2024 Epidemiology Conference

Nicole Comstock, MSPH (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)

Nicole earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Health from Colorado State University, and a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) degree at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She has been employed as an Epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s (CDPHE) Communicable Disease Branch since 2002. Currently, Nicole serves as the Communicable Disease Branch Chief. Much of her work is focused on communicable disease response activities, and programmatic and funding oversight.

Leon Kelly, M.D. (El Paso County Coroner)

Leon Kelly, M.D. is a board-certified forensic pathologist serving as the Coroner/Chief Medical Examiner of El Paso County, overseeing investigations into sudden, unexpected, or non-natural deaths throughout southern Colorado. He has a B.S. in biology from Indiana University, a Medical Degree from Indiana University School of Medicine, completed an Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Residency at Penrose-St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs, and a Forensic Pathology Fellowship at the University of Texas in Dallas. Dr. Kelly served as Associate Medical Examiner and then Deputy Chief Medical Examiner before being elected coroner in 2018. Dr. Kelly co-founded the El Paso County Child Fatality Review Team and the nationally recognized Teen Suicide Prevention Working Group. He has served as the Board Chair of the Colorado Springs chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) which supports individuals with or those caring for loved ones with mental illness. He also served as the emergency Deputy Medical Director of El Paso County Public Health helping to lead our community’s COVID-19 pandemic response. Dr. Kelly was a lecturing professor at UCCS for more than a decade, teaching courses on the investigation of injury and death and crime scene investigation. Currently, he also serves as an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Rocky Vista University of Osteopathic Medicine. He is a graduate of the Colorado Springs Leadership (CSLI) class of 2023 and recipient of the 2020 Spirit of the Springs award for “outstanding contributions to public health during the COVID-19 pandemic”, 2019 Public Health Champion, and the American Red Cross, 2020 Hometown Hero Award for contributions to youth suicide prevention. Dr. Kelly has appeared as the forensic pathology consultant on several true crime programs including Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda, Exhumed, and The Killing of JonBenet: The Truth Uncovered.

Sophia Montoya, PSM (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)

Sophia Montoya is a Waterborne Disease Epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). She has been working at CDPHE on the Foodborne, Enteric, and Waterborne Disease team for over a year. Sophia graduated from Colorado State University with a Professional Science Masters in Natural Sciences and a Specialization in Biological Data Analytics. After graduating with her degree, Sophia worked for the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment (PDPHE) before joining CDPHE.

Urszula Tyl, MS (Jefferson County Public Health)

Urszula Tyl is a Sr. Environmental Health Specialist at Jefferson County Public Health. In her role, she conducts foodborne illness investigations, retail food establishment and child care inspections. In her previous roles, she worked with a health equity team in Chicago and assisted with a research study on youth mentoring at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Urszula received a BA in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a MS in Organizational Leadership from the University of Colorado Boulder. Urszula enjoys the active lifestyle of Colorado spending her time camping, backpacking, and hiking in the Rocky Mountains.

Jackie Johnson, MPH (Jefferson County Public Health)

Jackie Johnson is an Environmental Health Specialist at Jefferson County Public Health. In this role, she conducts zoonotic disease surveillance, foodborne illness investigations, and retail food establishment inspections. Previous experiences working with livestock were what initially piqued her interest in food safety and the interaction between animal and human health. Prior to joining Jefferson County, Jackie assisted with COVID surveillance in the Emerging Infections Program at the Minnesota Department of Health. Jackie received her MPH with emphases in Environmental Health and Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota in 2023 and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Vermont in 2021.

Elisha Wilson, MPH (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)

Ms. Wilson is an experienced epidemiologist with more than 15 years of experience working at state and local health departments. As FoodNet Epi, she manages and analyzes enteric disease surveillance data including laboratory testing data, such as culture-independent diagnostic tests and whole genome sequencing information.

Jared Olson, PhD (Larimer County Department of Health and Environment)

Jared Olson, PhD, is the senior population epidemiologist at the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment. With a passion for communicating data and insights for health policy and action, he focuses on addressing health disparities, population health, and social determinants of health. Lessons learned from leading the data analysis and communication during the COVID-19pandemic inform his practices with other collaborative data projects aimed at improving health outcomes for all individuals in Larimer County. By combining epidemiological insights and community engaged practices, he seeks to bridge gaps and create policy changes that support healthy lives among the county’s diverse population.

Kevin Andersen, MPH (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)

Kevin has worked as an epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for the last five years. His roles include childhood lead poisoning prevention, COVID-19 response, wastewater disease surveillance, and now vaccine preventable disease. He earned his Master of Public Health in Epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. Before his career in public health, Kevin worked as an exercise physiologist in a pulmonary rehab clinic.

Melissa Adair, BS, MPH (Arapahoe County Public Health)

Melissa is the Communicable Disease Epidemiology Program Manager at Arapahoe County Public Health. She earned both a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from Indiana University Bloomington. She has worked in infectious disease epidemiology in both state and local public health in Indiana and Colorado. She began her career in epidemiology at the Indiana Department of Health working in viral hepatitis and HIV/AIDS focusing on rural populations and correctional facility health. After moving to Colorado, she had the opportunity to work at Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety in drug safety research. She started working for Tri-County Health Department in 2020 and later transitioned to the newly formed Arapahoe County Public Health in January 2023.

