Valerie L. Rochester is a longtime public health professional, with more than 23 years of experience providing programmatic, administrative, management and capacity building training and technical assistance services. As Director of Programs and Training with the Black Women’s Health Imperative (Imperative), she manages the organization’s national and communityIlevel health initiatives to address the unequal health burdens borne by Black women. She guides the organization’s response to address the priority health issues of sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, breast and cervical cancer, obesity, and chronic preventable conditions such as diabetes and heart disease among Black women.
Prior to joining the Imperative, Ms. Rochester served as vice president of Hinton Hoytt & Associates, a management consulting firm located in the Washington, D.C. area. She has managed multiple, federallyIfunded capacity expansion initiatives providing training, technical and mentoring services to community based organizations and health departments across the country. She has served on multiple consultation panels convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and has also consulted with the Office of Minority Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, Office on
Women’s Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on strategies to better ensure communities are able to benefit from the design and implementation of effective treatment, prevention and capacity building initiatives. She has also served on the board of directors of numerous national and community based organizations, including her current tenure as a board member of the National Minority AIDS Council.
Her recognition as a health advocate, health educator and trainer led to her serving for 10 years as the coIconvener of the African American HIV/AIDS Institute with the U.S Conference on AIDS, as well as serving as program manager for the National Council of Negro Women; Minority Health Consultant for the state of Indiana; and Human Services Planner for the United Way of Central Indiana. She has provided independent consultant services to health and human service agencies nationwide, and has designed health education and prevention programs for women’s health and faithIbased organizations in
communities across the country.
Because of her commitment to addressing health inequities in communities of color, Ms. Rochester was awarded the Congressional Black Caucus Healthcare Hero Award in 2002 at the annual Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, presented to her by Congresswoman Donna Christensen.