Meet The Board

Beth Rose is a life-long Alaskan who brings more than 30 years of non-profit management, fund development, public relations, finance skills and strategic planning skills to this organization. She is passionate about her work with AKEDA and its outreach to partners around the state to improve awareness of eating disorders, support for individuals and families, and access to evidence-based treatment. Beth is an active member of the Collaborative for Eating Disorders Organizations, and is involved with the national advocacy group Eating Disorders Coalition. Her career prior to co-founding AKEDA included serving as the Alaska Community Foundation Vice President of Philanthropy and Communications and the UAA Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development. In addition to serving on the board, Beth is an avid photographer.

Evelyn Abello is a 45-year resident of Alaska. An educator in the Philippines, she immigrated to the U.S. in 1976 and immediately started a second career in civil rights enforcement at the Alaska State Human Rights Commission. She retired as Investigations Director for that agency in 2006 to attend graduate school at Alaska Pacific University, earned a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, and embarked on a third career as a clinical therapist for Southcentral Foundation's Dena A Coy Program, a residential treatment program for women with substance addictions and emotional and psychological disorders. She retired from this position in 2019 but maintains her professional counselor license. Evelyn runs AKEDA’s Family and Friends Support Group.

Grace Schumacher is a graduate of the University of Alaska’s dietetics program and works as a behavioral health dietitian in nutrition therapy for eating disorders, having completed requirements for a board-certified specialty in eating disorders nutrition. She is Alaska’s first board certified eating disorder professional, having achieved the Certified Eating Disorders, Registered Dietitian designation. She is currently completing a doctorate program in Occupational Therapy.  Grace is a passionate advocate for improving awareness and services for Alaskans with eating disorders. She is the founder of the Alaska chapter of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (IAEDP), the first organization for professional education and networking for the specialty of eating disorders in the state. 

Dr. Daniel Rohlf is a board certified psychiatrist who works with patients at Tanana Valley Clinic (TVC) in Fairbanks. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 2015 and completed both a General Psychiatry Residency and a Fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in 2020. In addition to publications in medical journals and presentations for medical staff, he has completed an 11-month elective rotation in feeding and eating disorder assessment and treatment. He is currently a member of the Alaska Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Psychiatric Association.

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Caroline is a self-employed architect practicing in Anchorage, Alaska. A 21 year resident of Alaska, Caroline has invested a significant portion of her career working on healthcare facilities ranging from OR's to skilled nursing facilities. Raised partially in Canada and South Africa, her parents modelled the value of education and teaching. Caroline has lived experience with an eating disorder and sees the relationship between the effects of eating disorders and personal underachievement in academics, and is thus dedicated to broadening the accessibility of resources to students impacted by ED's. Caroline is an active hiker, and cyclist, as well as a haphazard gardener and proud dog mom.

Now, in his 28th year as an Alaskan Educator, Ty lives in Anchorage with his wife and daughter and is currently in his second year as the Chief School Administrator of Chugach School District. Prior to Chugach, he was with the Lake and Peninsula School District for fifteen years, most of these years he served as their Superintendent. While in Lake and Pen, he helped develop their competency-based educational model, the subsistence calendar, Candice’s Books for Kids, and many other successful innovations/ programs. From 2001 to 2006, he served with the Chugach School District as the Director of their Voyage to Excellence Programs. In this role, he helped develop the district’s School to Life and Excel Camp programs. He also represented Chugach as a category champion during their successful quest for the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award. Ty began his Alaskan career in 1995 with the Bristol Bay School District as a Secondary Generalist / Activities Director. Prior to coming to Alaska, he worked for several years as a teacher in the Navajo Nation.

Ty’s commitment to the cause of eating disorders and teenage mental health is deeply rooted in personal and professional experiences.

