Heba Atwa builds power for policy change by engaging people directly impacted by policy choices, designing sound policy in collaboration with colleagues and partners, mobilizing people to push for change, and building policy champions. She holds a Juris Doctor and MBA in policy and planning from the University of New Mexico, and a degree in history from Tulane University in New Orleans. Outside of work, her passions include learning new things, home improvement projects, and spending time with family.

Brent Bailey serves as the State Director of Advocacy & Growth for the NAACP in Georgia, where he works to strengthen local units, expand organizing capacity, and advance advocacy priorities across the state. His work focuses on civic engagement, public policy, coalition building, leadership development, and mobilizing communities around issues impacting Black Georgians.

Brent Bailey serves as the State Director of Advocacy & Growth for the NAACP in Georgia, where he works to strengthen local units, expand organizing capacity, and advance advocacy priorities across the state. His work focuses on civic engagement, public policy, coalition building, leadership development, and mobilizing communities around issues impacting Black Georgians.

Whitney Griggs is the Director of Health Policy at Georgians for a Healthy Future. She is passionate about health policy and the profound impact state legislatures can have on health and economic outcomes. Whitney has expertise in legislative and government affairs and the health care system, including an advanced knowledge of public and private health insurance, payment and delivery system reform, prescription drug policy, and health equity.

Whitney is returning to GHF after serving as the Deputy Policy Director for The Impact Project, a multi-state organization focused on advancing large-scale economic and democracy policies in state legislatures. Whitney’s experience also includes serving as the Southeast Regional Advocacy Manager at CARE, where she built successful campaigns to grow support for U.S. investments in foreign assistance and working as the Lead Navigator at the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia during the first two open enrollment periods for the Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Marketplace.

Whitney earned her Master of Public Health from Emory University, with a focus on health policy. She also holds a B.Sc in Psychology, with an emphasis on neurobiology, from Clemson University.

Lisa Bland Malone has spent the majority of her career working in the civil rights arena. She has over twenty-five years of experience in policy analysis, federal and grassroots advocacy, programs, research and publications.

She currently serves as the Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs at the NAACP. Providing policy analysis, research and support for NAACP strategic initiatives. She recommends policy positions, strategies and communicates NAACP positions and objectives on a portfolio of policy and regulatory issues. To ensure equity and justice across all policy areas is her focus with an emphasis on health, education, and the economy.

Prior to joining the NAACP, she served as the Vice President & Chief of Staff at the National Urban League's Washington Bureau. Lisa provided leadership and assistance to the staff and supervised the day-to-day management of the Bureau. She was responsible for overseeing legislative advocacy, research and policy, staffing, funding proposals and grant requirements.

Ms. Bland Malone is a graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. She also attended the University of California, Berkeley.

Erica previously served as Equity Operations Manager at the Tampa Bay Healthcare Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that fosters community collaborations for helping the underserved. She mobilized several coalitions to advance health equity in Tampa Bay. She was integral to the development of an award-winning mobile application that enhanced the capacity for organizations throughout Tampa Bay to connect, keep track of new projects, and leverage new resources for funding and event sharing.

Erica’s other previous work includes capacity building for collaborative health efforts in Atlanta, Georgia, along with conducting a community needs assessment to address barriers linking at-risk clients to HIV treatment services and wraparound care. Erica also served to evaluate the effects of public housing programs on the well-being of low income families in Atlanta. She served as a graduate teaching assistant at Emory University at the Rollins School of Public Health, and also hosted a radio show, “Black Health Now,” that provided programming specifically geared to educating communities of color on issues related to personal empowerment, health and fitness, financial stability, social engagement, and inspirational messaging.

Erica received her Master’s in Public Health from Emory University. She received her bachelor’s degree in health sciences with minors in wellness and sociology from the University of Missouri.

You can find her hanging around St. Petersburg, Florida, where she enjoys spending time at the park and relaxing with her family by the water.

Dr. Chris T. Pernell is a dynamic physician leader and social change agent. In her practice, she focuses on health justice, community-based advocacy, and population-wide health promotion and disease prevention. A celebrated visionary and apostle of public health, Dr. Chris serves as the Director of the NAACP Center for Health Equity. The Center is charged with driving equitable health outcomes and transforming healthcare systems while valuing the whole person. Prior to joining the nation's oldest and most venerable civil rights organization, she launched The Esther Group, a public health consulting and health equity strategy firm. As founder of The Esther Group, she lives the mandate to dare a future where organizations, communities and systems can innovate for a better world and humanity.

Previously, she served as the first Chief Strategic Integration and Health Equity Officer at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Dr. Pernell oversaw a portfolio which included Population Health, Strategic Planning, Community Affairs, and the Human Experience. Her office was responsible for leading health equity strategy development and integrating diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism initiatives across all system operations.

Dr. Chris graduated cum laude from Princeton University before attending Duke University School of Medicine. She received her Master of Public Health from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and completed the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health General Preventive Medicine Residency. Dr. Pernell is a fellow and Regent-at-Large for the American College of Preventive Medicine. She holds an appointment as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Previously, she taught as an adjunct associate professor at the NYU College of Global Public Health. She labors as a faith leader in a groundbreaking assembly, BET HaSHEM YHWH Worldwide Ministries, and travels domestically and overseas, helping to transform lives through love, truth, creativity, and inspiration.

Tiffany Walker, LCSW, is the Senior Fellow for the NAACP Center for Health Equity, where she advances health equity through systems change, public health strategy, and cross-sector collaboration. A clinician and systems architect, Tiffany helps organizations translate vision into scalable systems, frameworks, and infrastructure that improve health outcomes and create measurable impact.

Prior to joining the NAACP, Tiffany served as University Director of Student Wellness Services at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she led strategy and operations for a multi-campus health and wellness department serving more than 11,000 students. She designed and implemented the university's first upstream public health framework, integrating education, prevention, early intervention, and compassionate care to strengthen student health, mental health, and student success.
Tiffany began her career as a program evaluator for college readiness programs, before moving into direct service as a school social worker. She has dedicated her work to improving the health and wellbeing of people through culturally responsive, equity-centered systems of care. Her current scholarship examines workplace harm as a public health issue, with a particular focus on how chronic exposure to microaggressions, discrimination, and institutional gaslighting shapes health, mental health, leadership identity, and career sustainability for Black women. She is the creator of the Lifecycle of Microaggressions® framework, which she uses to help institutions and executive teams identify where organizational culture and unaddressed harm quietly erode trust, performance, and long-term sustainability.

Tiffany is also the founder of Journey Therapy Center and its Per My Email platform, a coaching and learning space that supports Black women navigating racialized harm in professional environments. Through Per My Email, she provides speaking, coaching, and facilitation centered on regulation, recovery, and strategic clarity for Black women leaders working inside high pressure, historically white dominant systems.

Tiffany holds a Bachelor of Social Work from Widener University and a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University School of Social Work, where she graduated magna cum laude. She holds multiple professional certificates supporting her clinical and facilitation work. Originally from New Jersey, she now lives in Houston, Texas. Outside of work, she is an avid traveler who enjoys exploring the world. Across every role, Tiffany's life's work returns to one question: how do people thrive, and what systems help or harm that process?