We connect communities, health centers, and public agencies to share knowledge, drive solutions, and improve public health.
Zoelene is a public health leader, researcher, and strategist committed to advancing health equity through community-driven systems change. As Founder and Principal Investigator of Community Partnerships in Health, she leads initiatives that unite communities, health centers, and public agencies to co-create knowledge, build capacity, and drive policy and practice change across the life course.
Zoelene is a mixed methods researcher with expertise in maternal health, early childhood systems, and community-rooted policy design. She has also led work in adolescent behavioral health, healthy aging, and urban and rural health. She has served as Principal Investigator on projects funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Doris Duke Foundation, Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, Health Foundation for Western and Central New York, Spencer Foundation, and Foundation for Child Development.
Zoelene’s approach is grounded in lived experience and deep partnership. As a former high school teacher, she witnessed the insight and clarity young people bring to public policy issues, a formative experience that inspires her lifelong commitment to elevating community voice. She has spent years working alongside grassroots organizations, learning from the wisdom of youth, elders, and advocates to inform research, advocacy, and systems transformation. Her collaboration with East Harlem residents led to the co-creation of Resident-led Research, Policy, and Power (RRPP), a framework that centers community leadership in decision-making.
Before founding Community Partnerships in Health, Zoelene worked in leading research organizations, where she led mixed-methods research and evaluation projects and provided technical assistance and training on local, state, and federal initiatives focused on early childhood systems and workforce development. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Duke University’s Sanford School, a Master’s in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Bachelor’s degree in Politics from Princeton University. Zoelene serves on the boards of nonprofit organizations focused on education and the arts. She is also a wife and mother of two daughters.
Kana Tateishi, MS, is a public health researcher with experience in mixed methods research, evaluation, and technical assistance in health areas including maternal health, healthy aging and clinical algorithms. Her background is in computational, social, and civil rights research. She received her BA and MS in Social Research from Hunter College and is currently pursuing studies in GIS at NOVA University of Lisbon.
Dr. Kumbie Madondo is a researcher and program evaluator with more than 15 years of experience assessing systems change and equity-focused initiatives. She brings methodological expertise in evaluating the implementation and outcomes of place-based efforts that advance racial and health equity. Her work spans health disparities, social determinants of health, food insecurity, housing, prevention of adverse childhood experiences, community engagement, and health policy. She partners with nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies to translate research and evaluation findings into actionable policies that improve community well-being. Dr. Madondo has co-authored several influential resources, including Project ECHO® Evaluation 101: A Practical Guide for Evaluating Your Program and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Step-by-Step Guide to Evaluation: How to Become Savvy Evaluation Consumers. She earned her PhD in Sociology from Virginia Tech University as a National Science Foundation graduate scholar and has served as an adjunct professor at Hunter College, City University of New York, teaching Applied Evaluation.