Biographies

Aleta Lynn Meyer, PhD, is associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. She brings over 17 years of experience in collaboratively designing, implementing, evaluating, and replicating effective health promotion and prevention programs for early adolescents. The programs she has helped design focus on violence prevention, depression prevention, and cancer prevention in both rural and urban settings. At VCU, she is co-director for the VCU Center for the Study and Prevention of Youth Violence, as well as Associate Director of the VCU Center for the Promotion of Positive Youth Development.

Wendy Bauers Northup, MA, has more than 33 years experience in developing, implementing, and coordinating positive programs for youth and adolescents, during the past 13 years focusing on violence and substance abuse prevention programs. She most recently served as Coordinator of Prevention Services for Henrico Area Mental Health & Retardation Services. She is a co-developer on two universal substance abuse and violence prevention programs, both of which have been designated model programs by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). She directed the Richmond Peace Education Center and has worked with Domestic Violence prevention teams throughout the area and served for more than seventeen years on the national board of the Parenting for Peace and Justice Network.