Meet the 2014 Supermoms and Superdads

Mary C. Anderson
Whitehall, WI

Genesis Acres was founded on the principles of grass-based, organic, sustainable farming.  Mary C. Anderson, her husband, Bruce, and three sons pride themselves on growing real food for themselves and their direct market customers.  Anderson has been involved in sustainable farming for over 20 years.  Her efforts to promote and educate other producers about healthy livestock practices have taken shape through her work with River Country Resource Conservation and Development, where she works as a grazing and resource specialist; with the Wisconsin Grazing Lands Initiative Coalition; and her local farming network.  She also educates her farmers market consumers on livestock management practices on sustainable farms.  Removing hormones and antibiotics is simple if we manage the livestock the way nature has designed it.  Organic farming practices on her farm have taught her that antibiotic use should be reserved for humans and is not necessary in day-to-day animal feeding. 

Pat Assortato
Levittown, NY

Pat Assortato is an associate director for the Nassau Region PTA and is a co-author of a resolution passed by the New York State PTA at its last convention, "Food Animal Production and Antibiotic Resistance."  This resolution will be forwarded to the national PTA for consideration. Pat has been an active member of PTA for 30 years, serving on and chairing numerous committees relating to nutrition, health, safety, juvenile protection, transportation, and legislation.  She has authored or co-authored resolutions on various topics, including herbal cigarettes, underage access to direct shipped alcohol products, and labeling of milk products.  Assortato has been recognized with numerous PTA leadership awards.  While she was working on the antibiotic resolution, one of her children was diagnosed with a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection.  As a mother and grandmother, she is very concerned about antibiotic resistance.  

John Barlow
Charlotte, VT  

John Barlow, a veterinary infectious disease researcher, is an assistant professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Vermont. His research is focused on mastitis control on conventional and organic dairy farms, Staphylococcus epidemiology on dairy farms, antimicrobial resistance of staphylococci, and improved methods for dairy cattle disease control. Barlow received a B.S. in pathobiology from the University of Connecticut, a veterinary degree from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in infectious disease mathematical and molecular epidemiology from the University of Vermont. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, including an undergraduate class in global animal health and zoonotic disease. In this course, students are introduced to the One Health concept recognizing the intricate connections among animal health, environmental health, and human health. 

Betsy Blazek-O'Neill  
Pittsburgh

Betsy Blazek-O'Neill, M.D., is a board-certified specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation.  She attended the Medical College of Wisconsin from 1983 to 1987 and served an internship and residency at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics from 1987 to 1991.  She is a senior attending physician with the Integrated Medicine Program of Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.  Her clinical areas of focus are the role of lifestyle behaviors in health and illness (lifestyle medicine) and the mind-body connection in health and illness.  She lectures widely in the Pittsburgh region and nationally on the need for healthy food, regular exercise, and regular stress management practices to promote wellness.

Susan Boyle Vavra
Chicago

Susan Boyle Vavra isa microbiologist at the University of Chicago and director of the MRSA Research Center Laboratory. A major goal of her research is to understand how pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics.   This knowledge has been applied to the discovery of alternative antibiotics for use against MRSA.   She is also an instructor of a class called "Plagues: Past and Present," in which she spreads the message to undergraduates about how inappropriate use of antibiotics in the raising of food animals contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance in human pathogens.   Increased funding is urgently needed for infectious disease research if we are to keep pace with the rate of bacterial evolution as the pathogens outwit the antibiotics as they become available. 

Sylvia Burgos Toftness
Clear Lake, WI

Born and raised in the South Bronx, Sylvia Burgos Toftness landed on the shores of Lake Superior as a reporter for KDAL TV and radio in Duluth, MN.  Many years and a number of career twists later, she and her husband, Dave, raise 100 percent grass-fed beef on 72 acres in west central Wisconsin. Toftness combines a 40-plus-year career in public relations with her farm enterprises for her weekly broadcast, "Deep Roots Radio," and her "From the Bronx to the Barn"blog. Both efforts document her journey from city life to farming and tap a national roster of guests who explain why they farm, process, cook, or film sustainably produced foods. Toftness consults with growers and organizations to develop two-way conversations and engagement on sustainable agriculture and healthful foods. She serves on the boards of the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Services and the Hungry Turtle Farmers Cooperative. A graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, she has a B.A. from the City College of New York and an M.A. from the University of Minnesota.