Jennifer (Jenny) Poon, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She received her B.S. in Psychology (minor: Creative Writing) and her M.A. in Experimental Psychology from the College of William & Mary. Jenny received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from George Mason University, including a one-year APA-accredited internship at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. Jenny completed a two-year clinical postdoctoral fellowship in Adolescent Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT-A) in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown and Bradley Hospital. Following this, she completed a second NIMH-funded F32 research postdoc at Brown/Bradley focused on understanding how minority stressors in teens’ daily lives may contribute to suicide and self-injury among psychiatrically hospitalized sexual and gender youth.

As a core faculty member of UAA’s Clinical-Community Ph.D. program (the only APA-accredited program in Alaska), her research, teaching, and clinical work all broadly focus on engaging with the community to develop culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and evidence-based interventions. Jenny has published 20 peer-reviewed research articles and has extensive experience delivering CBT for Eating Disorders (CBT-E), Family-Based Treatment, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). As a former competitive powerlifter with her own lived experience, Jenny is passionate about expanding support for Alaskans experiencing eating disorders and/or suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

Jenny Loudon is a health policy and management consultant with over 20 years of experience with Alaskan non-profits working to improve services through grant writing, data analysis and reporting, budget development and monitoring, project management, and group facilitation. She brings significant training and experience in public health policy and management and has an MPA from the University of Washington with a focus on health policy and management. Jenny is an active member of the Collaborative for Eating Disorders Organizations and is involved with the national advocacy group Eating Disorders Coalition and the international Academy for Eating Disorders.

Jana Smith is the Regional Vice President, Alaska for Parker Smith & Feek. Jana is a specialist in the areas of healthcare, energy, native corporations, and government contracting. Jana is an innovative professional, having been instrumental in the creation and implementation of worldwide property and casualty insurance programs. Additionally, on behalf of clients, she has negotiated reinsurance and excess placements for self-insured programs. Jana is actively involved in her community and in serves on several other boards including Junior Achievement of Alaska as well as The Providence Foundation.

Dr. Margaret (Meg) Carlson Cosentino is a Family Practice Doctor with Southcentral Foundation. Meg has lived and practiced in the state of Alaska since 2015, after graduating from Midwestern University with her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree in 2012. She is a board certified family physician who has worked within the Alaska Native tribal health system since 2015, first with Tanana Chiefs Conference in Fairbanks, and since 2018, with Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage. Meg has a long history of involvement with eating disorder associations. She participated in eating disorder support and awareness organizations while in college as well as during her years in medical school.

Born and raised in Southern California, Peyton Mackie is a former Division I athlete at Arizona State University, where she graduated with three Bachelor's degrees in (1) Business Marketing and Sales, (2) Health & Wellness, and (3) Psychology. She is the Business Development Manager for Axle Eight Digital Marketing Agency, helping companies grow every day utilizing digital marketing strategies, personal relations, networking, and community engagement. As an eating disorder survivor herself, Peyton has participated in multiple eating disorder support and awareness organizations while in college, and is currently an active member of the Body Positive Facilitators Coalition of Southern California.

Megan Volkov was born and raised in Palmer, Alaska. After graduating from the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) School of Nursing BS program in 2003, she worked as a registered nurse in medical-surgical units, cardiovascular step-down, cath lab observation, pre-op and post-op, and home health. Obtaining her MS at Loma Linda University in 2009, she worked as an Adult Nurse Practitioner in Southern California and as a nursing educator at Loma Linda University for eight years. She also lived in Portland Oregon for four years before moving back to Alaska in 2019 to be closer to her family. Achieving a post-master's DNP from the University of Iowa in 2022, Megan uses her education in leadership and evidence-based practice to direct the APRN DNP programs at UAA and work as a nurse practitioner in the community. On her days off she enjoys quality time with her significant other, snuggles with her furbabies, conversations with her dad, and watching British shows with her mom.

Laurel is Alaska-grown and lives in Anchorage with her husband and two children. Her life is centered around family and being healthy (in all ways). Her athletic career ended with in-patient eating disorder treatment, but the experience led to an understanding of how to live more fully. She is a published author and aims to help other women (and men) live positive and prosperous lives.  Live colorfully and create your own upward spiral!