Charla Rios, a 2015 alumna of the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health, is excited about her work as the senior project director and food retail environment coordinator at Counter Tools, a consulting group based in Carrboro, North Carolina.

Charla visits a food retail location for Counter Tools. (Photo by Judith Winkler)

Charla visits a food retail location for Counter Tools. (Photo by Judith Winkler)

The organization, co-founded in 2012 by Dr. Kurt Ribisl, professor and chair in the Gillings School’s Department of Health Behavior, and health behavior alumna Dr. Allison Myers, aims to provide tools, training and technical assistance to public health practitioners and researchers across 18 U.S. states.

As project director, Charla helps clients and partners collect and share data to inform policy change. She works particularly with the Minnesota Department of Health to assess potential policy options and interventions for tobacco and food at the local level in that state.

“At Counter Tools, we work with communities to obtain the data they need to make informed decisions,” Charla shares. “We help by troubleshooting and setting up a data process so that all the information community leaders need is online in one place.”

Charla says communities may want to look at data about tobacco, food or alcohol.

“The cool thing,” she says, “is that the information we collect within a community isn’t available anywhere else.”

In 2015, Charla completed the dual master’s degree program that combines health behavior (in the Gillings School) with city and regional planning (in the College of Arts and Sciences). She says having both degrees allows her to see her work through two lenses.

Charla (at left) and Maryka LIer co-chaired the 35th annual Minority Health Conference.

Charla (at left) and Maryka Lier co-chaired the 35th annual Minority Health Conference.

“If I speak to a client about planning and policy approaches related to the introduction of a food retailer initiative, I can look at benefits and drawbacks from both perspectives.”

A native of Asheboro, N.C., Charla has worked in the public health arena for several years. She began as a campus wellness educator while completing a bachelor’s degree in health education and promotion at East Carolina University. That was followed by three years with Carolina’s Alliance of AIDS Services, where she provided HIV risk-reduction education and conducted rapid HIV testing and HIV-prevention education at nightclubs and community events.

All of her most impassioned work – including co-chairing the Gillings School’s 2014 Minority Health Conference – has been aimed at eliminating health inequities. That’s another reason Counter Tools is a great place for her to be now.

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