Dee Churchill
Cannon Falls, MN

Dee Churchill is a mother of six and co-owner of Thousand Hills Cattle Co., which started distributing 100 percent grass-fed beef locally a decade ago and now sells beef across the country.  Churchill has challenged common practices of antibiotic overuse, and no cattle sold through Thousand Hills receive the drugs.  Churchill's children, ages 5 to 13, have been raised on an antibiotic-free, organic diet and have never been treated with antibiotics for ear or throat infections. Her farm and home have become a mini-laboratory in her quest to promote the health of her family and community.

Kate Churchill
Cannon Falls, MN

Kate Churchill, age 13, is the daughter of Dee and Todd Churchill, founders of Thousand Hills Cattle Co.  For the past six years, Kate has tended her own flock of chickens, raising antibiotic-free eggs and meat for her family.  She also assists in managing the cattle raised without antibiotics on her family's farm.  Kate, who has traveled with her father to conferences and farms since she was 3, has recently begun speaking with him during his presentations.  Kate believes that antibiotics should be used carefully, as you would use any medicine, and that they should not be mixed daily with feed and grain.

Amy Collins
Wellesley, MA

Amy Collins is a practicing emergency physician, health care sustainability consultant, and senior clinical adviser at Health Care Without Harm. She serves on the steering committee of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, a national effort to advance sustainability across the health care sector. She has spoken internationally about the link between food, health, and the environment and the importance of the health care sector in advocating for a food system that protects public health. As a practicing physician, she is keenly aware of the problem of antibiotic resistance and frequently cares for patients with resistant infections.  She believes strongly that the health care industry should take the lead in protecting the effectiveness of antibiotics for human use.

Bethany Cook
Kirkland, WA

Bethany Cook is a registered dietitian with a background in acute care and a current focus on wellness and nutrition technology at a large Seattle-based medical center.  In the past year, she wrote a business proposal that helped persuade her medical center to take its first step in the fight against superbugs by serving poultry and pork raised without antibiotics.  As a mom with two young children and a third precious one due in July, she is determined to see the power of antibiotics preserved for the years to come.

Titus Daniels
Nashville, TN

Titus Daniels, M.D., is an associate professor of medicine (infectious diseases) and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.  He graduated in 2001 from the University of Kansas Medical School, where he also completed a residency in internal medicine.  He moved to Vanderbilt in 2004 to complete a fellowship in infectious diseases and also completed a Master of Public Health degree, with a thesis focused on understanding the morbidity and mortality associated with multiple-antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.  He joined the Vanderbilt faculty in July 2007 as an associate hospital epidemiologist and maintains an interest in multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pathogens, as well as antimicrobial stewardship.  In his role as vice chair for clinical affairs, he is primarily focused on the development and refinement of clinical services to meet the changing demands of the health care delivery system, with an emphasis on patient safety and quality.  

Holly Emmons
Elkton, MD

Holly Emmons, MPA, RD, LD, is the food service manager at Union Hospital of Cecil County in Elkton, MD, and co-chair of the Union Hospital Green Health Initiative. She is the co-convener of the Chesapeake Food Leadership Council through Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment and sits on its advisory board. She is a registered and licensed dietitian and a member of the Hunger and Environmental Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  Union Hospital is one of over 400 hospitals around the country that have signed the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge, a commitment to provide healthier, local, and sustainably produced foods and implement sustainable initiatives at their institutions.  Union Hospital has also committed to the Healthier Hospitals Initiative and received its Certificate of Achievement for Engaged Leadership in 2013. Union was recognized by the Maryland Department of the Environment as the first hospital to win a Maryland Green Registry Award.  It also received recognition from the Humane Society for its switch to cage-free eggs and from the Cecil County government with an award for its recycling program. Union Hospital received the Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment Trailblazer Award for leadership in sustainable practices for 2011. Emmons received the State of Maryland Smart, Green & Growing2011 Buy Local Agricultural Challenge Award presented by Governor Martin O'Malley, recognizing commitment to local purchasing.  The Maryland Rural Health Association also recognized her with the 2011 Outstanding Rural Health Achievement Award. In 2013, she received first place in the Exemplary Food Service Professional Award category from Health Care Without Harm. This award was established to recognize leading food service professionals for making the critical link between our industrialized food system and public health.

Jane Gould
Penn Valley, PA

Jane Gould, M.D., is an associate professor of pediatrics at Drexel University College of Medicine and a pediatric infectious diseases attending physician and hospital epidemiologist at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. She is chair of the Infection Prevention Committee and a member of the Antibiotic Stewardship Committee at the hospital. She is also the pediatric tuberculosis consultant for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. She received a medical degree from Albany Medical College of Union University, did her pediatric residency at UCLA and served a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Unfortunately, she has had to care for children with multidrug resistant bacterial infections, including multidrug resistant tuberculosis. These infections are very challenging to treat and come with much higher mortality. There is nothing worse for a pediatrician than to have to tell a parent that we know exactly what is making their child ill, but we don't have any antibiotics to treat it.

