the social impact arena. Prior to joining TFAH, she oversaw program execution, internal operations and finance capacity building at Global Detroit, a nonprofit focused on immigrant centric economic growth strategies in southeastern Michigan. Previously, Monica served as Deputy Finance Director on Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s inaugural Congressional campaign, and has held business management positions in federal consulting and nonprofit economic development. She received an MBA from University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in 2021, and holds a BS in Psychology from Haverford College.
This position is currently vacant.
Dr. Karon L. Phillips is the Policy Development Manager at TFAH, where she works with the Policy Development team on the age-friendly public health systems initiative. Dr. Phillips has been engaged with the field of aging for over 20 years. Most recently she served as the Program Manager for USAging. In this role, she developed content and resources for enGAGED, The National Resource Center for Engaging Older Adults. Prior to her work at USAging, she served as a Scientific Review Officer contractor for the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this position, she supported the scientific review of research grant applications made to the NIH. She also has experience leading the implementation of programs and services focused on health promotion, including chronic disease self-management and falls prevention, and developing new partnerships to provide community -based services to older adults.
Dr. Phillips received her undergraduate degree in English and Women’s Studies from Cornell University and earned her Master of Public Health degree and Ph.D. in Aging Studies from the University of South Florida. She currently holds leadership positions with the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and the American Public Health Association. She is also fellow of GSA.
