Staff Bios

Photograph of Abbey Alkon Abbey Alkon, RN, Ph.D. is the Director of the California Childcare Health Program (CCHP) and Professor at UCSF School of Nursing Department of Family Health Care Nursing. Dr. Alkon earned her Pediatric Nurse Practitioner/MSN and MPH degrees at the Columbia University and her doctorate in Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Alkon is the Principal Investigator on the CCHP projects and Investigator on the CHAMACOS project, University of California, Berkeley Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health. Her child care publications include:

Selected Publications

  1. Alkon A, Sokal-Gutierrez K, Wolff, M. Child Care Health Consultation Improves Health Knowledge and Compliance. Pediatric Nursing, 28(1), 61-65, 2002.
  2. Alkon A, Ramler M., MacLennan K. Evaluation of mental health consultation in child care centers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 31(2), 91-99, 2003.
  3. Farrer J, Alkon, A, To, K. Child care health consultation programs: Barriers and opportunities. Maternal Child Health Journal. 11(2):111-8, 2007.
  4. Alkon, A, Bernzweig, J, To, K, Mackie, J, Wolff, M, Elman, J. Child Care Health Consultation Programs in California: Models, Services and Facilitators. Public Health Nursing. 25(2):126-139, 2008.
  5. Bernzweig, J, Ramler, M, Alkon, A. Mental health consultation in early childhood classrooms. Zero to Three. 30(1): 47-51, 2009.
  6. Alkon A, Bernzweig J, To K, Wolff M, Mackie, JF. Child care health consultation improves health and safety policies and practices. Academic Pediatrics. 9(5): 366-370, 2009.
  7. Alkon, A, To, K, Mackie, JF, Wolff, M, Bernzweig, J. Health and safety needs in early care and education programs: What do directors, child health records, and national standards tell us? Public Health Nursing, 27(1), 3-16, 2010.
  8. Kalmar, E, Ivey, S, Bradman, A, Leonard, V, Alkon A. Implementing an integrated pest management (IPM) program in child care centers: A qualitative study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 29, 2014: 245-254.
  9. Alkon, A, Crowley, AA, Benjamin Neelon, SE, Hill, S, Pan, Y, Nguyen, V, Rose, R, Savage, E, Shipman, L, Kotch, J. Nutrition and physical activity intervention in child care improves knowledge, policies, and children's body mass index. BMC Public Health. 14: 215, 2014. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-215
  10. Alkon, A, Rose, R, Wolff, M, Kotch, JB, Aronson, SS. Health and safety checklist for early care and education programs to assess National Health and Safety Standards. Maternal and Child Health Journal. Jan;20(1):114-27, 2016. doi: 10.1007/s10995-015-1809-8
  11. Alkon A, Nouredini S, Swartz A, Sutherland AS, Stephens M, Davidson N, Rose R. Integrated pest management intervention in child care centers improves knowledge, pest control, and practices. Journal of Pediatric Health Care. Nov-Dec.; 30(6): e27-e41, 2016. doi: 10.1016/j.pedhc.2016.07.004.
  12. Stephens M, Hazard K, Moser D, Cox D, Rose R, Alkon A. An integrated pest management intervention improves knowledge, pest control, and practices in family child care homes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 14: 1299, 2017. doi: 10.3390/ijerph141112999.
  13. Alkon A, Rose R, Hazard K, Moser D. National health and safety standards: Family child care homes compared to child care centers. Journal of Pediatric Health Care. 35(1): 5-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2020.03.004. 
  14. Hashikawa AN, Sells JM, DeJonge PM, Alkon A, Martin ET, Shope TR. Child care in the time of Coronavirus disease-19: A period of challenge and opportunity. J of Pediatrics, 225:239-245. DOI:10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.07.042
  15. Hazard K, Lee D, Ritchie L, Rose R, Diaz Rios LK, Plank K, Alkon A. Development of an online curriculum for California early care and education providers on healthy beverages. Early Childhood Education Journal. In Press.
  16. Ritchie LD, Keeton V, Lee DL, Gurzo K, Vitale EH, Au LE, Alkon A. Nutrition standards for infants and young children can be implemented by family child care home providers. Global Pediatric Health, In Press.
  17. Lee DL, Alkon A, Plank K, Neelon M, Diaz Rios LK, Hecht CE, Ritchie LD. Self-paced online training on healthy beverage policy for child care providers. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, In Press.     

Evelyn Grace Bigini, RN, MSc (she/her/hers) is a Child Care Health Consultant at the UCSF California Childcare Health Program (CCHP). Evelyn is a Registered Nurse with two Master of Science degrees in Global Health (Delivery) from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. Her theses focused on environmental health, food sovereignty, and curriculum development. Evelyn has experience working on multidisciplinary teams focusing on (refugee) children's wellbeing. She is passionate about climate change and human rights, and she attended the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27). Evelyn currently recruits and consults with child care centers in the Central Valley for the Healthy Children and Environments Study (HCES).

 

Photograph of Kim Hazard Kim Hazard, MS, is a Graduate Student Researcher for the UCSF School of Nursing, California Childcare Health Program (CCHP). She has 7 years of experience working with child care providers and environmental health scientists to promote environmentally healthy practices in child care and conduct research on exposures in children’s environments. She develops health and safety materials, trainings, and presentations on environmental health and coordinates the Healthy Children and Environments Study (HCES).

Photograph of Judith Kunitz Judith Kunitz, MA, is a Child Care Health Consultant at the UCSF California Childcare Health Program and has been part of the program for five years. She holds a Masters in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College. Ms. Kunitz has 40 years of experience in the field of Early Care and Education including fifteen years as a Head Start Health Services Manager in various San Francisco Bay Area Head Start agencies. Presently, she is the Project Coordinator/Health and Safety Trainer on the Office of Head Start National Center on Health, Behavior Health and Safety grant providing training and technical assistance on environmental health, physical health, staff wellness, infectious disease, and injury prevention. Ms. Kunitz is highly-skilled in providing quality health and safety training and technical assistance for Early Care and Education providers and families.