Department of Health

Department of Health's Kevin Sanders 
Selected as an Advocates Unite! Conference Fellow

Kevin Sanders, a Public Health Program Representative in the Department of Health's Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, has been selected to represent the state of Missouri as a fellow at the Advocates Unite! Conference. The Advocates Unite! Conference is a component of the Caring Ambassadors Program, in which the primary goal is to help individuals with challenging health conditions become ambassadors for their own health. The conference is scheduled for May 10 - 13, 2015 in Washington, D.C. With a focus on viral hepatitis, the conference will provide training in the policy-making process, building effective state advocacy, facts and myths about the disease, and the historical, current, and prospective state of viral hepatitis policy.

"I'm very excited to be among other professionals who are invested in this health issue," says Sanders. "I want to know what other agencies and groups are doing in their communities that can be applied here to help the St. Louis area." With knowledge gained from this conference, Sanders and the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control will work to establish a local coalition of health care and public health professionals to address viral hepatitis in the St. Louis community. This coalition will work towards improving viral hepatitis early detection services, access to care, and improved outcomes for co-infections with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), syphilis, and tuberculosis.

Sanders has worked in the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control for seven years. He earned an MHA/MBA in 2006. In his free time, he volunteers as a coach for recreational basketball, football, and baseball teams.

For more information about the Caring Ambassadors Program, visit their website at http://hepcchallenge.org/about-us/.