Amanda Hedin
Minneapolis

Amanda Hedin has two very important reasons to be passionate about antibiotics: She relied on these drugs to treat her own twin girls, who were born at 28 weeks gestation. Reagan and Eden Hedin struggled more than any babies should, but they showed tremendous courage and bravery. The girls taught Hedin more about love and patience than any other life experience or person. Because of their girls' journey, Hedin and her husband, Scott, established Eden's Garden, a nonprofit to honor the memory of Eden, who passed away after 241 days in the hospital. Premature babies are particularly prone to infections and often rely on antibiotics, which is why Hedin is advocating for judicious drug use on the farm. She also works for Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota as part of the mother-baby clinical service line, where her work includes deepening relationships with obstetrics providers in the Twin Cities area.

Sarah Henris
Bayville, NY

Sarah Henris is the associate director of advocacy for the Nassau Region PTA and a working mother of two. In 1997 at age 2, her oldest child contracted Lyme disease, motivating her to learn about safe and effective treatment of what she thought to be a crippling and debilitating disease. Then in 2012, the same child was diagnosed with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection, or MRSA. Her family's scary experiences with superbugs inspired her to take action to eliminate practices that breed them and to preserve the effectiveness of the antibiotics that cured her son's infections.

Jeremy House
Sheffield, IL

Jeremy House works with his wife and another couple on the organically certified Meadow Haven Farm, located two hours outside Chicago. Growing up, he farmed and ran a dairy with his father, and today he handles the day-to day operation of Meadow Haven, a farm that prides itself on its grass-fed cattle, free-range chickens, and pigs on pasture lots. All are raised without antibiotics.

Russ Kremer
Bonnots Mill, MO

Russ Kremer, aka the "Pope of Pork," is a fifth-generation Missouri hog farmer and manager of Heritage Foods, a national processor, marketer, and distributor of natural and organic protein products. After a 1989 farm accident in which he contracted a dangerous antibiotic-resistant infection from his pigs, he became passionate about sustainable livestock production, including responsible antibiotic use. Kremer is the founding president of the Ozark Mountain Pork Cooperative, a network of nearly 100 small farmers raising their hogs humanely and sustainably. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri with degrees in animal husbandry and agriculture education.

Todd Linden
Brooklyn, IA

Todd Linden is president and CEO of Grinnell Regional Medical Center in Grinnell, IA.  He received a Master of Arts degree in health administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree, both from the University of Iowa.  He is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, or ACHE. Since coming to Grinnell in 1994, Linden has been honored by the Iowa Hospital Association, the University of Iowa College of Public Health, and by ACHE. Linden is a frequent speaker at national conferences and state hospital associations. He has had the opportunity to testify in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and has been invited to special meetings with President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama on health care issues.  Linden served on the American Hospital Association's Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2005; currently serves on the Health Forum board; is past chair of the Iowa Hospital Association; and serves on the Grinnell College board of trustees, the University of Iowa College of Public Health advisory board, and the National Rural Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  He is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Iowa, as well as a regular faculty member for ACHE.

Shanna Lubold
Fall River, MA

When Shanna Lubold's son Mateus passed away in utero when she was 19 weeks pregnant, medical staff at Women and Infants Hospital of Providence, RI, were unsure of what the outcome would be for his surviving twin brother. The risk of infection was high, and any instance could bring on dangerous preterm labor. Seven weeks later, Mateus' twin brother, Samuel, was born at 2 pounds 4 ounces. During his 14-week stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, Samuel developed a staphyloccal infection in his central IV line, putting his already weak lungs at peril. With the help of antibiotics, he overcame his illness and is now a smart, healthy, and funny 3-year-old. Along with Samuel and her husband, Michael, Lubold serves as a volunteer for the March of Dimes chapter in Rhode Island. They serve as the local ambassador family for the charity, sharing their story with the community and promoting healthy living for pregnant women, babies, and children everywhere.

Everly Macario
Chicago

Armed with a doctorate in public health from Harvard, Everly Macario believed she knew where to focus her health communications and social marketing expertise: encouraging people to lead healthier lives to prevent chronic diseases. Little did she realize that infectious diseases are still alive and well today, even in the very developed country that is the United States. Macario had never heard the term "MRSA" (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) when doctors told her that was the cause of her otherwise healthy son's death. Since Simon's tragic death, she has made a commitment to raising awareness of antibiotic resistance (which leads to "superbugs" such as MRSA), making the term "MRSA" as familiar as "AIDS," and serving as a catalyst for simple steps we can all take to reduce the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in both humans and animals.

Cindy Madsen
Audubon, IA

Cindy Madsen and her husband, Vic, live on a small farm—Madsen Stock Farm—in Audubon County, IA, where they raise hogs, chickens, and cattle without antibiotics, hormones, or other drugs. The farm also grows organic corn, beans, alfalfa, oats, and other small grains. Madsen Stock Farm has direct-marketed its chicken for the past 24 years, pork for the past 14 years, and home-raised beef since 2011. Madsen has been an active member of Practical Farmers of Iowa for the past 26 years. She and her husband have received numerous awards, including the Spencer Award for Sustainable Agriculture (2010), the Practical Farmers of Iowa Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award (2009), and the Iowa Governor's 2012 Iowa Farm Environmental Award.

Megan Morton
Nashville, TN

Megan Morton, a mother of three and Tennessee native, is the executive director of Community Food Advocates, middle Tennessee's leading organization working on food security, healthy meal choices at schools, and sustainability solutions for food systems. She has a background in public policy and community health, with a focus on community-driven change. She currently serves on the Nashville Food Policy Council, the Tennessee Food Insecurity Taskforce, and the Southeast Anti-Hunger Consortium, and is vice-chair of Alignment Nashville's School Nutrition Committee.

Julie James Ott
Durango, CO

Julie James Ott, her husband, John, and their three boys are one of the six families that own and operate the James Ranch in Durango, CO.  At the James Ranch, you will find 400 acres of high-altitude irrigated pastures, 100 percent grass-fed and finished beef cattle, grazing Jersey milk cows, pastured pigs and hens, a tree nursery, organic vegetable and flower gardens, the Harvest Grill and Greens, and busy families using organic growing practices in day-to-day operations.  For over 18 years, the families of the James Ranch have been committed to organic practices when raising food for their community, building topsoil, and managing for diversity of plants, animals (both domestic and wild), and people. This kind of thinking pushes the James Ranch beyond sustainable agriculture into the realm of regenerative agriculture, which actually builds soil, ecosystems, communities, and opportunities. 

Cheryl Perron
Snohomish, WA

Cheryl Perron, a high school science teacher and mother of four, became an advocate for preserving antibiotics after her son, David Ricci, was hit by a train in India, losing his right leg and contracting five antibiotic-resistant infections. She had to watch her son go through many surgeries, removing more of what was left of his leg, to help stop these resistant infections.  Several of the strongest antibiotics were tried, making David severely sick.  Perron hopes that what antibiotics we do have are preserved and that new ones can be provided to safely combat these horrible antibiotic-resistant bugs that have changed her family's life forever.

David Ricci
Snohomish, WA

In June 2011, David Ricci was hit by a train in India while working at a Mother Teresa AIDS orphanage in Calcutta. When he returned to Seattle, his doctors identified several infections of NDM-1, a rare antibiotic-resistant superbug. Ricci had to go on extremely toxic and dangerous antibiotics, some of which have been out of use since the 1950s, for over six months. He lost more than 30 pounds and suffered permanent damage to his liver and kidneys because of the antibiotics. Since the infections' remission, he has begun to pursue his interest in the medical field, hoping to one day specialize in infectious disease. He is a prominent activist on the issue of antibiotic abuse and education.

Linda C. Russell
Palmer, AK

A registered nurse who advocates for responsible antibiotic use on industrial farms, Linda C. Russell works at a community hospital, where she educates staff and patients on antibiotic stewardship and infection prevention. She holds an associate's degree in science in nursing from Jefferson Community College in Louisville, KY, and a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix.  She is certified in infection control and mentors infection preventionists across the country.  Since graduating from nursing school in 1977, she has focused her career on preventing the spread of multidrug resistant organisms through encouraging judicious use of antibiotics in the health care arena, alternative treatment for infections, and education of health care providers on antibiotic stewardship.  She has worked in several states and foreign countries in her 37 years as a registered nurse, bringing a unique perspective to how the use of antibiotics in meat production has affected drug resistance in the human population. 

Diane Schmidt
Chicago

Diane Schmidt, a Chicago parent who became frustrated with the poor quality of food offered on children's menus in restaurants, applied her background in health education, marketing, and culinary arts to get kids eating healthier foods by creating Healthy Fare for Kids. It began in 2011 as a grass-roots initiative asking restaurants to offer healthier food for children on their menus. Today, Healthy Fare for Kids has grown into a multifaceted approach to improve children's health, reaching over 11 million people. Schmidt holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in health education and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Tara Smith
Mogadore, OH

Tara C. Smith is an associate professor in the College of Public Health at Kent State University and a mother of three children ranging in age from 4 months to 14 years. Before arriving at Kent State, she spent nine years as a professor at the University of Iowa, where she pioneered studies examining methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in pigs and pig farmers. She received a B.S. in biology from Yale University and a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Toledo College of Medicine. Her research has been funded by the USDA, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and has resulted in more than 40 publications in the past decade. Her work has been profiled in publications including The New York Times, Science, and Nature. She also maintains a popular science blog, "Aetiology," and writes about public health and infectious diseases for Slate.com.

