Community Advisory Board

LaShandal Pettaway-Brown joined the South Carolina Office of Rural Health in 2017, and currently serves as a practice transformation consultant for the Center for Practice Transformation. In this role, she is responsible for facilitating chronic disease management and patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition for rural health clinics, private fee-for-service providers, federally qualified health centers, and hospital systems.

LaShandal is also responsible for coordinating the activities of The Oral Health Progress and Equity Network (OPEN) which provides technical assistance, practice assessment, change facilitation, and consultation as rural providers adapt to change. LaShandal is a Patient Centered Medical Home Content Expert and a Certified Rural Health Clinic Professional.

Prior to her role at the South Carolina Office of Rural Health, she served as a Quality Improvement Coordinator at The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence where she focused on The Million Hearts Initiative, Physician Quality Reporting System, Meaningful Use, and Patient-Centered Medical Home.

LaShandal received a Master in Business Administration and a Master in Healthcare Administration from Webster University. She earned her Bachelor of Science with a specialization in Healthcare Administration from Austin Peay State University.

Russell Cook serves as South Carolina Research Authority’s (SCRA) Director of Academic Innovations. The Academic Innovations Program advances use-inspired research and supports academic startup companies. Previously, Russell served as Managing Director of Comporium Ventures based in Rock Hill, SC.

A graduate of Wofford College, Russell has broad experience in investment banking, real estate development, entrepreneurship, technology commercialization and economic development.

Russell serves as a director for Boys Farm, Inc., based in Newberry, SC. He served for fourteen years as a trustee for South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, Inc., serving as board chair for two years. He is a member of the South Carolina Economic Developers’ Association and has earned the designation of South Carolina Certified Economic Developer.  Having graduated from Furman’s Diversity Leadership Initiative, Russell has been designated a Riley Fellow.

Russell and his wife, Gloria, live in Chapin, SC. They have two grown sons, two wonderful daughters-in-law, and one very energetic grandson.

Katie Gaul directs the South Carolina Office for Healthcare Workforce, or SCOHW, a division of the South Carolina AHEC Program Office. The SCOHW team has a broad scope of work that includes assessing the supply and characteristics of health professionals in South Carolina, measuring educational capacity, describing demand, and identifying other health workforce issues.

Katie oversees SCOHW’s research and service portfolio, supports the efforts of South Carolina AHEC, and helps stakeholders across the state with their healthcare workforce data needs. Her areas of expertise focus on educating data consumers on available data and data literacy, communicating health workforce analyses and issues, and connecting stakeholders with the data and information they need to support effective program development and decision making.

Prior to her current role, Katie served as a senior policy analyst at the Center for Best Practices at the National Governors Association, a research associate at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC Chapel Hill, and the deputy director of the HRSA-funded Health Workforce Technical Assistance Center.

Terri Jowers currently serves as the Interim Executive Director of the South Carolina Community Health Worker Association. A native of rural South Carolina, Terri has been an unwavering advocate for social justice, equity, and improved healthcare. Her experience with victims of partner violence, abuse, and neglect has reinforced her belief in local and policy-level interventions. As a founding member of the South Carolina Community Health Worker Association, Terri champions community health workers (CHWs) and their patients daily. Her current focus is on fostering collaboration between CHWs and Peer Support Specialists, recognizing their shared service to many of the same families.

C. Suzette McClellan is currently the Community Engagement Director for SC Department of Public Health (SCDPH)- Pee Dee Region and has been with the agency for 31years. Suzette has worked diligently on issues relating to community health improvement. She is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES) and Associate Public Manager. Ms. McClellan is a graduate of the College of Charleston with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology; and the University of South Carolina-Columbia Arnold School of Public Health with a Master of Public Health degree in Health Promotion & Education. In addition to her role at SCDPH, Ms. McClellan is an evening instructor in the Health Science Department at Morris College.

She is responsible for community outreach and engagement and partnership development in 12 counties in the Pee Dee Region. To achieve healthier communities, she has provided leadership in numerous community collaborations and partnerships, primarily in the areas of community health assessment, community health improvement planning, community engagement and chronic disease risk reduction. She focuses on disease prevention through healthy eating, active living, tobacco use prevention, oral health care, and policy, systems, and environmental change strategies.

Ms. McClellan is currently the SC CHES/MCHES Committee Chair and Continuing Education Chair for the SC Public Health Association. She is actively engaged in other local, state and national health education organizations. Ms. McClellan resides in Sumter.

Maya Pack has been working to support improved health and health care in South Carolina since 1998. She has distinguished herself through work across the state and at the local level. As Executive Director of the South Carolina Institute of Medicine and Public Health, Maya works with the Board of Directors to provide vision and strategic direction to the Institute and oversees the organization’s operations.

Maya joined the IMPH team in 2009 and her background includes working in strategic planning in the hospital setting, consulting for various non-profit and health care organizations and developing programs and informing policies to improve the quality of health care provided in South Carolina. Maya is a graduate of Leadership Greenville (2006), Furman University’s Women Leadership Program (2009), the Riley Institute’s Diversity Leaders Initiative (DLI) (2019) and is a member of the Blue Ridge Institute for Nonprofit Leaders.

Maya earned her bachelor’s degree from Furman University, a Master of Science in applied social science research from Clemson University and a master’s degree in public administration through a joint program of Clemson University and the University of South Carolina. 

Maya began her career with the United Way of Greenville County performing community needs assessments. In the early 2000s, she worked in planning and market research for the Greenville Health System (now Prisma) and then worked for Bon Secours St. Francis Health System as Director of Planning. She has also consulted for non-profit and health care organizations in the Upstate of South Carolina in the areas of strategic and business planning, needs assessment, outcome measurement and grant writing. Between 2006 and 2008, Maya served as manager of the South Carolina Business Coalition on Health, where she developed and implemented programs and policies to improve the quality of health care while controlling its cost for the business community. 

In her role as Executive Director, Maya leads the organization’s operations, business and financial management, fund development, programs and contracts, serves as the organization’s spokesperson and works with the Board of Directors in setting and implementing the strategic vision for the organization.