:: GoKids Staff
Greer Glazer, PhD
"What excites me about GoKids Boston is that kids are learning about themselves and having fun while they are getting physical activity on a university campus."
Greer Glazer is Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS) at UMass Boston. She is an international leader in nursing education, service, and research, with more than twenty years of experience in the field of women's health.
She holds a PhD and MSN in nursing from Case Western Reserve University, and a BSN from the University of Michigan. Previously, she was professor and director of parent child nursing at Kent State’s College of Nursing.
Dr. Glazer has done extensive research on women’s health, including the institutionalization of domestic violence education and support programs in health care institutions, and barriers to the provision and utilization of prenatal health care services for African-American women.
Jean Wiecha, PhD
“GoKids offers the community an approach to health promotion that’s friendly, effective, and science-based .”
Jean Wiecha is Director of GoKids Boston, and Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Health Science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She combines expertise in nutrition science with experience in academe, government and community based organizations. She is also Youth Health Advisor to YMCA of the USA and a member of the YMCA’s national Medical Advisory Committee.
Dr. Wiecha has been conducting community based research on child health for 20 years. Her work has focused on childhood obesity and on environmental and policy influences on nutrition, diet, and physical activity. In the past 15 years her research has helped create opportunities for youth physical activity in Boston and for school-based interventions to reduce obesity. Recent work includes developing and evaluating nutrition and physical activity standards and interventions for YMCA child care, after school, and youth day camp programs that are currently undergoing national dissemination.
Dr. Wiecha is also a co-author of Planet Health, a middle school curriculum that has been shown to be effective in preventing both obesity and eating disorders. Planet Health is in use throughout the Boston Public School system and was disseminated widely in Massachusetts as part of Blue Cross/Blue Shield’s Jump Up and Go initiative in recent years. In 2007, Planet Health received an award from the national Anorexia Nervosa and Eating Disorders Association (ANAD).
Laura Hayman, PhD, RN, FAAN
"GoKids Boston provides unique opportunities on a university campus for children and youth to learn about and improve their health, feel good about themselves, and empowers them to become healthy adults."
Dr. Laura Hayman serves as the Research Director at GoKids Boston and is Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Nursing in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She earned her BSN, MSN, and PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Hayman's program and research and scholarship focuses on primary prevention of obesity and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in children, adolescents and families. Her research, in collaboration with colleagues from several disciplines, has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and included clinical, school, and population-based studies of biobehavioral risk factors for CVD. Dr. Hayman has served on numerous national and international interdisciplinary advisory and expert panels relevant to primary prevention of obesity and CVD in childhood and adolescence.
Brianna Forde, B.A
"The most rewarding part about working here at GoKids Boston is the excitement that you see in the faces of children and their families as they participate in a program that is fun and has life changing results."
Brianna Forde is Program Manager at GoKids Boston. A Boston native and resident, Brianna excelled in high school sports and attended Bentley College on a full basketball scholarship. Among her sports accomplishments, she was a two time All American, four- time Boston City All Star (1997-2000), a three-time member of the Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic team (1997-1999) and Boston Globe’s class of 1999 Dream Team.
Upon graduation, she became UMass Boston’s assistant woman’s basketball coach and Health Education and Wellness Specialist at UMass Boston.
From 2000 to 2006, she served as a physical instructor for the Boston Celtics athletic camp, recruiting participants, designing sport related workshops and workout stations, managed the camp inventory, refereed and coached co-ed college bound athletes.
Carlos Salas, B.S
"What I enjoy about GoKids Boston is that it allows children to grow-not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well, in an environment that is not only healthy and educational but more importantly fun!"
Carlos Salas is an Exercise Physiologist at GoKids Boston. He is a graduate of the Exercise and Health Sciences program at Umass Boston.
Born and raised in Boston, he graduated from one of Boston's top public high schools. He was a recipient of the Boston Globe Taylor scholarship which allowed him to pursue a degree in health science. Upon graduation from Umass Boston Carlos joined the GoKids Boston team as an exercise physiologist.
Advisory Board
Dawn Ericson, MD, Medical Advisory, Children's Hospital Boston
Donna Casey, Director, Business Planning & Analysis, Children's Hospital Boston
Zong-Guo Xia, Vice Provost for Research and Strategic Initiatives
Lyle Micheli, MD, Director, Division of Sports Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston
