Jonathan E. Fielding Community Guide Champion Award

Community Guide champions enthusiastically support and promote the use of Community Preventive Services Task Force recommendations and the systematic review methods used to reach them. They help to advance The Community Guide’s mission and promote evidence-based decision making in research and practice.

The Jonathan E. Fielding Community Guide Champion Award was established to honor some of these people, starting with its namesake.

Robin M. Ikeda, MD, MPH
October 2023

Dr. Robin Ikeda was the Director of the Office of the Associate Director for Policy and Strategy from 2019 – 2022, and the Acting Director for CDC’s Office of Science in 2023. Throughout her tenure, she advocated for the Community Guide program and Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) within and across CDC, and supported the Community Guide program with creative ideas and wise council.

Dr. Ikeda strengthened and built partnerships across CDC on behalf of CPSTF. She strategically identified many opportunities for CPSTF to contribute to the mission of CDC and public health.

Krista Hopkins Cole, MPH
October 2023

For 16 years, Krista Hopkins Cole served as a health communication specialist for the Community Guide Program. During her tenure she worked closely with scientists, economists, CDC partners, and Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) members to prepare and disseminate CPSTF recommendations and findings.

In addition, Ms. Hopkins Cole provided exceptional support in the development of other materials, such as the CPSTF Annual Reports to Congress, webinars, blogs, fact sheets, and professional publications. She was also instrumental in three successful redesigns of TheCommunityGuide.org website.

Bruce Nedrow (Ned) Calonge, MD, MPH
October 2022

Dr. Ned Calonge was a Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) member from 2006 to 2022 and served as task force chair for his last three years. Dr. Calonge led the methods committee and participated on the economics methods sub-committee. During his tenure, these committees enhanced The Community Guide’s scientific rigor, relevance, and transparency by ensuring CPSTF methods were consistent with the latest advances in systematic review science, recommendations included effectiveness and economic findings, findings advanced research by highlighting evidence gaps, and health equity remained at the forefront of all CPSTF deliberations and decisions. Dr. Calonge served as a member of the annual report to Congress committee and helped shape the content and format of these reports to raise awareness about CPSTF and increase visibility for The Community Guide. Dr. Calonge also participated on coordination teams for multiple systematic reviews.

Dr. Calonge gracefully led CPSTF during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing wise counsel on how the task force could contribute to the response. He led successful CPSTF meetings in person and virtually, skillfully engaging all CPSTF members, Liaisons, and partners through critical discussions and decisions. His leadership during this time and service to CPSTF will have long-lasting benefits to The Community Guide.

Carrie Klabunde, PhD, MBA, MHS
June 2022

Dr. Carrie Klabunde served as CPSTF Liaison representative for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Disease Prevention from 2015 through 2021. Among her many contributions, Dr. Klabunde participated in the CPSTF topic prioritization process, secured nominations for highly qualified candidates to serve on CPSTF, identified and supported NIH staff to serve on systematic review teams, disseminated CPSTF findings and Community Guide products, and supported co-funding from NIH to support systematic reviews and novel projects. Dr. Klabunde also worked closely with CGO staff to assess knowledge and use of insufficient evidence findings, which resulted in a user guide and two published papers.

During her 25 years serving the Federal Government, Dr. Klabunde has strengthened relationships among partners in the field of evidence synthesis including CPSTF, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

William Calvert, MS, MPH, MBA
June 2021

For 23 years, William (Bill) Calvert has served as a CPSTF Liaison representing the U.S. Navy. During this time, Mr. Calvert was instrumental in sharing CPSTF recommendations with Naval leadership and health educators throughout the Navy and Marine Corps. In 2007, Mr. Calvert chaired the Department of the Navy’s working group to draft and update its tobacco policy. He ensured everyone knew about The Community Guide and CPSTF recommendations related to tobacco use. Since then, the U.S. Navy has implemented and enhanced smoke-free policies, eliminated the discount of tobacco products in Navy and Marine Corps stores, and changed the culture around tobacco use.

Mr. Calvert collaborated with other military Liaisons on the development of CPSTF’s 2017 Annual Report to Congress: Providing the Science to Support Military Readiness and Resilience. As a CPSTF Liaison, he also participated on review teams, provided input on language used in findings, promoted findings through various channels, and mentored new Liaisons.

Chris Kochtitzky, MSP
June 2020 (awarded posthumously)

Chris Kochtitzky was a senior advisor with CDC’s Physical Activity and Health Program and a tireless advocate for The Community Guide and evidence-based decision making. Mr. Kochtitzky, a member of the systematic review team for combined built environment approaches to increase physical activity, also helped disseminate the CPSTF recommendation to varied audiences, including nontraditional public health partners. Additionally, he collaborated with others in his program to develop and promote implementation resources aimed at making the systematic review more accessible and easier for communities to implement.

Mr. Kochtitzky and his colleagues used evidence-based CPSTF recommendations to inform Active People, Healthy Nation CDC’s national initiative to increase physical activity among all Americans.

Robert (Bob) Brewer, MD, MSPH, CAPT, USPHS (ret)
August 2019

Shortly after helping to launch the CDC’s Alcohol Program in 2001, Dr. Brewer began working with The Community Guide to systematically review available scientific evidence about population-based prevention strategies for excessive alcohol use (e.g., regulating alcohol outlet density). He worked in close collaboration with Community Guide staff to garner support from leadership at CDC and other HHS agencies, including NIH and SAMHSA, and helped recruit experts in alcohol and public health to serve on the alcohol coordination team. He also worked with leadership in what is now the Division of Population Health to leverage limited resources to support Community Guide staff, who performed comprehensive reviews of the scientific literature on alcohol interventions using strict Community Guide review criteria. Based on the scientific evidence compiled by the alcohol coordination team, the Community Preventive Services Task Force issued recommendations and findings for 10 population-based strategies to prevent excessive alcohol use.

Using evidence featured in The Community Guide, Dr. Brewer helped shape the prevention approaches outlined in the 2016 Surgeon General’s Report, Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health.

Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, MBA, MA
June 2019

Dr. Fielding chaired the Community Preventive Services Task Force for twenty years. He also chaired the Advisory Committee for the U.S. Healthy People 2020 objectives, and he is currently a Co-Chair for the Healthy People 2030 objectives. He was appointed by President Obama to the National Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative and Public Health, and he is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Fielding recognized early in his career as a pediatric physician that many childhood health problems were rooted in larger systemic issues affecting communities. His experience as a member of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, and later as a member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, led him to become one of the founding members of the Community Preventive Services Task Force. His dedication to the CPSTF and The Community Guide over the past 23 years resulted in the CPSTF’s singular ability to provide economic findings to inform program, policy, and service decisions and to address social determinants of health and health equity issues. The Community Guide and all its partners are honored to have such a champion in Dr. Fielding, a renowned and highly regarded leader in public health.

Nominate a Community Guide Champion

Do you know of a person or group that is a Community Guide Champion? If so, please contact us to nominate them for the award.