Board of Directors
The Board of Directors list is in alphabetical order by last name. Board officers are listed first, then board members.
Ninia Baehr
Secretary
Ninia Baehr has worked for health and human rights for nearly three decades. After having an abortion In Montana in the early 1980s, she published Abortion Without Apology: A Radical History for the 1990s. In 1991, she became the named plaintiff in Baehr v. Lewin, the historic
Alicia Bell
Treasurer
Alicia M. Bell, M.S. is a medical student, former project manager of PharmedOut, an independent, publicly-funded project that empowers physicians to identify and counter inappropriate pharmaceutical promotion practices, based at Georgetown University. Ms. Bell has a master's degree in Physiology/Complementary and Alternative Medicine from Georgetown University and earned a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Classical Civilizations from Howard University. She has worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has assisted in program work at the Office of Research on Women’s Health at NIH. Previously, Ms. Bell was a Barbara Jordan Scholar working on health policy issues in the office of U.S. Congressman Charles B. Rangel. She is also a volunteer tutor for Georgetown EVOL, a program for underserved children in the Washington, DC area. Additionally, Ms. Bell has spoken on the issue of HPV and authored articles on the over-promotion of the HPV vaccine and on cosmetic vaginoplasty for the National Women's Health Network Women’s Health Activist.
Bindiya Patel
Chairperson
Bindiya Gillenwater Patel, M.P.A. is the Global Portfolio Manager of the Tuberculosis Team, formerly the Operations and Special Programs Officer of the Global Campaign for Microbicides, both at the Program for Appropriate Technologies (PATH). Previously, she helped manage a child nutrition program in the townships of Cape Town, worked as a grants officer in England, and monitored World Bank projects for a watchdog group in Washington, D.C. Bindiya holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from Cornell University and a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University. She is also the proud mom of two young feminists, Keya and Cimeren.
Cheri Pies
Action Vice Chair
Cheri Pies, MSW DrPH is on the faculty of the School of Public Health at U.C. Berkeley as a Lecturer and also serves as the Community Co-Director of the DrPH Program. Her professional interests include the implementation of the Life Course Perspective into the field of maternal and child health in practice, policy, and education/training; community capacity building for families through economic development strategies; development of longitudinal data systems; the use of photovoice in practice settings; women’s health and reproductive health issues; and parenting support for lesbian and gay families. She is a longtime supporter of the NWHN and proud to serve on the Board.
Zipatly Mendoza
Administrative Vice Chair
Zipatly Mendoza is the Office Chief of the Arizona Health Disparities Center at the Arizona Department of Health Services, where she oversees programs that designed to foster systems of care for women. Special projects include pre-conception health materials, promotion of multi-vitamin use by women of childbearing age, and incorporating information about healthy life choices into childcare programs. As an undergraduate, Zipatly was a founding member of the first Domestic Violence Awareness Week. This was a springboard to her work in power dynamics and gender equality which led to a two-year fellowship at the CDC. Zipatly went on to earn an MPH in Maternal and Child Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Judith Costlow
Board Member
Judith (Judy) Costlow has a Master's degree in Community Health Education, and has worked as a Health Education Specialist for the State of New Mexico for almost 22 years. She was a co-founder in 1974 of the Santa Fe Health Education Project and continues to work as its special projects coordinator. She is co-author of two editions of their book, Menopause: A Self Care Manual. She is an advocate for women's health, clean air, and children's safety. She has served on several boards, volunteers with many community organizations and in 2000 she was chosen one of New Mexico's Women of the Year. She has been connected with NWHN almost since its beginning as a grassroots organizer, then as a volunteer in 1992, and now serves on its Board.
Priscilla Huang
Board Member
Priscilla Huang is the Associate Policy Director of the Asian and Pacific Islander Health Forum, where she works primarily on immigrant health policy issues. Priscilla is the former Policy and Programs Director at National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, a membership-based policy advocacy organization that works to advance social justice and human rights for Asian and Pacific Islander women and girls. While she was in law school at American University, Priscilla co-founded a chapter of Law Students for Choice, now known as Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ). Priscilla also serves on the board of CASA de Maryland, and was a board of director for Law Students for Reproductive Justice and SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. While in law school, Priscilla clerked at Equal Rights Advocates and served as a legal intern at the National Abortion Federation.
