CA ROR Leadership
Board Members
- Pamela Bilz
- Barbara Carnes, MD
- James Chou, MD
- Jane Dyer Cook, MLS
- Suzanne Flint, MA
- Karen Fond, PNP
- Alice Kuo, MD, MEd
- Debbie Mackay
- Sumana Reddy, MD
- Beth Shedden
- Sandy Tosti, MA
Advisory Committee
Executive Board — Past Members
Board Members
Pamela Bilz
Pamela Bilz has served on the California Reach Out and Read Board since
2001. In 2004, she became the Board’s Treasurer. She is the Coordinator
for an 11-site San Mateo countywide ROR program and was instrumental in
helping to create this countywide model. She also helped organize and facilitate
the first CA ROR Statewide Conference in 2001 in Sacramento. In addition,
Ms. Bilz currently runs the new Reading on the Road program that takes library
services and provides early literacy guidance to families at area WIC clinics
via a new Literacy Van. She has had a lifelong love for books and reading,
and has transferred that love to her young niece and nephews.
Barbara
Carnes, MD
Dr. Barbara Carnes is the Chief of Pediatrics and a practicing general
pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente's South Bay Medical Center. Dr. Carnes
championed the planned expansion of ROR to all 86 Kaiser Permanente Sites
in Southern California and serves as the South Bay AAP Member at Large Representative
to AAP Chapter 2. Dr. Carnes is very excited to be a member of the CA ROR
Executive Board because she believes participation at this level provides
the opportunity to build a strong collaborative environment in California
for the growth, development and expansion of the ROR intervention statewide.
Reach Out and Read has been proven to truly make a difference in children's
lives. Therefore medical providers efforts to make this intervention a standard
part of pediatric care are guaranteed to make a difference as well. That's
what pediatrics is all about!
James Chou, MD
Dr. James Chou, M.D. (pronounced like Tso or Zhou) was born in Chengdu,
Szechwan Province, China and came to this country when he was just 6 years
old. At that time, he knew no English and experienced firsthand the trials
of being a misunderstood outsider. However, his parents imparted a value
for books and a love for learning early in his life. Dr. Chou attended Columbia
School of Engineering and graduated with a Bachelors Degree of Science.
He went on to graduate school at Washington University in St. Louis in the
Department of Microbiology, where he received a PhD before going to Columbia
College of Physician and Surgeons for his medical degree. He joined the
Department of Pediatrics at Kaiser Santa Teresa Community Hospital in San
Jose in 1978 and has been there ever since. Throughout Dr. Chou’s pediatric
practice, children, their education and well-being have been his highest
priority and passion. He has always had plenty of children's books in his
exam rooms and encouraged his patients to read and get a good education.
When he first learned about Reach Out and Read in 1997, he knew it was a
program with which he wanted to be involved. He has been a part of the California
ROR Board since 1999. He believes in the mission of CA ROR and the value
of ROR sites working collaboratively "to make a difference in the lives
of California’s children."
Jane Dyer Cook, MLS
Jane Dyer Cook (MSLIS University of California, Berkeley 1981, BA University
of the Pacific 1975) has been a professional librarian for over twenty years.
Her areas of expertise are children’s literature and literacy, especially
early literacy. She is an active member of the American Library Association,
California Library Association and the Public Library Association. She has
administered Reach Out and Read San Joaquin, the first library led ROR program
in the country, since 1998.
Suzanne
Flint, MA
Suzanne Flint, CCLS, MA is the Director of California Reach Out and
Read. Ms. Flint received her BA in Political Science and Family Psychology
at Antioch College in Ohio and her Masters Degree in Health Arts and Sciences
from Goddard College in Vermont. She is a pediatric health educator and
certified Child Life Specialist with over 20 years of experience working
with families and children in healthcare settings. She has a specialization
in bibliotherapy and early childhood literacy. Ms. Flint created one of
the country’s first pediatric-specific consumer health libraries in
1985, and helped to start a Reach Out and Read program at the Lucile Packard
Children’s Hospital at Stanford in 1996 that grew to a 12 site San
Mateo countywide undertaking. She co-founded the California Reach Out and
Read (CA ROR) Coalition with pediatrician, Dr. Hilary Bethke and Solano
County Library Literacy Manager, Sandy Tosti. She believes that collaboratively
we can enhance individual physicians’ and clinics’ ability to
sustain and grow the ROR program in a cost-effective manner so that the
lives of all of California’s young children can be touched with a love
for books and reading.
Karen
Fond, PNP
Karen Fond graduated from the University of California, San Francisco
School of Nursing with a BSN and from UCLA with a MSN majoring in Child
Development. She was in the first class of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
at UCLA. Ms. Fond has worked in pediatric training programs at Children’s
Hospital Los Angeles and UCLA, and feels that teaching child development
to pediatricians has been a special privilege. Ms. Fond has always believed
that health care providers can help parents raise their children in positive,
endearing ways. Children's books are a natural way to attain that goal,
and so Ms. Fond started the Reach Out and Read program at UCLA in 1998.
There she hoped to inspire young doctors to use reading to children as a
developmental tool, as parental advice in encouraging their children to
learn, and as a fun part of the doctor-parent-child relationship. It works!
