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Fern Carness, MPH, RN, FAWHP

Fern Carness is a registered nurse with a background in critical care. Known as a voice for women's health, Fern travels extensively to speak to women's groups about health status and how to become empowered to partner with the health care system.

An entrepreneur at heart, Fern has founded four successful health care-related businesses. Invasive Diagnostic Specialists -- a cardiac catheterization lab staff relief service provides high-caliber nurses to work in the area of invasive cardiology. This company was one of the first to recognize that nurses could work as independent contractors, bill fee-for-service, and function as businesswomen. Frustrated with the lack of health promotion in the hospital setting, Fern founded Wellness At Work, Inc., in 1986, a worksite health promotion company dedicated to improving the health status of individuals, one person at a time. For over 10 years, WAW provided Fern with the opportunity to reach thousands with her health promotion messages. After selling WAW to Times Mirror in 1995, Fern became Principal at Carness Health Management, LLC. CHM creates many health behavior change programs in print, video, audio, and Web format. Including Ready Set STOP! -a smoking cessation self-help program in both Web and audio formats and A Wise Woman's Approach to Healing and Cancer.

Currently, Fern is the co-owner of Just Like a Woman-a retail experience that blends specialty lingerie needs with health education and survivor support services in a feminine environment. Here women with medical challenges will find the products they need while being treated with dignity and kindness.

Whether sewing Halloween costumes, making heirloom quilts, trekking in the Himalayas, or dragon boating on the Willamette, Fern never sits still. While crewing a dragon boat, Fern and her breast cancer survivor teammates, known as Pink Phoenix, were awarded the Medal of Valor 2000 from the City of Portland when they rescued a man who had jumped off a bridge. Fern is a gold medal paddler who represented the United States Senior Women at the 4th World Dragon Boat Championships held in Philadelphia, August 2001.

Fern lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband of over 33 years. Al and Fern have two sons and two beautiful granddaughters.

Fern Carness
Carness Health Management
(503) 636-7513
ferncarn@teleport.com

Sylva Dvorak is the President of Atman Interntional (AI), a strategic communications and transformational learning company. In her role at AI, Sylva has served as a consultant on international projects. Sylva's ethics support a belief in the global interrelatedness of
life, business, and government. This belief is part of her personal awareness, and forms the foundation of all her work. She has created numerous education and training programs including For Your Healthy Mind, a depression and anxiety management program. She is also in partnership with a start-up e-learning company. Currently, she is
writing her third book, 31 Ways to Stop the Terrorist Within. Sylva is on the Advisory Board of Regenesis, Inc., a sustaninable industries company. She is also a member of and a National Spokesperson for the Enlightened Millionaires Program.

Gina Brandenburg

Gina Brandenburg is a health educator with 16 years of experience in the field. Her educational background includes a B.A. in social ecology from the University of California, Irvine, with an emphasis on health and health psychology. She completed her M.S. in health science at California State University, Long Beach.

Gina has held positions as a health educator in a variety of settings including Golden West Community College Student Health Center and the American Cancer Society. She then moved into the worksite wellness area starting up and managing health promotion programs for Digital Equipment Corporation, Security Pacific Bank, and Certified Grocers of California, in addition to consulting for other companies and organizations.

Health fairs have been a cornerstone of much of the work Gina has done. As director of education for the American Cancer Society, Gina coordinated their booth and volunteer efforts at hundreds of community, hospital, and workplace health fairs. She strived to assure that each event had an interactive cancer learning center with knowledgeable volunteers rather than a "warm body" with a pile of brochures.

At worksites, Gina planned and coordinated multiple-site health fairs—the largest effort was at Security Pacific Bank where she and her colleagues, with only six weeks of planning time, coordinated 16 comprehensive health fairs throughout California with over 12,000 employees in attendance.