Meet the Staff
Our People
Meet the Staff
Amy McDonald, MS, CHWP
Director, Health Promotion
Pronouns: she/her/hers
(585) 273-5770
amcdonald@uhs.rochester.edu
UHS Building, 4th floor
As the Director of the Health Promotion Office, Amy strives to create a thriving culture of well-being for our campus community. During the past fifteen years, she has created, developed, implemented, and evaluated health education and health promotion programs for the corporate and higher education sectors. Her areas of expertise include strategic planning and program development, as well as the topics of mental well-being and mindfulness meditation. Amy is passionate about advancing a comprehensive, inclusive, and progressive student well-being model which creates the conditions for students to flourish. Her work moves beyond traditional approaches of influencing individual behavior towards systems level and environmental strategies that influence the well-being of the whole campus culture. She believes that utilizing a public health approaches to improve well-being is how we can truly become ever-better
Amy has a BA in Brain and Cognitive Science from the University of Rochester and an MS in Leadership in Healthcare Systems with a focus on Health Promotion and Education from the University of Rochester’s School of Nursing. She is a trained mindfulness teacher, Level II Reiki practitioner, completed her College Health and Wellness Professional certificate from the American College Health Association (ACHA), and completed a certificate program for Executive Women in Leadership from Cornell University.
Rebecca Block, MS, CHES, RYT 200
Health Promotion Specialist, Student Well-Being
Pronouns: she/her/hers
(585) 273-5772
rblock@uhs.rochester.edu
UHS Building, 4th floor
As the Health Promotion Specialist – Student Well-Being, Rebecca plays an integral part the planning, implementation, and evaluation of theory- and evidence-informed health promotion strategies, programs, and services to enhance student well-being with a primary emphasis on student mental health / flourishing and graduate student well-being. Other than student-facing programs, she directs trainings to faculty and staff that offer practical skills which allow them to support the well-being of the students they serve. She also serves as the Program Director of the Mindful University Project, working closely with the 7 schools of the University, as well as a variety of administrative departments, to integrate a culture of mindfulness across the campus.
Rebecca has a BA in Health, Behavior and Society from the University of Rochester and an MS in Community Health Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), Yoga Alliance Certified Yoga Instructor (RYT 200), Certified Koru Mindfulness Teacher, and completed her College Health and Wellness Professional certificate from the American College Health Association (ACHA).
Zoe Black
Health Promotion Specialist, Health Equity
Pronouns: she/her/hers
(585) 273-5774
zblack@uhs.rochester.edu
UHS Building, 4th floor
As the Health Promotion Specialist – Health Equity, Zoe is responsible for planning, implementation, and evaluation of the sexual health and health equity programming and services offered by the UHS Health Promotion Office. Some specific populations that Zoe focuses on are LGBTQ+ students and First-Generation Students. Zoe also supervises our Peer Health Advocate team of students. Aside from student-facing programming, Zoe also leads the UHS Employee Wellness Committee to provide wellness programming and efforts to UHS staff.
Zoe has a BA in Health, Behavior, and Society, as well as BA in Business from the University of Rochester. She is a certified SafeZone Facilitator and has completed her College Health and Wellness Professional certificate from the American College Health Association (ACHA).
Danielle D’Onofrio
Health Promotion Specialist, Alcohol and Other Drugs Education
Pronouns: she/her/hers
ddonofrio@uhs.rochester.edu
UHS Building, 4th floor
As the Health Promotion Specialist – Alcohol and Other Drugs Education (AOD), Danielle is responsible for the planning, implementing and evaluating of alcohol and other drugs education programming. She works with student organizations, individuals and other parts of the campus community to promote harm reduction practices. Danielle also assists in supervising our Peer Health Advocate team of students and a graduate assistant.
Danielle has a BS in Psychology and Public Health from SUNY Brockport, and a MS in Higher Education from the University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education. She is a Certified Education Specialist (CHES), a certified SafeZone Facilitator and has also completed the Trauma Informed Care certificate program from University of Buffalo.
Jack Earnhart, BM
Prevention Coordinator, University Health Service
jacob_earnhart@urmc.rochester.edu
Jack Earnhart is the Prevention Coordinator at University of Rochester’s University Health Service. In this role, he works to advance and promote the wellbeing and performance health of musicians through strategic, data driven approaches. He has special interests in adaptive technologies for musicians, orofacial performance physiology, and the completion of translational research to provide performers and pedagogues with novel data to enhance their teaching artistry. Earnhart is currently spearheading a series of collaborative studies between the URMC Health Lab, Eastman Performing Arts Medicine, and the Eastman School of Music to better understand facial muscle activation and exertion in brass instrument performance.
Sanjana Santhosh Kumar
Graduate Student, Graduate Student Well-being
Dental Resident, Eastman Institute for Oral Health
Pronouns: she/her
sanjana_santhoshkumar@urmc.rochester.edu
Sanjana is a final year dental resident at the Department of General Dentistry at Eastman Institute for Oral Health. She is always eager to address the needs of students and design something tailored to their specific need. She enjoys conducting events and fairs for mental health and wellbeing and loves integrating technology into healthcare to enhance outcomes. With an experience as a professionally trained classical dancer over 15+ years, she encourage people around her to dedicate time for hobbies and extracurricular activities to help them do what they enjoy doing outside their routine work.
