PCD Staff

Zachary Beasley, BA

Editorial Assistant
Contractor, The Coleman Group, Inc.

Zachary Beasley joined PCD as an editorial assistant in 2016. He previously worked in facilities management at Georgia State University and as a freelance copyeditor and research assistant in support of reporters covering breaking news. He is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and is a creative writer in his free time. Mr. Beasley was graduated magna cum laude from Georgia State University in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in English.

 

Brandi Baker, MBA

Production Coordinator
Contractor, The Coleman Group, Inc

Brandi Baker has been with PCD since its inception in 2003. Beginning as editorial assistant, Ms. Baker was instrumental in developing the initial manuscript submission system and creating policies for manuscript tracking, peer review, and production processes. Since 2004 she has been responsible for the journal’s production, including editorial assignments and scheduling publication dates, and special projects such as the establishment of CME credit with Medscape and translations. Before joining PCD, Brandi held management positions in television and radio, nonprofit organizations, and associations. She has a bachelor’s degree in mass media arts–broadcasting from Clark Atlanta University and a master’s degree in international business from Georgia State University.

 

Bethanne Black

Senior Technical Editor
Contractor, The Coleman Group, Inc

Bethanne Black is a writer and editor with more than fourteen years of experience in creating and editing medical content. From 2015 to 2017, Ms. Black managed web content for the Tips From Former Smokers campaign, an initiative of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. Prior to working as a CDC contractor, she began her writing career at Dialog Medical, a subsidiary of Standard Register Healthcare. After working at Dialog as a freelance consultant, she was hired to lead the content team as Editorial Manager, a role she held for 7 years. In 2009, Ms. Black was offered a position at WebMD, a consumer health website. As Senior Health Editor at WebMD, she worked closely with physicians to create informative articles on a variety of health and medical topics. In her spare time, Ms. Black enjoys spending time with her son, taking ballet lessons, and scrapbooking.

 

Kim Bright, PMP

Information Technology Project Manager
Contractor, CyberData Technologies

Kim Bright has provided technical direction to CDC journals since 2003 and joined PCD as technical lead in 2011. She oversees the technical infrastructure, production workflow, and maintenance of the PCD website and mobile applications and is responsible for the journal’s compliance with all CDC and HHS technical governance and reporting. Previously, Ms. Bright worked in the corporate sector in web development, project management, and information technology consulting. She received a bachelor’s degree in computer and information sciences from the University of Florida, and she is a certified project management professional.

 

Shawn Jones

Software Engineer
Contractor, CyberData Technologies

Shawn Jones joined the PCD team in 2015. He has more than 15 years of experience in business, marketing, and information technology in the private and public sectors. Mr. Jones uses his expertise in front-end web development to keep journal articles accessible and responsive across various digital channels and devices. Since 2008, he has volunteered as a mentor for at-risk youth as part of the 5th Ward Boys Association of Atlanta, a youth organization sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Jones is a founding member of the Stonecrest City Alliance, which was responsible for the formation of the city of Stonecrest in 2017.

 

Camille Martin, RD, LD

Senior Technical Editor

Camille Martin is a senior writer–editor for PCD, where she started in 2003 as an editorial intern while obtaining her bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Georgia State University. She is a registered dietitian. Before joining PCD, Ms. Martin worked for the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons hotels and lived in Biarritz, France. She received certification as an editor in the life sciences from the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences in 2005 and has a bachelor’s degree in English literature and French language from the University of Georgia.

 

Susan McKeen, BA

Senior Software Engineer
Contractor, CyberData Technologies
 

Susan McKeen has been developing software for more than 30 years. She joined the PCD team in 2005 and writes various parsing tools to support automated journal publication. Previously, she developed software for publishing medical texts and journals on hand-held devices such as tablets and telephones. Ms. McKeen is especially interested in the use of XML in data workflows and the automated production of journal-quality PDFs. She received a bachelor’s degree in computer science with a concentration in electrical engineering from the University of Maine.

