Events

Tammy Boyd
Black Women's Health Imperative
Chief Policy Officer & Sr. Counsel

Tammy Boyd is the Chief Policy Officer & Sr. Counsel for Black Women’s Health Imperative. She has extensive experience in creating and executing federal legislative policy strategy and facilitating outreach to members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Previously Ms. Boyd served as Managing Partner, for TKB Global Strategies, LLC/Watts Partners, where she successfully executed government affairs strategies through engagement of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), and Department of Veteran Affairs.

Along with her past roles in corporate with DaVita, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson, Boyd also served as Legislative Director for Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) where she exercised oversight over legislative activities within the office, including tax, trade, health care (Medicare, Medicaid, and Graduate Medical Education), financial services, judiciary and energy. She was the senior staffer that drafted the legislation elevating the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities at NIH now an Institute. Tammy is a member of the American Bar Association, National Bar Association, Mississippi Bar Association, American Public Health Association, and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She received an M.P.H. degree from Emory University School of Public Health and a Juris Doctorate degree from American University, Washington College of Law.

Phillip S. Gardiner, Dr. P.H.
African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council 
Co-Chair

Dr. Phillip Gardiner is a Public Health activist, administrator, evaluator and researcher. For the past 25 years, he has worked on studies ranging from Hypertension, Multiculturalism and AIDS, to Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Diabetes and Smoking. For the past 20 years, Dr. Gardiner has lectured around the country on African American health disparities generally and menthol smoking in the Black Community, particularly.

Dr. Gardiner recently retired as the Senior Program Officer for the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP), University of California Office of the President, a position he had been in since 1997. Dr. Gardiner is currently the Co-Chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC), a group of Black professionals dedicated to fighting the scourge of tobacco impacting African American communities both in California and nationally.

Gabe Glissmeyer 
National LGBT Cancer Network 
Project Specialist

Gabriel Glissmeyer is a Project Specialist at the National LGBT Cancer Network and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. His work focuses on LGBTQ tobacco initiatives and helping build and organize coalitions. For over 10 years Gabriel has worked in tobacco prevention and cessation and LGBTQ exercise science. He received his Bachelors degree in Exercise Science from Augsburg University and is currently working on his Masters of Public Health at Utah State University. Gabriel is passionate about LGBTQ health, reducing health disparities, and increasing scientific literacy. In his free time, Gabriel enjoys reading, cooking, and traveling. Gabriel is a black Ashkenazi Jew that identifies as trans and queer.

Delmonte Jefferson
Center for Black Health & Equity 
Executive Director

Delmonte Jefferson is the Executive Director of The Center for Black Health & Equity, a national organization that facilitates public health programs to benefit people of African descent. For more than 20 years he has used his background in public health program administration to work with a cross sector of public and private entities to create programs and services that promote a culture of health equity for youth and disenfranchised populations. His highly diversified portfolio includes managing and directing state public health programs in Georgia, Louisiana and North Carolina. He has worked with national, state, and local legislators to help shape policies in support of smoke-free establishments and restrictions on the sale of menthols and other flavored tobacco products. Mr. Jefferson is Chair of the Georgia Smoke-Free Tobacco Coalition, Secretary of the North American Quit-line Consortium, a member of the Coalition to Ban Menthol and the lead organizer of the State of Black Health Biennial Conference.

Deidre Sully
Public Health Solutions 
Sr. Director of Health Policy & Community Affairs

Deidre Sully is an experienced Public Health professional with a career spanning over 15 years. She began her career in research, managing a multi-center gastric cancer clinical trial which included several major medical institutions nationwide. In 2017, she stepped into her current role as Director of the leading NYC-based tobacco control policy and advocacy program. Deidre drives the program’s strategies and mission to create tobacco-free norms by expanding smoke-free protections for all residents. Deidre has been featured on City and State NY Magazine’s 40 under 40 list (2018), produced an award-winning documentary; NYCHA Goes Smoke-Free. The film chronicles the New York City Housing Authority’s path to implementing their smoke-free policy. Her passion for reproductive health is demonstrated in her role as Outreach Coordinator for Red Wrap, a community service initiative of ANU Life Global Ministries. Red Wrap provides feminine hygiene supplies to homeless women and liaises with shelters to host events to distribute donations. Meanwhile, over $5,000 in both funds and supplies has been collected for the initiative.

Gustavo Torrez
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids 
Director of Youth Advocacy

Gustavo Torrez has been involved in the tobacco control movement for the past 25 years. He began his work in tobacco control as a youth advocate in California and continued his career in the field in Boston, where he was a Program Manager with Fenway Community Health and the National Network for LGBT Health Equity, one of the CDC-funded priority population networks. As a young adult, Gustavo served on Legacy's National Speaker's Bureau and National Activism Council, and in 2012 he was recognized for his efforts with a Trailblazers Award for outstanding and continuous leadership in the tobacco control movement by Legacy. Currently, Gustavo is the Director of Youth Advocacy for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, where he oversees the development and implementation of innovative youth-focused programs including Taking Down Tobacco, the 4-time award winning online youth advocacy training program, takingdowntobacco.org.

Allyssa Williams
Tobacco-Free Kids Ambassador
Howard University

Allyssa Williams, age 19, is from Kissimmee, Florida and is a college Freshmen at Howard University. She has been involved in tobacco control and prevention for 6 years with Florida Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT). As a second-year Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Ambassador, Allyssa has built on her successes in advocating for policy changes at the state and federal levels and continues fighting for social justice, while acting as a mentor for her younger advocate peers. She has worked towards numerous smoke-free and Tobacco 21-related policy victories at the local level and advocated for members of Congress to support comprehensive restrictions on flavored tobacco at the national level. Allyssa was also the recipient of the 2020 Barrie Fiske National Youth Advocate of the Year Award from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids for her superb advocacy work.