About the Florida Folic Acid Coalition (FFAC)
Partners
FFAC Executive Committee and Coordinator
How to contact the FFAC



The Florida Folic Acid Coalition is a coalition of organizations committed to the following mission and vision:

The FFAC is based at the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Food Science and Human Nutrition Department. Its office is on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. Our key partners include the Florida Department of Health (2004-2005 Sponsor), March of Dimes Florida Chapter (2005 Sponsor) and the University of South Florida Birth Defects Center.

The FFAC is working toward accomplishing its goals through the following strategies:

• Increase the proportion of women of childbearing age in Florida who understand that consuming folic acid daily can help prevent neural tube defects.
• In collaboration with our partners, educate the public and health care professionals about the US Public Health Service and Institute of Medicine recommendations on folic acid.
• Educate health care practitioners, maternal and child health advocates and the public about the important public health opportunity folic acid represents for the prevention of serious birth defects and other diseases of public health significance.
• Promote the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) intake of folate for all persons as a strategy for promoting overall good health.  

Partners

The FFAC is a coalition of public and private agencies and businesses from around Florida who are working together to decrease the incidence of neural tube defects by encouraging women of childbearing age to take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily prior to pregnancy. The FFAC also promotes the recommended RDA intake of folate for all persons as a strategy for promoting overall good health.

The Florida Folic Acid Coalition - Working together to decrease the incidence of folic acid preventable birth defects and promote the health benefits of folic acid for Floridians.

Our current partners include:

• Agency For Health Care Administration
• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Institute of Public Health, College of Pharmacy and Pharmacy Services
• Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions
• Florida Birth Defects Registry
• Florida Blue Cross/Blue Shield
• Florida Chapter of The American Academy of Pediatrics/Florida Pediatric Society
• Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
• Florida Department of Citrus
• Florida Department of Health
• Florida Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition
• Florida Peanut Producers Association
• Florida State University Center For Prevention and Early Intervention
• Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida
• Healthy Start Coalition of Hillsborough County, Inc.
• Healthy Start Coalition of Manatee County, Inc.
• Healthy Start Coalition of Martin County
• Healthy Start Coalition of Pasco County
• Healthy Start Coalition of Sarasota County
• Healthy Start Coalition of Southwest Florida, Inc.
• Highlands County Health Department/WIC JMH Health Plan/Public Health Trust of Dade County
• Lawton And Rhea Chiles Center For Healthy Mothers And Babies
• March of Dimes Florida Chapters
• Nine West
• Policy Healthy Community Initiative of Greater Orlando
• Publix Grocery Stores
• Rexall Sundown
• Shriners Hospital, Tampa  
• Spina Bifida Association of Florida, Inc.
• The Florida Midwifery Resource Center
• Tropicana Products, Inc.
• University of Florida Cooperative Extension Services
• University of South Florida Birth Defects Center
• Zeta Chapters of Florida
  

FFAC Executive Committee and Coordinator

Lynn B. Bailey, PhD
Professor
Food Science and Human Nutrition Department
University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Dr. Bailey’s research area of expertise is folate metabolism, estimation of folate requirements and factors that influence disease and birth defect risk including genetic polymorphisms. Dr. Bailey has conducted human metabolic studies over a period of 25 years generating data that has been instrumental in establishing new dietary intake recommendations for individuals throughout the lifecycle including pregnant women and the elderly. Dr. Bailey has published more than 100 scientific journal articles and book chapters and has edited a book entitled Folate in Health and Disease. In recognition of Dr. Bailey’s established scientific expertise, she has frequently been invited to serve as a scientific advisor for national organizations. For example, she served as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Dietary Reference Intake committee for folate and other vitamins; she was a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Folic Acid Advisory Committee that recommended folic a cid fortification of the food supply in the US and she has served as a scientific advisor to the Centers for Disease Control and the Pan American Health Organization on projects focused on neural tube defect prevention. Dr. Bailey has received very prestigious awards including the USDA Award for Superior Service based on accomplishments in the area of folate nutrition, and the national March of Dimes’ Agnes Higgins Award for research related to fetal and maternal health. In addition, she has been awarded the 2004 American Society for Nutritional Sciences Centrum Center Award for her accomplishments related to human folate requirements. At the University of Florida Dr. Bailey has worked collaboratively with other faculty in the development of national award-winning educational materials related to folic acid and birth defect prevention.

Sondra Cornett, MS, RD, LD
Public Health Nutrition Consultant
Florida Department of Health
Florida WIC & Nutrition Services

Ms. Cornett joined the WIC and Nutrition Program Headquarters Staff of the Florida Department of Health in December 1999 where she is currently responsible  to provide highly technical consultation to county health department directors/administrators, physicians, other public health nutritionists, nurses and others regarding the provision of services through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and in generalized nutrition programs throughout the state.  She develops nutrition practice guidelines and nutrition standards for women, infants, and children, who receive nutrition services in statewide nutrition programs.

