Associate Director for Community Development
Prevention Research Center
eprendergast@hsc.wvu.edu

Leesa is currently the Associate Director for Community Development.  In this role, she oversees the PRC’s communication and dissemination missions, and works with other PRC leaders on training, collaborations and partnerships. She is the primary liaison with the PRC’s Community Partnership Board.  Leesa is also a Program Manager for the Evaluation Oversight and Coordinating Unit which oversees the evaluation of the state's tobacco prevention and cessation programming and is involved with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to evaluate West Virginia’s Healthy Lifestyles Act (House Bill 2816).

Leesa came to the PRC in 2001 as the Community Outreach Coordinator and served as the Assistant Director for Community Outreach prior to her current position.  She received her Bachelor's degree from Richmond University in Economics and Sociology and her Master's degree in Community Health Education from WVU. Her professional history includes eight years in the non-profit management and professional services organization arena, primarily in the Washington, DC area.  Leesa spent two years as the Executive Director for the State Health Education Council (SHEC). Her skills were further refined at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, where she served as the Community Education Coordinator. As a Health Promotion Specialist for the WV Bureau for Public Health from 1998-2001, Ms. Prendergast developed the hands-on knowledge and expertise to facilitate grass roots community health initiatives. In 2004, she received the Karen R. King Distinguished Service Award from the State Health Education Council.