OUR TEAM
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
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Dissemination of “what works” has been Pastor Talley’s passion for the past decade. She was among the original women trained in January 2008 by the National Witness Project as a Lay Health Advisor and State Trainer. Her experience as a trainer for the evidence-based Witness Project, addressing breast and cervical cancer screening in the African-American faith community and beyond, has demonstrated her commitment to cancer prevention and improving the overall well- being of families and individuals. In her current role, Pastor Talley applies her expertise as clergy and refined ability to network by coordinating SC Witness Project dissemination and implementation among South Carolina’s African-American and rural communities.
Pastor Jacqueline Talley, MBS, MTh, serves as the statewide Project Coordinator for the SC Witness Project. As Co-Pastor of Refuge Fellowship Ministries, and Co-Founder of Refuge Community Outreach, Pastor Talley has a long track-record of health-related programming in the African-American faith community. For nearly two decades, she has been involved in community outreach, health
education, and awareness. For Refuge Community Outreach, Pastor Talley has led a dissemination and implementation project funded through the South Carolina Cancer Prevention and Control Network (funded by the NCI and CDC). Further, she has functioned as a Community Outreach Liaison for the SCCDCN II and Gibbs Cancer Center. As a SC Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network Community Health Intervention Program (CHIP) mini-grant grantee in 2011, she assisted with the implementation of the Witness Project through the Refuge Community Outreach in Upstate South Carolina.
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REGIONAL COORDINATORS
ADVISORY BOARD
Rachel Mayo, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Clemson University. She has been working in cancer control for the past 20 years in South Carolina. Her research interests include cancer prevention and control and health disparities among minority and underserved, particularly African American and Latino populations. Most recently, her work has focused on upstream issues of disparities among the uninsured, including insurance access through the Affordable Care Act and understanding issues of cultural competence in medical and nursing education. Since 2008, Dr. Mayo has been Principal Investigator of the SC Witness Project. She is also a two year breast cancer survivor, which gives her a unique appreciation of issues of breast cancer in young women.
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Denyse Petry, MPH, CHES, earned her Master of Public Health from the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health. She has been inducted into the Mu Chapter of Delta Omega, an honorary society for graduate studies in public health. She has been a member of the South Carolina Public Health Association for 22 years. Her previous work experience was at the Richland County Department of Social Services, and at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Before retiring, Ms. Petry worked with the American Cancer Society for 21 years, and her priority is to help improve the health status of underserved populations.
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Vonda Evans, MPA, is the Primary Care Health Systems Manager for the American Heart Association. Vonda received her BS in Business from the University of South Carolina and her Master in Public Administration from the College of Charleston. Vonda has been with the American Cancer Society since 1996 and has over 28 years of professional
experience reaching underserved populations with education and directing them to available resources.
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Kimberly Rawlinson has worked with SC Witness since 2009 and helped to expand the project statewide. She has experience in developing and implementing cancer-related community outreach programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate for African-American and rural communities. Working with SC Witness Project very rewarding and allows her to make a difference in the lives of people who are affected by cancer.