 

Lesli Mitchell, MA

Managing Editor

Lesli Mitchell has been managing editor of PCD since its inception in 2003. She worked with Lynne Wilcox, MD, MPH, PCD’s founding editor, to develop the journal’s editorial policies, production processes, and publication website. She has contributed to several initiatives at CDC, including CDC’s first editorial summit, developed by Christine Casey, MD, deputy editor of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which brought together editors from JAMA, BMJ, Annals of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, and other journals to advance public health globally through digital publishing. Before coming to CDC, Ms. Mitchell managed online publications for several institutions, including Emory University, Morehouse College, Georgia State University, and Georgia Institute of Technology. She is the author of The Ultimate Grad School Survival Guide, a Peterson’s reference guide, and Party Train, a book for children with speech and language delays. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from Emory University and a master’s degree in English from Georgia State University.

 

Melissa Newton, BS, CCPH

Marketing/Communications Specialist
Contractor, The Coleman Group, Inc

Melissa Newton is responsible for PCD’s marketing and communications. She started her career as a reporter for the Gwinnett Daily Post, covering a range of topics from general community news to health and wellness. Mrs. Newton’s passion for public health led her to work in health marketing, and she joined the PCD team in 2012. She particularly enjoys transforming research findings into content that is easily sharable and useable among health professionals, academics, and the general public. Mrs. Newton has a bachelor’s degree from Berry College in Rome, Georgia, and in 2017 was designated a Certified Communicator in Public Health by the National Public Health Information Coalition.

 

Rosemarie Perrin

Technical Writer–Editor
Contractor, The Coleman Group

Rosemarie Perrin has 40 years of experience in technical and medical writing and editing. She wrote AARP’s Living Well With Diabetes, edited the first edition of Oxford Press’s Psychiatry in Primary Care, and has been an editor at Preventing Chronic Disease for 10 years. Ms. Perrin was formerly director of professional education publications for the national office of the American Cancer Society. In another life she wrote about wilderness recreation and was author of The Explorer’s Guide to Lost and Buried Treasure and coauthor of the first edition of The Explorer’s Source Book.

 

Sasha Ruiz, BBA

Health Communications Specialist

Sasha Ruiz, who joined PCD in 2004, oversees the editorial office, monitors the journal’s manuscript submission and peer review activities, and identifies opportunities for improving the quality of the journal’s publication practices. She also works on special projects, including the creation of training curricula and tools for authors and peer reviewers. Ms. Ruiz received a CDC & ATSDR Honor Award for Excellence in Leadership in 2014. She served as the acting managing editor for Public Health Reports from December 2015 to June 2016. She received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Georgia Gwinnett College, where she now serves on the college’s alumni board.

 

Ellen Taratus, MS

Senior Technical Editor
Contractor, Idoneous Consulting

Ellen Taratus is senior technical editor at PCD, contracted through Idoneous Consulting. Ms. Taratus has been with PCD since March 2003 and served as editorial team lead until 2006. As team lead, she designed details of the production schedule and helped to establish editorial policy. Before coming to PCD, Ms. Taratus was a communications specialist at fundraising consulting firms and public relations firms in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and New York. She has a BA in English from Dartmouth College and an MS in biology from Georgia Tech.

 

Caran Wilbanks, BA

Lead Technical Writer–Editor

Ms. Wilbanks has been with PCD since 2007, when she joined the staff as lead writer–editor. Ms. Wilbanks works with the editorial team on the review and production of articles for publication and works with the technical team on resolving production issues and developing new processes to make production flow smoothly. She has spent her career in publications, starting as a reporter for several small Georgia newspapers, where she won awards for writing. Ms. Wilbanks came to CDC in 1989 as a writer–editor for Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and was briefly the managing editor of the weekly publication. She worked as a technical editor for the US Surgeon General’s reports on smoking and health before joining the PCD staff. She received a bachelor’s degree in English and journalism from Tift College.