Leadership

Emily (she/her) has lived with depression for many years. She is intimately familiar with depression - how it can make even the simplest of tasks seemingly impossible to complete, how it keeps us from laughing or enjoying things we used to enjoy, and most unsettlingly, how it robs us of all hope of getting better. She thought of Cereal for Dinner when she was looking for an online resource that could help her in getting by and living life during a depressive episode. When she didn't find one, Cereal for Dinner was born.

Emily holds a BA in Health & Societies from the University of Pennsylvania, where she started the school's first in-person peer counseling program, Penn Benjamins, and a Master's in Medical Science from Brown, where she was formerly a medical student. In her free time, she enjoys crafting, going on walks, trying to get her Spanish skills back, and playing with her cat/child, Noodle.

‍

Amanda Magee, MBA (she/her) has over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurial companies, managing finance, and directing & managing operational improvements, and setting & executing strategic directions. She has served as the C.F.O of four successful companies, including TracRac, Fabrico Inc., and her current position as the C.F.O. of Curtis Industries.

Amanda has significant experience educating and improving the discipline of organizations to ensure accurate transactions and improve accuracy of financials. She has implemented company- wide metrics to align the organization with its mission and drive performance, and well as led monthly management reviews to evaluate the organization's performance against its key metrics.

Amanda is also skilled at working with start-up companies, having built financial systems from scratch and educated employees on importance of following procedures. She has also worked with HR departments to promote consistency in management behavior, increase supervisor skills through regular trainings, and promoting a culture of learning and teaching.

Dr. William Alexander (he/his) served as the Executive Director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at the University of Pennsylvania for nearly a decade, where he managed a staff of almost 50 clinical mental health professionals, and oversaw several programs to improve access and quality of services offered to the student body. Multiculturalism, social justice and mental health issues impacting young adults have been a major focus of his professional work. He has worked as a psychologist in a variety of settings throughout New Jersey.

He has taught in the Graduate School at Temple University and began his work in higher education by serving as the Dean of Students at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ.

He earned his Masters and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Temple University. Dr. Alexander lives with his wife, also mental health professional, in Pennington, NJ, where they enjoy biking, golf, and other outdoor activities.

Sandy, MS, CPS, (she/her) is a mental health advocate with a BA in Psychology and a Master's in Mental Health Counseling. Initially, she worked as a therapist but shifted her focus and became a Certified Peer Specialist. She has been a NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) presenter at inpatient facilities since 2019.

Sandy is also a blogger, web content writer, and ghostwriter who draws from her lived history, professional experience, and education. She has several published articles and blogs through NAMI, The Mighty, the Australian platform Talked, and various other websites and mental health agencies.

‍

Dr. Dorothy Borresen (she/her) is a clinical psychologist, and a family psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. She is Professor Emerita at Rutgers University after twenty-five years as an Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of Behavioral Science at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.

Dr. Borresen has been in private practice for more than thirty years where she practices both psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. She completed a doctorate in clinical psychology from Temple University and a Master’s in psychiatric nursing from University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Borresen has held leadership positions in nursing and healthcare, ranging from the past president of the Society of Psychiatric Advanced Practice Nurses (SPAPN) to the executive board of APN-New Jersey, a grassroots organization that advocates for quality and access to healthcare in New Jersey.

‍

Paloma Suárez (she/her) was most recently the Director of Wellness and Care Navigation for Boston Community Pediatrics and is an incoming PhD student at Cornell University studying community nutrition. Before immigrating to the US, Paloma's experience growing up in the Dominican Republic illuminated the way extreme disparities between social classes, particularly regarding access to healthy foods, can lead to higher incidences of disease. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Nutrition & Dietetics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Paloma worked as the Senior Nutritionist and Breastfeeding Coordinator at Berkshire South’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. Recognizing similar health disparities in the US, Paloma received her master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Upon completing her dietetic internship, she received the 2019 New Hampshire Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Outstanding Dietetic Student Award, given to students in recognition of their emerging leadership and achievements in dietetics. She currently holds many positions on boards throughout MA. Paloma’s service in response to screening for social determinants of health during the COVID- 19 pandemic was recently featured on WBUR/NPR; later, Paloma received the State and National Excellence in AmeriCorps Innovative Service Award.

Eran Magen, Ph.D. (he/his), is the founder and CEO of Early Alert, a service for preventing crisis among students and employees. Dr. Magen received his M.A. in education and Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University, and served as the research director for the department of Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Pennsylvania. In his free time, Dr. Magen teaches parents how to build strong, supportive relationships with their children through the Parenting For Humans initiative.

‍