ACIC Executive Committee
Dr. Willam Coppula, Co-Chairperson
William Coppula, M.D., F.A.A.P has been a practicing pediatrician since 1983 and an active member of the Allegheny County Immunization Coalition since its beginning. He has served as president of the Pittsburgh Pediatric Society and is an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as its Pennsylvania chapter. Dr. Coppula is a shareholder of Pediatric Alliance. He practices with the Arcadia Division located in the North Hills of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Divna Djokic, Co-Chairperson
Divna Djokic, M.D., F.A.A.P. is a Pediatrician, Board certified in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases, practicing for more than 20 years. Currently works within AHN Pediatrics as Nursery Physician at West Penn Hospital, also is seeing pediatric patients in AHN-Pediatrics Edgewood office and is providing pediatric infectious disease consults within AHN. She is actively involved in infectious diseases control and prevention and is part of AHN Pediatric Covid 19 Task Force.
Ashley Ayres, Vice Chairperson
Ashley Ayres is the Director of Infection Prevention at Presbyterian and Shadyside. Ashley began her education and career at Carlow University, graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in 2009. Her UPMC career began in 2006 as a patient care technician, from which she quickly moved into the Infection Prevention World.
Since 2008, Ashley has worked on preventing infections at UPMC and dealing with large interventions such as Mold investigations, CLABSI prevention, high level disinfection and COVID-19. Ashley has been recognized at UPMC by receiving both an Above and Beyond and an ACES recognition. She is currently working on her Master’s in Business and Healthcare Administration, and every day is encouraging teams to prevent infections and WASH THEIR HANDS!
Jenny Bender, Secretary
Jenny Bender, MPH, BSN, RN, CIC is currently an Infection Preventionist with the Bureau of Epidemiology at the Pennsylvania Department of Health. She is employed under Healthcare-Associated Infection Prevention/Antimicrobial Stewardship, where she is a member of the Infection Control Outbreak Response team and a subject matter expert for PA Project Firstline. She is a registered nurse with experience in neonatal ICU, med/surg, and opioid addiction treatment settings. She started her career as an Infection Preventionist in 2012 and has worked in acute care, behavioral health, and most recently, public health.
Jenny holds bachelors’ degrees in general sciences from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and nursing science from Creighton University, a master’s degree in public health with a concentration in epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh, and obtained her board certification in infection prevention and control in 2015. She is also a member of APIC and the University of Pittsburgh’s institutional biosafety committee. She has presented at local and national professional meetings, most notably APIC and AHE. When she’s not working, Jenny can be found chasing her one-year-old twins around Pittsburgh.
Lynette Hathaway, Treasurer
Lynette Hancock Hathaway is an Infection Prevention Analyst for the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority. Ms. Hathaway’s responsibilities include assisting with the improvement of patient safety by initiating, developing, implementing, and monitoring new and existing infection prevention initiatives throughout the state. Lynette’s diverse nursing experience includes cardiovascular and medical-surgical nursing, gastroenterology, utilization review, long-term care, nursing education, and infection prevention and control. Prior to joining the Authority, Lynette was Manager of Infection Prevention and Control at a an acute care facility. Ms. Hathaway has provided many infection prevention educational programs, an oral presenter at a national nursing conference, and authored an abstract at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders.
Ms. Hathaway has over 15 years’ experience in Infection Prevention working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Syracuse, New York. Her education includes a Nursing Diploma at Western Pennsylvania Hospital School of Nursing, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Carlow University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she graduated magna cum laude and finally her Master of Science in Nursing from Waynesburg University Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. Lynette is board certified in Infection Control and Epidemiology and an active member of the Three Rivers Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
Liz Kanche, Educational Conference Chairperson
Liz Kanche (pronounced “Can she”) is the Vice President of Pathways Wellness Program and an independent licensed insurance broker.
Liz began her work in health care in Erie in 2000 working with Hamot Hospital’s primary care physician groups and in 2002 was recruited back to Pittsburgh where she launched Pathways Wellness Program, LLC – what is now a national, comprehensive wellness program. Over the past 2 decades, Liz has worked with numerous employers in the health care, manufacturing, marketing, advertising, engineering, consulting, and education fields to design and implement prevention and wellness into workplaces. Pathways partners with their clients to deliver wellness programming, including biometric screenings, education series and immunizations.
After noticing an education disparity amongst retiring employees regarding Medicare, Liz obtained her insurance license in 2012 and is appointed to all major insurance companies in Western Pennsylvania. Upon inception of Pennsylvania’s new Health Insurance Exchange, Pennie, Liz also became a certified broker for this program in Spring, 2020.
