Meet the Team

jess Alder, MPA

Grant Writing & Fundraising

Jess Alder has 15+ years of experience in the field of sexual and domestic violence prevention, designing and implementing curricula that engages youth and adult participants in understanding and addressing unhealthy relationship behaviors, including how racism and other forms of oppression intersect with violence. Jess has conducted local, national, and international workshops on healthy relationships, healthy breakups, media literacy, and crisis intervention. 

Tanya bass, phd, ms, med, ches®, cse

Advisory board

Tanya Bass, PhD, MS, MEd, CHES®, CSE (she/her/hers) is the founder of the North Carolina Sexual Health Conference (NCSEXCON). She is An award-winning sexuality educator and subject matter expert in sexuality education, reproductive health, and health equity. Tanya is an alumna of North Carolina Central University’s (NCCU) Department of Public Health Education, where she has served as an adjunct instructor for several years. She is the lead instructor for Sexuality Education. She completed her PhD in Education at Widener University in the Center for Human Sexuality Studies. She is a member of the Women of Color Sexual Health Network (WoCSHN), the Association of Black Sexologists and Clinicians (ABSC), and the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT). She is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) and an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator (CSE). She is a current member of the editorial board for the American Journal of Sexuality Education.

Amber brown

Advisory board

Amber Brown (she/they), Director of Education & Training at Planned Parenthood Keystone, has been a sexuality educator with Planned Parenthood since 2004. A Penn State graduate, she has delivered evidence-based education directly to youth as well as provided training and professional development for educators and youth-serving professionals. She oversees the education department, including PPKeystone’s five LGBTQ+ youth programs and Berks County’s Health Resource Center. She leads the internal training program, focusing on contraceptive counseling, abortion stigma, customer service, and LGBTQ+ issues. In 2021, she began the Patient Navigation program at PP Keystone as part of the Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy program. She’s passionate about high-quality sex ed that affirms the identities and autonomy of all young people.

Nancy Daley-Moore, PhD, MPH, CPH, CHES®

Webmaster

Nancy Daley-Moore, PhD, MPH, CPH, CHES® is an associate professor of health science at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO. She received an MPH in epidemiology and a PhD in health promotion and behavior from the University of Georgia. Her research areas explore wellness perceptions among college students, identifying how people talk about sex, perceptions about abortion, and the incorporation of technology in the classroom. At Truman, she teaches human sexuality, women’s health, and a course about HIV, and she advises (and trains) students in both the Women’s Resource Center and the Sexual Health Advocacy Group (SHAG) on Truman’s campus to implement sexual health peer education programming.  

Kelly jean Gainor

Advisory board

Kelly Jean Gainor is the Training Manager for ETR, focusing on the development and implementation of virtual Training of Educators in a variety of evidence-based interventions. Prior to working at ETR, Kelly has worked at several non-profit organizations delivering evidence-based education directly to youth, training and providing professional development for educators and youth-serving professionals, and writing/designing lesson plans for group of all ages, orientations and identities. Kelly attended Cornell University for her undergraduate work in Communications, then enrolled at Widener University where she received her master’s degree in Human Sexuality Education in 2012. Since then, she has focused primarily on HIV prevention education throughout her professional career. Her favorite topics to teach and train about include body image and LGBTQ+ education. In 2020, Kelly had four lesson plans published in the teaching manual Orientation: Teaching about Identity, Attraction and Behavior.

Kayla henry, CHES®

Advisory board

Kayla Henry, CHES® is a graduate of Montclair State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in public health with a concentration in community health education and a minor in African American studies in 2020. Currently, Kayla is an MPH student at Montclair State University, where she will be graduated May of 2022.

Stefanie LoBue

Advisory board

Stefanie LoBue is a graduate of Rowan University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion and Wellness Management. She is currently pursuing her Master of Public Health degree at Montclair State University. There, she has worked as a Health Promotion Graduate Coordinator creating and facilitating various programming in sexual health and sexuality education.

Mary olatunji

Advisory board

Mary Olatunji is a graduate of Montclair State University where she pursued her bachelor’s degree in Public Health with a concentration in Health Administration System and Policy. At Monclair State University, Mary is currently pursuing her MPH degree, and she is a graduate assistant conducting research on topics like Black women’s mortality rate in the United States and the preparedness of k-12 teachers when teaching sexual education. She is anticipating to graduate in May of 2024.

Partners in Sex Education

collaborator

Partners in Sex Education has been providing comprehensive sex education to schools since 2006, and supports school districts with curriculum development, teacher training, community engagement and policy. 