Alix Rizzuto, BS, MS (Arapahoe County Public Health)

Alix is a Communicable Disease Epidemiologist at Arapahoe County Public Health. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Regis University and worked in critical care in the Denver Metro area before earning a Master of Science in Healthcare Informatics from University of Colorado at Anschutz Medical Campus. She developed an interest in public health while working in the field on a community sanitation and vaccination project in rural Mexico through Amigos de las Americas. She began her career in public health in 2020 working for Tri-County Health Department on the COVID-19 response before moving to the Communicable Disease Epidemiology program and then transitioned to Arapahoe County Public Health’s Communicable Disease Epidemiology program in January 2023.

Jennifer Chase, MS (Adams County Health Department)

Jennifer has been a public health epidemiologist for over 20 years working at both state and local public health agencies in Wyoming and Colorado. She earned her Master of Science in Environmental Health Epidemiology at Colorado State University in 2006. While beginning her career in Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology she stayed active in HIV/AIDS advocacy work at a local non-profit. In 2009, committed to her passion for HIV/AIDS advocacy worked as the Client Services Director at a local non- profit for 5 years before going back to her first love, public health epidemiology. Jennifer has spent the last 10 years of her career as a manager for Communicable Disease Epidemiology, primarily at Tri-County Health Department, which dissolved in December 2022. Since 2023, she has been helping to build and operate Adams County Health Department’s Communicable Disease Epidemiology program. Always an advocate for equity, Jennifer is honored to work for a county with a diverse population and a commitment to serving communities through active listening, partnerships, and collaboration.

Rachel Lockwood, MPH (El Paso County Public Health)

Rachel Lockwood is a communicable disease epidemiologist with El Paso County Public Health (EPCPH). In her current role, Rachel has gained two years of experience in applied epidemiology, with her scope of work including outbreak investigation and outbreak control. In addition to completing a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the Colorado School of Public Health, her previous experience includes working as a project coordinator for a global health non-profit, as a community health volunteer in the Peace Corps, and in various roles in clinical laboratories.

Sammi Jo Lawson, REHS (El Paso County Public Health)

Sammi Jo Lawson is the Retail Food Program Manager for El Paso County Public Health (EPCPH). Sammi Jo has been in an Environmental Health (EH) career for the past 13 years. She started her career in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where she obtained her Bachelors in EH and Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) credential. She worked as an Environmental Health Specialist for multiple local Public Health Departments in Wisconsin under various EH programs. She has been in Colorado, working for El Paso County Public Health for the past 7 years, and found her passion and niche in the Retail Food Program, serving as the Retail Food Program Manager for 4 years. Sammi Jo is a motivated Public Health leader, dedicated to her community and the industry that she serves.

Jillian Jaskunas, MPH (Denver Department of Public Health and Environment)

Jillian Jaskunas received a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Washington State University, as well as a Master of Public Health concentrating in Epidemiology from the Colorado School of Public Health. She has nine years of experience working as a communicable disease epidemiologist and currently serves the Denver community through employment in the Data Science and Epidemiology program at Denver Department of Public Health and Environment. Previous positions include work at Tri-County Health Department and Broward County Health Department. During graduate school Jillian participated in disease surveillance projects monitoring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and influenza-associated hospitalizations at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Prior to her career in public health, she worked in academic research studying a variety of health-related topics ranging from the neurobiology of substance use in animal models to maternal electronic cigarette use during pregnancy.

Wyatt Deaderick, MPH (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)

Wyatt currently works as a Waterborne Disease Epidemiologist for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. In this role, Wyatt focuses primarily on legionellosis surveillance, investigation, and response to clusters and outbreaks. Wyatt graduated with his MPH, concentrating in One Health, in 2023 from the Colorado School of Public Health.

Melissa Adair, MPH (Arapahoe County Public Health)

Melissa is the Communicable Disease Epidemiology Program Manager at Arapahoe County Public Health. She earned both a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from Indiana University Bloomington. She has worked in infectious disease epidemiology in both state and local public health in Indiana and Colorado. She began her career in epidemiology at the Indiana Department of Health working in viral hepatitis and HIV/AIDS focusing on rural populations and correctional facility health. After moving to Colorado, she had the opportunity to work at Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Safety in drug safety research. She started working for Tri-County Health Department in 2020 and later transitioned to the newly formed Arapahoe County Public Health in January 2023.

Jeremy Lozano, MPH (Arapahoe County Public Health)

Jeremy Lozano is a Communicable Disease Epidemiologist at Arapahoe County Public Health. He graduated with his Bachelor of Public Health from DePaul University in 2018 and then proceeded to obtain his masters degree from the Colorado School of Public Health in 2021. While at the CSPH, Jeremy was on the first team EDIT during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, where he was able to gain valuable experience investigating enteric diseases. Jeremy went on to work as a Regional Epidemiologist at Mesa County Public Health and Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment from 2021-2022. In Late 2022, Jeremy joined the Communicable Disease Program at Tri County Health Department where he would transition to the newly formed Arapahoe County Public Health in 2023.

Diana Rashash, PhD (Arapahoe County Public Health)

Diana currently works as the Senior Water Quality Specialist for Arapahoe County Public Health. In this role, Diana focuses on septic systems, surface waters and wells, waterborne diseases, and response to outbreaks. Diana graduated with her PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering, with a focus on surface water quality management, in 1994 from Virginia Tech.

Connor Carrillo, MPH

No bio available.