Amy E. Dark, DNP, MSN-PH, BA, RN

Director

Amy E. Dark, DNP, MSN-PH, BA, RN, serves as the Director of SHIELD and practiced school nursing and taught health education in Rhode Island for 16 years. She served on the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) nursing education team (2024-2025), Board of Directors (2019-2024), Executive Committee (2021-2023), and chaired the NASN Ethics Committee. She is a member of the Maine Association of School Nurses and Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society of Nursing. Amy channeled her passion for school nursing, public health promotion, and vaccine advocacy in her Doctor of Nursing Practice scholarly project focused on the role of the school nurse in Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine hesitancy.

Amy’s recent presentations include NASN2025, National Consumer League, CDC, Alliance for a Healthier Generation, National HPV conference 2025, and Medscape.

Amy and her husband Irving enjoy traveling in their RV with their Welsh Corgi, Rhys, spending time with their adult children, dancing, and volunteering. Connect with Amy on LinkedIn.

Jacquelyn M. Buige Raco, MSN, MEd, CSSHS, CSN

Assistant Director

With more than three decades of nursing experience—and over twenty years as a certified school nurse—Jacquelyn has built a career distinguished by depth, versatility, and leadership. Her professional journey includes pediatric bone marrow transplant nursing, district-level school health administration, university-level program direction and teaching, and serving as a nursing education and practice specialist for NASN.

An accomplished author, conference speaker, and passionate advocate for school health, Jacquelyn has been recognized with numerous awards, including PA Southeast Region School Nurse of the Year, PA Southeast Region School Nurse Administrator of the Year, and PA School Nurse Administrator of the Year.

Driven by a deep commitment to excellence in nursing practice, education, and leadership, she continues to champion the vital role of school nurses and advance student health nationwide. Connect with Jacquelyn on LinkedIn.

Lesly Zapata, MPH

Senior Program Manager

Lesly Zapata, MPH, is a program manager who joined the CCE in October 2020. She currently supports SHIELD (School Health Institute for Education and Leadership Development). She works with the Boston University School of Public Health Community Health Sciences department to provide accredited educational programs.

Alyssa Faria, MPH

Training Manager

Alyssa joined SHIELD as their full-time Training Manager in 2024. Prior to SHIELD, she was an Instructional Designer for the New England Public Health Training Center at Boston University, and from 2008 – 2021, employed in various academic technology roles at Northeastern University.

Alyssa was honored as the 2024 MAPHN Champion of Public Health Nurses and was a recipient of the BU Think.Teach.Do.Award in 2022. She holds a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Human Services from Northeastern University, as well as ATD Instructional Design Certification. Connect with Alyssa on LinkedIn.

Ernestina Sena

Administrative Coordinator

Ernestina Sena joined the CCE in April 2022. As the SHIELD Administrative Coordinator, she works with the program manager and director of SHIELD to offer customer service to our learners, to create activities in our learning management system, and to track registrations and financial transactions for the program.

Ilana Hardesty, MA

CCE Assistant Director, Operations

Ilana Hardesty, MA, joined the CCE as a program manager in 2007. Ilana has a background working as a project manager in several science and arts based organizations. Ilana is in charge of affiliate programs, Internet-based CE activities, and several of our enduring material activities. She is also Program Operations Manager for SCOPE of Pain, a multi-year project funded by the first grant awarded to address the FDA-mandated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy for ER/LA Opioid Analgesics.

Rashmi Paudel, MPH, BSc Nursing, DrPH(c)

Evaluation Coordinator

Rashmi Paudel is a public health practitioner and a fourth year Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate at Boston University School of Public Health. She joined School Health Institute for Education and Leadership Development (SHIELD) as a fellow in 2022.

Prior to joining Boston University, Rashmi worked in Nepal for more than a decade providing sustainable quality healthcare to vulnerable/marginalized populations, including as a nurse. Rashmi has also worked in various capacities with government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and research institutions from Nepal, the Netherlands, and the United States. Rashmi’s notable contributions include designing a model program for urban poor populations in collaboration with the Government of Nepal. She is currently studying, for her dissertation project, people living with HIV/AIDS who are at the risk of treatment failure in Cape Town, South Africa, focusing on health system strengthening and health economics.

She is committed to her life purpose of “creating policies that empower communities and ensure sustainable quality health services to the marginalized."

Trish Elliott, DrPH

Principal Investigator

Trish Elliott, DrPH, is a Clinical Associate Professor and the Associate Chair of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health. She began working with the SHIELD team in 2021. Working with and for school nurses has been a career highlight! Dr. Elliott has decades of expertise in child and adolescent access to health services, school health, leadership development, and health policies at the local state and federal levels. She is an award-winning educator recognized for innovation and her approach to workforce development. Dr. Elliott is also skilled in mixed-methods evaluation, implementation science, and economic analyses.

When she's not working to improve the health of children and families, Trish is enjoying her own amazing kids, their two energetic dogs, and two sweet cats. Connect with Trish on LinkedIn.

Katie Davis, MPH

Education Program Manager

Katie Davis, MPH, joined SHIELD as a Digital Media and Communications intern in 2022. In her current role as an Education Program Manager, Katie primarily works on developing training materials, supporting course coordination, and maintaining continuous quality improvement processes at SHIELD. She received her Master of Public Health from the Boston University School of Public Health.

Helen Meckstroth, MSW

Communications and Operations Intern

Helen Meckstroth joined SHIELD in 2024 as the Communications and Operations Intern. In her role, she primarily updates and distributes the bi-weekly Massachusetts School Health Services newsletter to school nurses across MA. Helen received her MSW from Boston University School of Social Work and is currently an MPH candidate at the Boston University School of Public Health.

Rhea Fernandes, BDS

Think. Teach. Do. (TTD) Fellow

Rhea Fernandes is a TTD Fellow with SHIELD and an MPH candidate at Boston University School of Public Health. In her role, she supports SHIELD’s professional development efforts by facilitating the Multimedia DEIJ Book Club curating materials and guiding discussions on equity-centered topics relevant to school health, and contributing to the development of an oral health training program for school nurses. Rhea is a foreign-trained dentist with experience in clinical care, health education, and community-based prevention.