Catherine Gray Haywood
Executive Director
Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network (LACHON)
Catherine Gray Haywood is the Executive Director for the Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network and the co-founder of the Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network and Women With A Vision, Inc. For more than 30 years, Catherine has advocated for people living below the poverty level and educated communities around health disparities. She provides a structured mentoring process and implements training programs for community members. Catherine also partners with LSU Community Health Workers Institute to train Community Health Workers in the state.
Areas of expertise: nutrition, disaster response, training CHWs, teaching basic cleaning techniques, HIV and AIDS education
Ashley Wennerstrom, Ph.D, MPH
Leadership & Evaluation Teams
Associate Professor Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, LSU School of Public Health; Director, Louisiana Community Health Worker Institute; Assistant Director, Center for Healthcare Value and Equity, LSU School of Medicine
Dr. Wennerstrom specializes in Community Health Worker training, policy, and workforce development as well as community-academic partnered research, behavioral health, SDOH, and incarceration.
Kelsey Witmeier, MPH
Evaluation Team
Center for Healthcare Value and Equity, LSU School of Medicine
Kelsey is an Evaluation Team Member and a current Ph.D. student studying Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at LSU Health Science Center New Orleans. She is passionate about uplifting Community Health Worker’s voices and advocating for increased CHWs throughout the US. She worked as a CHW prior to this position for over two years. Outside of this, Kelsey has worked in suicide prevention, behavioral healthcare, public speaking, and disaster preparedness.
Kira Wortmann
Evaluation Team
Evaluation Manager
Center for Healthcare Value and Equity, LSU School of Medicine
Kira has almost 15 years of experience working in the non-profit and public heath sectors in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received her Master of Public Administration, with a concentration in Community Development, from the University of New Orleans.
Her work has supported programming and evaluation in the areas of disaster case management, primary care behavioral health integration, healthcare access and in Early Head Start schools.