Liz works with employers to help their retirees navigate their way through signing up for Medicare Parts A & B through the federal government and educates them about the important dates that they must be aware of so to avoid penalties. She is a frequent speaker within organizations helping soon to be retirees, as well as current Medicare beneficiaries, navigate plan options and resources as they enroll in Medicare.
Liz offers personal one-on-one service that gives beneficiaries the peace of mind that they have picked the right plan that takes care of your health and makes sense financially.
Liz sits on the Boards of Keynotes Music Scholarship, Farm to Table, Western PA and hosts an annual conference Wellness4Schools which showcases wellness and preventive medicine to school staff, teachers and nurses.
Liz earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Mercyhurst University. She resides in the South Hills of Pittsburgh with her husband and four children.
Kristen Cooley, Member at Large
Kristen Cooley, BSN, RN graduated with her ASN from La Roche College in 2006 and her BSN from Waynesburg University in 2009. She is a clinical nurse experienced in ICU, emergency department, and Early Head Start, where she provided support to pregnant women and families with children ages 0 to 3 years old. She also was a preceptor for the Maternal Child Health course for UPMC Shadyside School of Nursing. Kristen’s current position is the Clinical Supervisor for AHN Pediatrics and is a member of the Allegheny Clinic Ambulatory Professional Practice Council. She lives in Western Pennsylvania, loves being outdoors, and can be found cheering on the Pens and Steelers.
Renee Faletto, Member at Large
Renee Faletto, BSN, RN is currently a Clinical Quality Auditor for AHN Pediatrics. Renee graduated from Sewickley School of Nursing in 2011 and earned her BSN from Slippery Rock University in 2021. Renee’s nursing experience includes rehabilitation nursing, home health, case management and utilization review for pediatric special needs and pediatric nursing. She and her husband reside in Western PA with their 3 children.
Katie Rich, Member at Large
Katie Rich, MSN, CRNP-PC, IBCLC, was born and raised in Pittsburgh. She graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2007 from the University of Pittsburgh and then with her Masters in 2013, also from the University of Pittsburgh. Katie’s experience includes Neonatal and Cardiac Intensive Care, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery. She is currently employed as a Primary Care CRNP at AHN Pediatrics on the North Side of Pittsburgh and in the West Penn Hospital Newborn Nursery. Katie is also a certified lactation consultant (IBCLC), a clinical preceptor for several local universities as well as a member of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP). She resides in Western PA with her husband and two young children.
RK Bair, Past Chair & Conference Committee Chair
RK Bair is currently a Senior Key Accounts Manager, Vaccines, for Sanofi Pasteur. He has over 35 years vaccine industry experience working for Sanofi Pasteur and Pfizer Vaccines. He has degrees from Pennsylvania State University, Slippery Rock State College and Nazareth University. He has worked with vaccine researchers over the past 25 years in the Pittsburgh area. He is a Board Member of the Sharpsville Community Food Pantry in Sharpsville, PA. He and his wife Mary reside in Western Pennsylvania and are the proud parents of four children, 3 grandchildren, 2 dogs and 1 cat.
Janina-Marie “Nina” Tatar, Past Chairperson
Nina Tatar, MT (ASCP), CIC, MBA, EdD student, is currently the Infection Prevention Manager at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital inpatient, ambulatory, and community sites. Her interests encompass hygiene, including healthcare worker hand hygiene; barriers to vaccination; and healthcare disparities. She is pursuing her Doctor of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership at the University of Southern California, with a projected graduation date of May 2021.
Nina brings a unique skill set, with a background in clinical microbiology from Youngstown State University, and a Master of Business Administration from Duquesne University. She has 15 years of experience in healthcare, and is a preceptor for master of public health students at area colleges and universities.
Nina is active in professional associations locally and nationally, serving as marketing chair for the Three Rivers Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, and social media liaison for the Certification Board for Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Cindy Callaghan, Blog Chairperson
Cindy Callaghan, BHN, MSN/PNP, graduated with her BSN from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and with an MSN/ Pediatric Nurse Practitioner degree (Pediatric Oncology concentration) also from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998. Her clinical work experience is as a staff nurse at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and as a Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Nurse Practitioner at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She is currently working as a Service Coordinator for Physical Health for the DART and Head Start programs (preschool programs for children aged 3-5 years) at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit-3 in Homestead, PA.
Cindy became involved with the Allegheny County Immunization Coalition in 2010. She served on the Executive Committee as Secretary from 2010-2014, and was the Chairperson from 2014-2018. After taking a year away from the Committee, she has rejoined in the new role of Blog Chairperson. She currently lives in Edgewood with her husband Andy and an ever-rotating pack of greyhounds.