Zhilin Zhang
Program Assistant, Eastman School of Music Wellness
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Major: Ph.D. in Music Education
Zhilin Zhang is a second-year Ph.D. student in Music Education at the Eastman School of Music. She serves as the Health Promotion Program Assistant for Eastman Performing Arts Medicine and UHS. With her expertise in music and education, Zhilin is dedicated to fostering wellness at Eastman, guiding students to develop healthy habits for sustained well-being. Additionally, she is passionate about collecting health data and conducting wellness research to effectively enhance student wellness in a sustainable manner.
Peer Health Advocacy
Summer Koltay
Senior Peer Health Advocate
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Summer is a senior majoring in Health, Behavior, and Society & Anthropology. She is primarily focused on promoting mental wellness and health equity on campus. As a first generation student she is passionate about encouraging the use of resources on campus and working on programs specifically for first generation students, especially first years. Summer is also Publicity Chair of SUPHS and is local to the Rochester area.
Aliya Peremel
Peer Health Advocate
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Aliya is a sophomore majoring in Russian & Health Policy. She is focused primarily on reproductive health and body image and is excited to run programming and spread awareness relating to these two topics. Aliya is also the secretary of SUPHS and is conducting research through the URMC Health Lab.
Madison Zeng
Peer Health Advocate
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Madison Zeng is currently a sophomore and hails from Flushing, Queens. Her goal is to obtain a degree in Public Health with a concentration in Health, Behavior, and Society while adhering to the Pre-Medical Track. Furthermore, she is working to obtain her Certificate of Community Engaged Learning through collaboration and meaningful impact with the Rochester community. Across her various endeavors, Madison is committed to supporting individuals through cultural competence and empowering marginalized communities while promoting the inclusivity of diverse populations and identities.
Roni Kirson
Peer Health Advocate
Pronouns: she/they
Roni is a senior double majoring in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Political Science, Philosophy, and Economics Program with a minor in dance. She is mainly focused on substance use and mental health issues on campus, seeking to improve health equity and general well-being for students through harm reduction, education, and community-building programs. Roni also serves in leadership roles at the Interfaith Chapel and in the Undergraduate Philosophy Council. She is originally from Cambridge, MA.
Samantha Michaud
Peer Health Advocate
Pronouns: she/they
Sam is a senior from Pittsford, New York. She is majoring in Psychology and Health, Behavior & Society. She is passionate about promoting access and awareness to mental health and reproductive health services to students. She is also Vice President of Member Education in Delta Gamma Sorority on campus and has done psychology research at Mt. Hope Family Center.
Simrun Rao
Peer Health Advocate
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Simrun is a senior majoring in Health, Behavior, and Society. Simrun is predominantly focused on promoting nourishment and body image on campus. She hopes to reduce stress levels around campus, promote self-acceptance, and mindful eating through accessible care such as mindfulness and yoga. Simrun is also the vice president of SUPHS and a public health research assistant with a hometown of Bay Area, California.
UR Student Health Advisory Committee (URSHAC)
Chaired by UR undergraduate students, URSHAC offers an opportunity for students to have a direct impact on the healthcare services offered to them on campus. The committee meets with representatives of the University Health Service, University Counseling Center, and Health Promotions Office to share ideas, offer suggestions, and discuss concerns of the student body. Our meetings are every three weeks and open to all students, with regular participation and mediation by committee members.
Attending URSHAC meetings is a great way to cultivate change on the services offered and concerns pertaining to UR students. We actively participate in change on campus by structuring subcommittees around topics such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, understanding UHS, and understanding UCC. In the past our subcommittees have created and supplied materials to the student body to aid our understanding of the resources at hand. As a committee we also work with HPO to run programs to help disseminate information about resources as well.
URSHAC is chaired by:
Wilson Peng (he/him)
Executive Chair
Madison Zeng (she/her)
Administrative Chair
Avril Huang (she/her)
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chair
Karis Kelly (she/they)
Publicity and Outreach Chair
Fill out this form, we’ll review your application, and email you with a decision for appointment.
Meeting time and location TBD for Fall 2024.
Everyone! Meetings are mediated by the executive board, with committee members and any other attending students welcome to participate in conversations with UHS, UCC, and HPO administration.
You can reach us through our email URSHAC.chair@gmail.com, or our instagram @ur.shac. Feel free to reach out with any comments, questions, or concerns.
You may provide feedback to URSHAC using our feedback form. Through this form you can offer up any feedback for us to address as a committee, or any feedback/comments you would like us to address with UHS/UCC/HPO administration in an upcoming committee meeting. You may provide feedback to UHS Primary Care or the University Counseling Center using their feedback forms for UHS Primary Care and UCC. These concerns will go directly to UHS Primary Care and UCC, respectively.