Insights

NICHQ Employee Spotlight:
Colleen Bernard

In honor of our 20th anniversary, we're sharing insights, memories and goals from the NICHQ team

Colleen BernardFull name and title

Colleen Bernard, Project Specialist

Years with NICHQ:

Seven months

How has your background/experiences led you to join a national children’s health organization?

I joined NICHQ after completing my undergraduate degree in Health Management and Policy at the University of New Hampshire (go Wildcats!) At school, I became interested in maternal and child health and health equity. I found NICHQ to be a perfect fit for my background and passions. I now work on projects that aim to reduce disparities in early childhood development (ECHE Landscape) and safe infant sleep and breastfeeding (NAPPSS-IIN).

Favorite memory from a NICHQ project:

My favorite memory from a NICHQ project was from our NAPPSS-IIN Cohort C Expert Planning Meeting. We convened a group of diverse safe infant sleep and breastfeeding experts from across the nation to discuss ways we could involve community partners in the next phase of our project. This was one of the most animated meetings I have ever been to! The energy in the room was palpable. The key takeaway from this gathering was that authentic community partnerships at all levelsfrom grassroots to nationalare needed to make an impact. I was so inspired by the fierce advocacy of this group. Most meeting attendees had decades of experience working with communities in the field, and it was great collaborating with them to work toward eliminating racial disparities in safe sleep and breastfeeding. This meeting, though spirited, engendered a great sense of unity and purpose.

Biggest lesson-learned when working on a quality improvement (QI) project:

Funniest thing that ever happened on a NICHQ project:

What are you most proud of from your time with NICHQ?  

What are your goals for NICHQ’s future?