Our Board of Directors

List of Directors

Carrie Shaver DHA, IHC, FACHE (she/her)

Chair of Board of Directors

Dr. Carrie Shaver is an Assistant Professor of Health Management and Leadership at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and a founding member of the New Mexico Rural Health Association. She has a strong background in the social service sector and has experience administering disease prevention, treatment, and health and wellness programs.

Brenda Alvarado, MPH, MPA (she/her)

Financial Sustainability Committee Chair

Brenda Alvarado, MPH, MPA, has served as the New Mexico Department of Health-Office of Border Health (NMDOH-OBH) Outreach Office Coordinator since April 2013. She coordinates public health stakeholders in southwestern New Mexico. Brenda served as the president of the New Mexico Public Health Association from April 2018 to April 2019.

Sue Forster-Cox, PhD, MPH (she/her/ella)

Strategic Direction Committee, Advocacy and Education Committee

Sue Forster-Cox is a Professor Emerita with the Department of Public Health Sciences at New Mexico State University (NMSU). Dr. Forster-Cox was an Obama appointee in 2014 to the US/Mexico Border Health Commission. She serves on the Boards of the Roadrunner Food Bank and the National Peace Corps Association.

Isela García, MPH, BS (she/her/ella)

Executive Director

Isela Garcia is the Executive Director of the New Mexico Rural Health Association. During her Rural Health Fellowship with the National Rural Health Association in 2022, Isela saw the need for rural health organizational representation and co-founded the NMRHA in 2023 to uplift and champion frontier voices in Southern New Mexico.

Jose González, MHA (he/him/él)

Marketing and Communication Committee, Advocacy and Education Committee

Jose Gonzalez is the Taos County Health Council District Four Board Member. Appointed in October 2022. Gonzalez is the Program Manager with Las Cumbres Community Santuario del Corazon. Gonzalez brings his strong bicultural expertise to any position; he was born in El Paso, TX, and grew up in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Robert Hagevoort, PhD (he/him)

Education and Advocacy Committee

Robert Hagevoort is an Associate Professor and Extension Dairy Specialist in the Extension Animal Sciences and Natural Resources Department of the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University. His current research is the development of a comprehensive dairy workforce training & safety program.

Mark Lusk, EdD, MSW (he/him)

Marketing and Communication Committee

Mark Lusk is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at El Paso. A graduate of New Mexico State University, Professor Lusk earned his master’s and doctorate at the University of Kentucky. His scholarship has focused on street children, forced migrants, refugees, trauma, resilience, and human rights.

Josie Mendoza, CHW (she/her/ella)

Marketing and Communication Committee

Josie Mendoza is a promotora in Southern New Mexico. She is the President of the Southern New Mexico Promotora Committee, which is committed to addressing border health issues such as healthcare access. She is a dedicated health promotion expert and well-versed in public health advocacy.

Frannie Miller, PhD, MS (she/her)

Marketing and Communication Committee, Financial Sustainability Committee

Dr. Miller is an Assistant Professor in the Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business Department of New Mexico State University. Her research interests are related to farm and rural economic sustainability, including the economic and general well-being of the people belonging to rural and agricultural industry communities.

Anna Rondon, Dineh (she/her)

Strategic Direction Committee

Anna M. Rondon, who is Kinya aa aanii Clan and was born for Nakai Dineh and whose grandparents are Tabaaha and Nakai Dine, is a dedicated lifetime advocate for the rights of Indigenous people. Anna serves as the Project Director of the New Mexico Social Justice and Equity Institute is the McKinley Collaborative for Health Equity coordinator.

Van Roper, PhD, MS, FNP-C (he/him)

Strategic Direction Committee

Dr. Roper is a TeleECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Clinic Director, Associate Clinical Professor, and Assistant Dean of Clinical Affairs at the UNM College of Nursing. He established and continues to operate the first primary care and exclusively nurse-run ECHO clinic by launching the Primary Care ECHO Clinic.

Jennifer Tupper, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC (she/her)