Jane A. Correia
Environmental Specialist III
Coordinator, Florida Birth Defects Registry
Florida Department of Health
Bureau of Community Environmental Health

Ms. Correia has supported birth defects surveillance, education and prevention activities at the Department of Health since 1997 when the department received funding to support a birth defects registry. Ms. Correia is committed to implementing birth defects prevention programs including folic acid education activities in an effort to reduce the occurrence of neural tube defects.

Kimberlea White Hauser, MBA
Associate in Pediatrics
Birth Defects Surveillance Program
University of South Florida (USF)

Since 1999, Ms. Hauser has worked with the Florida Department of Health and March of Dimes in the support of the mission of the Florida Folic Acid Coalition.   Projects related to folic acid include the March of Dimes Mission Investment Opportunity Program grant, Science Into Action: Florida's Folic Acid Campaign.   Through this three-year grant, Ms. Hauser worked with members from the National Training Collaborative for Social Marketing, also at USF, to develop folic acid educational materials targeted at migrant Hispanics.   In addition to this effort, Ms. Hauser has worked with the Florida Department of Health and its birth defects registry to implement a surveillance system of neural tube defects.   Beginning in 2000, the surveillance of neural tube defects is on-going and provided successive years of surveillance data for spina bifida, anencephaly, and encephalocele.

Gail P. A. Kauwell, PhD, RD, LDN
Professor
Food Science and Human Nutrition Department
University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Dr. Kauwell is a Professor and Distinguished Teaching Scholar in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at the University of Florida. She has conducted human research studies related to folate metabolism and requirements in collaboration with Dr. Lynn Bailey for the past 15 years. The results of this collaborative work have been published in premier, peer-reviewed nutrition journals. She also collaborated with and Gail Rampersaud, MS, RD, LDN and Dr. Bailey on the development of award-winning folic acid education programs including one designed for health care providers and their clients, a Spanish version of the same program, and a program targeted for youth participating in 4-H programs.

Laura Levine, RN, BSN
Coordinator, Human Services
Florida Department of Health
Infant, Maternal, and Reproductive Health

Laura Levine joined the Infant, Maternal, and Reproductive Health Unit of the Florida Department of Health in October 2003 where she is currently responsible for leading the maternal and child health quality improvement team. She actively promotes issues directed toward improving the health and well being of maternal and child populations, including interconceptional and folic acid education.

Ms. Reeves has worked with the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation for over 10 years on a variety of Public Health efforts to improve maternal and infant health. She is the State Program Director for Florida Chapter. She has a special interest in developing collaborative partnerships between the community and state organizations with shared interests and priorities in the field of maternal and child health. She is particularly interested in developing and evaluating programs that seek to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes. Her long-term goal is to build strong collaborative relationships between the March of Dimes in Florida and the corresponding state and community health and social services agencies that focus on maternal and child health. She has been a member of the Florida Folic Acid Coalition since its inception in 1999.

Gail C. Rampersaud, MS, RD, LDN
Assistant In Nutrition Research and Education
Food Science and Human Nutrition Department
University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Ms. Rampersaud is a registered dietitian and develops educational materials for various nutrition and Cooperative Extension programs. She works closely with state agencies regarding nutrition issues. She has collaborated on several folic acid educational programs, including the "Folic Acid Every Day" toolkit for health professionals and the "Nutrition and Folate Now!" program for children and adolescents. Along with Drs. Lynn Bailey and Gail Kauwell, professors and folic acid researchers, she helps oversee the Florida Folic Acid Coalition at UF/IFAS.

Janet B. Spink
Program Director
Chipola Healthy Start
Panhandle Area Health Network

Janet Spink joined Chipola Healthy Start, a program of Panhandle Area Health Network, in 2002 where she is currently the Program Director for Healthy Start, Fetal-Infant Mortality Review Program, and SOBRA-MomCare Program. Ms. Spink is committed to education for prevention of low birth weight babies, infant and fetal deaths, and strives to improve poor health outcomes from pregnancy related issues through community collaboration. She actively promotes education of folic acid through the Healthy Start, Closing the Gap and MomCare programs.

How to contact the FFAC
To become a PARTNER or receive INFORMATION about the FFAC contact:

Gail Rampersaud, MS, RD, LDN
Florida Folic Acid Coalition
Food Science and Human Nutrition Department
UF/IFAS, University of Florida
P.O. Box 110720
SW 23rd Drive, Bldg. #685, FETL
Gainesville, Florida 32611-0720
Phone: 352-392-1978 Extension 423
Fax: 352-392-1988
Email: gcr@ufl.edu