Nancy Speas Hill
Spring Hill, TN

An ordained United Methodist minister, the Rev. Nancy Speas Hill is an advocate for children, both professionally and personally.  Holding degrees from Belmont and Emory universities, she has worked with children since she was a child herself and is now a full-time children's minister in Franklin, TN. In 2008, she gave birth to her first child, Becca, more than 12 weeks early because of complications from pre-eclampsia and HELLP Syndrome.  Measuring only 370 grams (13 ounces) and 9.5 inches at birth, Becca is the smallest baby in the state of Tennessee to survive.  She spent 123 days in the neonatal intensive care unit and now, at age 5, is a relatively healthy little girl.  However, she does have ongoing medical and developmental issues, including bilateral moderately severe hearing loss. That is probably due in part to the lifesaving but heavy-duty ototoxic antibiotics given to her in the NICU, where front-line antibiotics often must be bypassed due to increased antibiotic resistance and the vulnerability of these tiniest patients.  Although Becca will face challenges related to her permanent hearing disability, her and her family's determination—and two sparkly pink hearing aids—will enable her to live a healthy and full life.  Hill and her family have been committed March of Dimes volunteers since Becca's birth.

Laura Stanley
New York

Laura Stanley is a media professional and project manager specializing in progressive procurement practice for institutional food service. In 2011-12, she coordinated the efforts of a coalition of community and national partners to bring chicken raised locally without antibiotics to Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest district in the nation and the largest K-12 purchaser of sustainable poultry. Last year, with support from the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming, she worked with the biggest district in Colorado, Jefferson County Public Schools, on a nearly identical local and sustainable poultry program—the nation's second largest to date. Stanley is host of Heritage Radio's new "Inside School Food," a talk show for school food service professionals and others working in the trenches to make K-12 meals tastier, healthier, and more environmentally friendly.

John Turenne
Wallingford, CT

John Turenne is president and founder of Sustainable Food Systems LLC, a consulting company whose mission is to help institutions such as schools, hospitals, and universities incorporate social and ecological considerations into their business models while serving healthy and delicious food. His professional career has encompassed over 25 years in the food industry, including serving as executive chef at Yale University, where he designed, developed, and implemented the internationally recognized Yale Sustainable Food Project. He has contributed to the book Sustainability in the Food Industry and has been featured in the film "Two Angry Moms" and the ABC television series "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution." Turenne was recruited to help the White House create its Chefs Move to Schools program and is president of the Connecticut chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association.

Daniel Uslan
Los Angeles

Daniel Uslan is an associate clinical professor of infectious diseases at the UCLA Health System. He directs the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program and is associate director of clinical epidemiology and infection prevention. He works to ensure that antibiotics are used appropriately, including developing guidelines for treatment of infections, monitoring appropriate use, and educating providers. With his support, UCLA Health recently introduced meat raised without antibiotics to serve in the cafeteria and to patients. Uslan received his medical degree from the University of Southern California, and earned a master's degree in biotechnology from Northwestern University. He completed his internship, residency, and infectious diseases fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases by the American Board of Internal Medicine and has numerous presentations and publications to his credit. He was elected a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America in 2013.

Eiko Vojkovich
Sedro-Woolley, WA

Eiko Vojkovich's family-owned organic farm, Skagit River Ranch, has been certified organic since 1998. With her husband, Vojkovich farms over 650 acres organically, humanely, and sustainably to build the soil and nutrient-rich grass that grow healthy animals. No antibiotics. No hormones. No chemicals. The ranch provides the most wholesome, best-tasting, ethically raised, certified organic beef, pork chicken, and eggs for its customers. Vojkovich's commitment is to farm in harmony with their environment. Therefore they are humane to their animals and sustainable in their farm practices. They also maintain the rigorous requirements for being USDA certified organic. Vojkovich loves taking part in strengthening the healthy link between the land, its animals, and people.  With an M.B.A. from the University of Washington, Vojkovich was a marketing executive for a large fishing company.  In 1995, she left the seafood brokerage company she owned to farm full time with her husband, and she does most of the farm's marketing and financing as well.