Keene State Honors Outstanding Women

Keene State College’s Twenty-Third Annual Outstanding Women of New Hampshire Awards Celebrates Four New Recipients

Keene State College’s twenty-third annual Outstanding Women of New Hampshire awards were given last evening to four new awardees. The awards, which are given during National Women’s History Month to honor New Hampshire women’s accomplishments and creativity, recognizes:

• Dr. Trinidad Tellez, a community-based physician, academic, and Director of the Office of Minority Health and Refugee Affairs at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services whose work furthers the welfare and health of humanity.
• Keene State College’s Dr. Loren Launen, an outstanding contributor to the sciences at Keene State College, and beyond, for her scholarship and academic accomplishments.
• Dr. Yvonne Goldsberry, senior director of community health at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene, who serves the community in diverse and essential ways through her professional work and her dedication to the issue of public health.
• Deena Snoke, a Keene State Senior and Biology major who has conducted research in developmental toxicology under the direction of Professor Susan Whittemore, and represents Keene State College in national forums as a result of her academic work.

The Outstanding Women of New Hampshire event is sponsored by the Campus Commission on the Status of Women.

More background on each of the recipients is below:

Dr. Trinidad Tellez: Her work furthers the welfare and health of humanity. Her career as a community-based physician, academic, and currently as Director of the Office of Minority Health and Refugee Affairs at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services shows us that the goals of science can be aligned with social goals, and that scientific knowledge and study can offer hope of, perhaps even hold the key to, a healthier, happier world. Dr. Tellez has consistently worked to advance health and equity statewide by engaging a wide range of organizations and individuals to participate in the cause. Her vision has led to the development of the NH Health and Equity Partnership. Her approach is based on the recognition that a number of factors – biological, social, and cultural – play into health and wellbeing. The breadth of her vision and the dedication with which she makes it reality, coupled with her expertise as a physician and woman of science, are admirable and inspiring.

Dr. Loren Launen: She has been an outstanding contributor to science at Keene State College and beyond. As an environmental microbiologist who specializes in the study of microbial communities that degrade pollutants, she has received prestigious grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health which attest to the value and importance of her work. Dr. Launen’s scholarship has been presented at national and international conferences and published in prestigious journals. In addition to collaborating with other women scientists across the country, she has been an outstanding teacher and mentor, communicating to students the knowledge, as well as the sense of curiosity, awe, and mystery necessary to pursue the study of nature. Several female students have been especially motivated by her and inspired to pursue careers or higher education in biology or biotechnology. Dr. Launen also uses her expertise to further conservation efforts in the Keene area.

Dr. Yvonne Goldsberry: She has served the community in diverse and essential ways. As the senior director of community health at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene, she has worked with various state and local community organizations to design and implement collaborative community health improvement programs. In her previous function as administrator of the Community Public Health Development Unit for the State of New Hampshire, she helped guide the development of the New Hampshire Public Health Network. Dr. Goldsberry’s contributions to the state of New Hampshire and the Monadnock area go far beyond the professional. Her dedication to the issue of public health has led her to serve on the Advisory Council of the Endowment for Health in Concord, to become the co-chair of the New Hampshire Citizen’s Health Initiative, and to be appointed to serve on the New Hampshire Governor’s Commission on Childhood Obesity and the New Hampshire Public Health Improvement Council. Dr. Goldsberry remains accessible to those who wish to learn about public and community health, and she has been an inspirational force to students of Health Science—many of them from Keene State College—whom she has mentored over the years.

Deena Snoke: Her career as a woman in science is already very impressive. As a Biology major, she has conducted research in developmental toxicology under the direction of Professor Susan Whittemore, presenting findings periodically at local, regional, and national conferences. After being invited to work in the lab of Dr. Leslie Henderson of Dartmouth College for two consecutive summers, her proposal to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research was accepted, and she will be representing Keene State College at this prestigious event in April. As a senior, Ms. Snoke has applied to several graduate programs in neurobiology to continue to develop her interest and knowledge of this particular field with a focus on prevalent developmental neural disorders, such as autism. She plans to work as an advocate for those who suffer from these disorders. For the past three summers, Ms. Snoke worked as an Orientation Leader at Keene State College, and has proved to be an outstanding and remarkable leader. In fact, she has served as NH-INBRE Summer Undergraduate Research Coordinator at Dartmouth Medical School, where she was responsible for providing all of the ongoing orientation needs for a 12-student undergraduate research fellow cohort for 10 weeks.