As the ROR Coordinator, Ms. Fond saw the UCLA program grow to two other
satellite clinics (Burke and MidValley Health Centers) which have now become
their own independent sites. Ms. Fond values the benefits of collaborating
with many committed professionals, from librarians, teachers, and literacy
advocates to authors, illustrators, and book vendors to funders and grant
writers. When the larger goals of nurturing a love for books, encouraging
parental bonding, fostering imagination, and inspiring children to embrace
the larger world around them can all be accomplished through the gift of
a book, who could not join forces with the California Reach Out and Read Executive Board. So, when asked, Ms. Fond joined and currently serves as the Board President, because it makes a difference in the lives of the young children
she serves!
Alice
Kuo, MD, MEd
Alice Kuo, MD, MEd is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UCLA and
Director of Education of the UCLA Community Health and Advocacy Training
Program, a pediatric residency track that focuses on developing the knowledge,
skills, and experiences of pediatric residents in the principles of public
health, community pediatrics, and child advocacy. She has been working with
Reach Out and Read to promote literacy in the pediatric office setting as
well as developing an avenue for pediatric residents to learn about child
advocacy.
Debbie
Mackay
Ms. Mackay is the Project Coordinator for the Reach Out and Read (ROR)
Los Angeles Initiative, a new venture to expand ROR into community clinics
throughout Los Angeles County. Prior to this venture, she helped start a
ROR site at USC Family Practice Center at California Hospital Medical Center
in downtown Los Angeles. Ms. Mackay’s interest in ROR stems from her
love of learning and fond memories of reading to her children when they
were young. She first became involved in the program in 2001 when she was
hired to work as the Assistant Director of Volunteer Services at Kaiser
Panorama City where she worked with Dr. Veena Damle at the successful ROR
program. She began attending CA ROR Board meetings in December 2002 because
she saw a great need for volunteer involvement in this grass roots effort.
Ms. Mackay believes each Board member brings unique knowledge and organizational
skills that can aid in the expansion of ROR. Her particular interest is
in assisting with new site support and sharing of best practices.
Sumana
Reddy, MD
Dr. Reddy is the President of Acacia Family Medical Group in Salinas.
She is an actively practicing family physician who includes obstetrics,
care of newborns, children, adults and the elderly. She has worked at the
community level on issues of children, literacy and responsible media exposure.
She serves on the Monterey County Breastfeeding Promotion Committee, is
the Chair of the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital's Family Practice Department
and is active in many other forums. She was drawn to serve on the Board
of California ROR based on a lifelong love of exposing children to good
books, and a desire to bring the program to her area. Her practice has the
first ROR site in Monterey County.
Beth Shedden
Beth Shedden was born in Yakima, Washington, in 1950. With her three sisters and two brothers, she was raised in a small farming community in Eastern Washington. A passion for literacy began at a very early age when the world of books arrived at her door in the form of a bookmobile. This passion for literacy and her belief that it is the means to lift a child from poverty, has led her to devote her time to raising funds for literacy projects in her community. Ms. Shedden worked to implement the unique model for Reach Out and Read in Solano County in which the Solano County Library Foundation raises funds for books, Solano County Library recruits and trains volunteers, orders and delivers books and provides a liaison with the medical partners. In this way they have been able to bring on board both large and small clinics that might not have been able to adopt ROR on their own. She has chaired several fund raising events and created Solano County’s premier literary event, the Authors Luncheon. She holds a B.S. in Human Development from the University of California, Davis, is a business owner, and has been married for 31 years.
Sandy Tosti, MA
Sandy Tosti is the Literacy Program Manager for the Solano County Library. She has been with the Solano County Library for 9 years during which time the library started the ROR program in 7 clinics in Solano County. Sandy has advocated for libraries and clinics to collaborate in reaching families that don't normally read to their children or frequent the library. She has a BS in Education from Ohio State University and an MA in Management for Public Services from Ball State University. Sandy taught elementary school and worked over the past 20 years in several non-profit agencies to recruit, train and support volunteers.
Advisory Committee
Carol Brock
Carol Brock is an Educational Therapist as well as an Adjunct Professor
in Education at National University, Sacramento, teaching graduate students
in education as well as supervising student teachers in Placer and Sacramento
Counties. Formerly a special education teacher in the public K-12 system,
Ms. Brock has years of experience in working with children experiencing
literacy problems. For five years she worked with kindergarten teachers
in early identification of children with potential learning problems, developing
an even keener awareness of the importance of the family environment and
support for learning in the first five years. Originally Ms. Brock became
involved and interested in ROR through her daughter who was the ROR Director
for Sonoma County several years ago. Ms. Brock believes ROR to be a very
important, effective program for children with long-term impacts on learning
and family relationships/support yet to be thoroughly realized.
Executive Board — Past Members
Antonia Zazueta, MD
Dr. Antonia Zazueta is a general pediatrician for Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in East San Jose. Dr. Zazueta completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at Stanford University and went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco. She returned to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) at Stanford for her residency training in pediatrics, and is now happy to be back home in San Jose. Dr. Zazueta began her involvement with Reach Out and Read in 1996 during her 4th year medical student continuity clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. She continued to do ROR during residency at LPCH, where she became active in the early development of a Northern California ROR Coalition. She is currently the medical director for ROR at East Valley Clinic, and has been serving on the Board of the California Reach Out and Read since its inception, first as Treasurer and then as President. Dr. Zazueta says she has never practiced pediatrics without Reach Out and Read, and hopes she will never have to do so. She feels passionately that every child should be given the opportunity to grow up with a love of books and reading.