Meet Rebecca, Our New Project Coordinator

At Healthy Teen Network, Rebecca serves as Project Coordinator for the In/Tend Innovation Hub, working closely with the Project Manager and Project Director to support day-to-day project management, operations, and logistics. In this role, she helps keep complex projects moving smoothly, bringing care, organization, and a youth-centered lens to every detail.

Before joining Healthy Teen Network, Rebecca worked as a Senior Research Program Coordinator at the Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health. There, she contributed to multiple mixed-methods research studies focused on the health and well-being of young people in Baltimore. She also has extensive experience collaborating with youth advisory boards and community partners to facilitate participatory research methods that center young people’s lived experiences.

Rebecca holds a Master of Science in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with concentrations in Adolescent Health and Sexual and Reproductive Health. She also earned certificates in LGBTQ+ Health and Maternal & Child Health and holds a Bachelor of Science in Community Health Education from Western Oregon University.

Rebecca’s commitment to inclusive, affirming sex education is shaped by what she felt was missing from her own experience. She shared, “The sex ed I was taught had no mention of consent and healthy relationships—it completely lacked in teaching young people communication and interpersonal skills.” This gap continues to motivate her work to ensure young people feel respected, informed, and empowered.

Ever since high school, I have had an unwavering passion for adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

Rebecca’s journey to Healthy Teen Network has been years in the making. “Ever since high school, I have had an unwavering passion for adolescent sexual and reproductive health,” she said. After attending the Healthy Teen Network conference a few years ago, she remembers thinking, “I want to do this. How can I get involved in this work?”

Rebecca shared that Healthy Teen Network’s goals, values, and vision align closely with her own: “Supporting and empowering young people to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.” Joining the team, she says, is “a dream come true.”

I really look forward to working closely with our Innovation Development Teams (IDTs) as a part of the Healthy Teen Network Innovation Incubator Hub.

As she begins her role, Rebecca is especially excited to learn and grow in the innovation space. “I really look forward to working closely with our Innovation Development Teams (IDTs) as a part of the Healthy Teen Network Innovation Incubator Hub,” she shared. “I don’t have experience in the innovation space, so I am excited to learn more about it and support the IDTs!”

If Rebecca had a magic wand to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health outcomes, she’d focus on access and empowerment. “I would make sure that all young people have access to inclusive, affirming, comprehensive sex ed,” she said, with a particular emphasis on helping young people “feel empowered in decision making and feel respected.”

Outside of work, Rebecca’s love of problem-solving continues—just in more playful ways. A self-described puzzle fanatic and devoted animal lover, she enjoys “taking something complicated and working through it piece by piece until it makes sense.” When she’s not making a spreadsheet look pretty, you can find Rebecca reading or playing video games while cuddling with her pets—and, as she admits, “probably eating ice cream.”

We’re so excited to welcome Rebecca to the Healthy Teen Network team and look forward to the care, curiosity, and thoughtfulness she brings to our innovation and research work. Welcome, Rebecca!