Debora Kerr, Assistant Director In over eleven years work in the nonprofit sector Debora Kerr, M.A., has demonstrated her effectiveness in economic development, building cross-industry and multi-disciplinary collaboration, research, program planning, obtaining and managing significant grant funding, and project management.  Her activities in healthcare, biotechnology, education, youth programs, and workforce development have resulted in financial assistance and operational support to foster and at-risk youth, low-income and disadvantaged individuals, displaced workers, and other vulnerable populations. In addition to serving as staff of the Palm Beach County Workforce Alliance and the Palm Beach County Health Department, she has played leadership roles in numerous community efforts including the Palm Beach County Economic Summit (subcommittee investigating bio-science cluster activity); the Bioscience Workforce Summit;a community college forum to facilitate collaborative funding projects; Mobilizing for Planning and Partnership (MAPP), a county-wide strategic health services planning process; and the soft launch of Workforce Florida’s web-based biotech curriculum in the southeast Florida region. Clients of Ms. Kerr’s private consulting practice have included the Florida Atlantic University Public Officials Design Institute;  iCoast, a regional alliance for biotechnology and information technology;  Palm Beach Community College and RCC, Inc./Enterprise Florida-QTI.  Examples of her successful grant collaborations include the Department of Labor’s President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative, $2.3 million; the Department of Labor’s Community Based Job Training grant, $1.5 million; the Department of Juvenile Justice’s Ex-offender Reentry Program, $1 million; and several continuing awards from the Florida Department of Education, Workforce Florida and the Knight Foundation.  After being involved in planning and securing start-up funding ($1.25 million) for the Florida Public Health Institute through Quantum Foundation and the NNPHI/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ms. Kerr currently brings her diverse knowledge and experience to the Institute as Assistant Director.  She works closely with Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H., to oversee business/resource development, program planning, operations and the development of five centers of excellence that include Bio-preparedness and Health Systems Readiness and Workforce Development. Ms. Kerr recently coordinated the Institute’s first annual summit meeting held in November 2007, a business focused disaster preparedness meeting. The issues explored included pandemic influenza and bio-preparedness and panelists were from the Palm Beach County Division of Emergency Management and local leaders in business continuity. She is also involved in the topic of water technologies and water security and in the collaboration with local and state partners to focus on water science and technology as a public health topic. Currently, Ms. Kerr is working with the Palm Healthcare Foundation on the quantification of Palm Beach County nursing workforce needs and recommendations of desired staffing patterns and coordinating  technical assistance for possible expansion of FQHCs in Palm Beach County.  She currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Center for Bioterrorism and All-Hazards Preparedness (CBAP).