July 31, 2006
Contact: Bev Pfeifer-Harms
Director of Communications
314.345.5500 office

Missouri Foundation for Health Expands, Promotes Staff

St. Louis - Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) has recently hired six new employees and promoted three current staff members.

Promoted are:

Temekka Cannon and Jennifer Minelli, Program Assistants, who support MFH's program team, with emphasis on processing of grant applications. Cannon has been an office assistant at MFH since 2003. Minelli, who joined MFH in 2002, has been administrative assistant for MFH's program team.

Deena Lauver, Grants Manager. Lauver, who has been at MFH since 2002, is responsible for reviewing and analyzing grantee compliance. She previously was an administrative assistant and operations specialist at MFH.

Joining MFH are:

Craig Biehle, MSW, Program Associate, who is responsible for researching and reporting on background information related to funding requests. Biehle joins MFH from the United Way of Greater St. Louis where he was community investment director. He holds a Master of Social Work degree from Washington University.

Tanisha Blocker, Administrative Assistant, supports the MFH program team. Previously, she was an administrative assistant with Trammell Crow Company in St. Louis. She is a certified graduate of the Cooperative Honors Secretarial Program at Hickey College.

Norris (Web) Brown, MSW, Program Officer, is responsible for reviewing and assessing grant proposals. Brown comes to MFH from Saint Louis Effort for AIDS, where he served as director of programs and interim executive director. Additionally, he serves as an adjunct professor at George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University, where he also received his masters of social work. He is a member of the National Association of Social Workers.

Alyse Sabina, MPH, Program Associate, provides research and background information reports related to funding requests. Sabina most recently was a senior research association with Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Derby, CT. She has a bachelor of arts in psychology and health and society from the University of Rochester and a master of public health with a concentration in health behavior and health education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Betsy Schilling, Operations Specialist, supports MFH's business and administrative processes. She previously was the assistant to director of sales for the Best Western Palm Beach Lakes Inn, in West Palm Beach, FL. She has also served as an independent translator and interpreter in Frankfurt, Germany. Schilling has a liberal arts degree from the University of South Carolina.

Shawn Williams, Graphic Designer, focuses on MFH's communications/graphics needs. Williams previously served as creative director for Image Nine Creative in St. Louis, and has taught computer arts teacher at the Center of Contemporary Arts. He has a master of fine arts in computer arts/new media from Memphis College of Art, and an undergraduate degree in graphic design from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

Established in 2000 through the for-profit conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri, MFH is the largest non-governmental funder of community health activities in the state. MFH is in its fifth year of grantmaking, having issued more than $167 million in grants and awards to date. It is dedicated to serving the uninsured, underinsured and underserved in 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis.

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