Laura Kaplan
Board member
Laura Kaplan was a member of Jane, the Chicago Women’s Liberation underground abortion service. She was a founding member of the Emma Goldman Women’s Health Center in Chicago. In rural Wisconsin she co-founded the LaFarge Birth Group as a lay midwife, and co-founded a rural shelter-based program for battered women, serving as its first director. In New York State in the mid 80s, she was a community organizer for a coalition of nursing home residents and the Managed Care Project Director for Citizen Action of NY, working on policy to protect consumers in HMOs. She wrote The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service and several chapters and articles about Jane. She continues to lecture about Jane to community organizations and on campuses. Currently, she is a member of an advisory group for the MergerWatch Project.
Charlea Massion
Board Member
Charlea Massion is a family physician who has worked in community clinics, Indian Health Service and now as a hospitalist (caring for hospitalized adolescents and adults in Santa Cruz, California). For over 20 years, Charlea has co-taught a women’s health lecture series at Stanford University Medical School that introduces medical students to the psychological, social, political, cultural and spiritual aspects of women’s health. Charlea is a co-founder and current President of the American College of Women’s Health Physicians. Charlea began volunteering with NWHN several years before she was elected to the board. She is a co-author of NWHN’s book, The Truth About Hormone Replacement Therapy, co-writer of the “Rx for Change” column in the NWHN newsletter, and was on the planning committee for the Women’s Health and Justice for All conference at UC Santa Cruz in March 2010.
Dara Mendez
Board member
Dara Mendez, MPH, Ph.D. is a Perinatal Epidemiologist and former Kellogg Health Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. She has worked in the public health sector in Jamaica, South Africa, Kenya and various parts of the US. Dara is also the founding member of the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition to End Environmental Racism and volunteers with the Chapel Hill, NC Women’s Center. Her interests include health inequities, reproductive health policy, environmental justice, and the effect of social stress on health outcomes such as preterm birth.
Malika Redmond
Board Member
In 1993 and at the age of 14, Malika Redmond started her own organization called the International Black Youth Summit. The International Black Youth Summit is a youth led (8-17 years and 18-25 years) organization with an international focus dedicated to community responsibility, youth leadership, and developing peer “Life Skills” educators. The International Black Youth Summit has worked with hundreds of youth from all over the U.S., and several African Nations including Senegal, Kenya, and South Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. As a student at Spelman College, Malika was a campus activist, leader, and organizer. She started a feminist organization on campus, produced a number of Scholar-Activist events and conferences, as well as organized a number of protests and rallies against gender, race, and sexual preference discrimination. Upon graduating from Spelman College in 2002 with her degree in Comparative Women Studies, Malika has worked extensively as a feminist with a focus on educating and organizing women of color on the issues of reproductive rights, violence against women, and Human Rights. Malika recently completed her master’s degree at Georgia State University.
Susan Schewel
Board Member
Susan Schewel is the Executive Director of the Women's Medical Fund, a nonprofit in Philadelphia, PA. The organization provides financial and other assistance to low-income women and teens who have chosen to terminate a pregnancy so that they can have a safe legal abortion. Previously, she held varied positions as an obstetric and gynecologic nurse and then as a women's health nurse practitioner. Her work has included patient care, research, nursing education, policy, and management. She has an MSN and a PhD in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania. She is proud to be a longtime member of NWHN.
Ellen Shaffer
Board Member
Ellen R. Shaffer is a Director of the Center for Policy Analysis which sponsors policy research and analysis on trade and health, and on access to health care. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco. She has written a proposal for a state-based universal health service, under a grant from the California Health Care Options Project. The proposal extends her work with U.S. Representative Barbara Lee on H.R. 3080, the U.S. Universal Health Service Act. She served as health policy advisor to U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone from 1992 to 1995, guiding staff work on national health care reform and for managed care patients' rights. She also directs the Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health (CPATH), a project of the Center for Policy Analysis, and explores the links between international trade agreements, vital human services and health. Ellen’s newest project is the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon campaign, which is safeguarding access to reproductive health care by uniting a coalition of dozens of progressive local and national organizations to increase the voice and visibility of the pro-choice majority. She has a Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley, and completed a Ph.D. from the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, with the benefit of a dissertation grant from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality.
Susan F. Wood
Board Member
Susan Wood served as Assistant Commissioner for Women’s Health and Director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Women's Health (OWH) from November 2000 through August 2005, when she resigned on principle due to the continued delay of approval of the emergency contraceptive, Plan B. She is now Research Professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Previously, Susan was the Director for Policy and Program Development at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. From 1990 to 1995, Susan worked on Capitol Hill for the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. Prior to coming to Capitol Hill, Susan was a research scientist at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in biology from Boston University Marine Program. She has published a number of research articles in scientific journals, as well as articles on health policy.