Wayne V. Pawlowski, MSW, LICSW

Advisory board

Wayne V. Pawlowski, MSW, LICSW is an independent trainer and clinical social worker who has worked for thirty-five years in sexuality education and reproductive health. Previously, he was the director of training for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington D.C. Wayne is an internationally recognized trainer/educator, having trained in all fifty states and fourteen nations. He is an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator and Supervisor and recipient of the AASECT Educator of the Year award (2018). In addition, his work has been recognized with such awards as the First annual “Educators Award” from the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (1995).

Peyton phan

intern

Peyton, a Vietnamese-American from a first-generational family of immigrants, is passionate towards addressing health inequities as it impedes individuals from achieving their self-identified optimal state of health, happiness, and wellbeing — especially within sexuality, sexual & gender expression, and reproductive justice. Peyton is currently earning her Master in Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management, while also specializing in maternal, child, sexual and reproductive health. During her undergraduate studies, Peyton held a position as a peer sexual health educator. After graduating she worked as an HIV tester and counselor at the largest non-profit healthcare provider in San Diego County, and now she is currently a family planning health educator at one of the top health systems in New York City. Lastly, Peyton is an executive board member for the Maternal and Child National Network as the Social Media Communications Coordinator and Manager.

Sameera Qureshi, MS, OTR

Advisory board

Sameera Qureshi, MS OTR, is an occupational therapist and sexual health educator. For the last twelve years, she’s worked at the intersections of mental and sexual health education within Muslim communities, both in Canada and the United States. After twelve years in non-profit spaces, she founded her own business in the fall of 2020, titled Sexual Health for Muslims. The goal of her work is to create online, comprehensive sexual health education for Muslims, grounded in Islamic spirituality and psychology. Sameera also facilitates professional development opportunities for sexual and mental health providers who intersect and work with Muslim clients and communities. You can find her work on Instagram @sexualhealthformuslims, and on her website www.sexualhealthformuslims.com.

Deborah m. Roffman, MS, CSE, CFLE

Advisory board

Deborah Roffman, MS, CSE, CFLE is a teacher (grades 3-12), trainer, and parent educator who’s worked in the field of human sexuality education since its infancy in the 1970s. Her three books for parents and teachers on nurturing healthy sexuality are considered classics in the field, and she’s published widely in the lay and professional worlds. A consultant to more than 500 schools and youth serving agencies nationwide on curriculum development and implementation, in winter 2022 she will publish her first book for young children and their parents and teachers, The Science of Babies, to support families and schools everywhere in becoming children’s primary reference points about sexuality. 

Lori Rolleri Insignares, MSW, MPH

Advisory board

Lori Rolleri Insignares, MSW, MPH has 30 years of experience in designing, implementing, managing, and evaluating behavior-change interventions in the U.S., Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. Most of her work focuses on sexual and reproductive health, youth development, intimate partner violence, and gender equality. Before starting her consulting practice in 2012, Lori served as Team Lead for Gender Programming at EngenderHealth and Director of the Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health Promotion at ETR. She is a highly skilled trainer, lecturer, meeting facilitator, and conflict mediator (Part 146 & CDRC approved for NY State). Lori has a BS in policy analysis from Cornell University and MPH and MSW degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in New York. 

Bill Taverner, MA, CSE

Founder & President

Bill Taverner, MA, CSE, is the founder of the Sex Ed Lecture Series and the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Sexuality Education. Bill started the series in March 2020 to help sexuality educators stay connected and continue learning during the pandemic. He is the author or editor of more than 85 publications, including teaching manuals and curricula, college readers, journal articles, chapters, lesson plans, and other contributions in sexuality education. His newest publications include “Sex Ed Lessons from COVID-19,” Sex Ed During a Pandemic, and Sex Education Research: A Look Between the Sheets. The latter two are in development and are expected to be in print in 2022. 

Bill has twice advocated for sexuality education at U.S. Congressional briefings and has received national awards recognizing his leadership in sexuality education: the AASECT Book Award, given by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists for his work on Teaching Safer Sex, 3rd Edition; AASECT’s first “Schiller Prize” for the best workshop using interactive strategies; the AASECT Sexuality Educator of the Year Award; the Academy for Adolescent Health’s Social Justice Award for commitment to racial and social justice; Planned Parenthood’s “Golden Apple Award” for leadership in sexuality education; and a Sexual Intelligence award naming him named “one of the country’s pre-eminent sex educators, trainers, and sex education theorists.”