Caren’s pediatrician growing up was a tiny, elderly woman named, appropriately enough, Dr. Brilliant.

 

“I remember staring at her big wall of diplomas and thinking that she must have been one of the first women in those schools,” she says.

 

But Caren’s own mother, a Head Start preschool teacher, was probably her strongest female role model. Even as a young girl, Caren could appreciate the respect her mother showed for each and every child and parent, no matter their situation or background.

 

The modeling would serve her well.

 

As a 17-year-old AmeriCorps volunteer, Caren taught HIV-prevention classes to junior and senior high school kids, and worked at a camp for children affected by HIV.

 

“The experience convinced me that public health was the right field for me,” she says. “But it took me 10 more years to figure out that working for a community-based organization, specifically one that serves a diverse population, was really where I wanted to be.” 

 

She held jobs as a university graduate student, Planned Parenthood medical assistant, and HIV testing counselor before coming to Odessa Brown in 2007.

 

Her work at the clinic involves the chronic-disease programs: asthma, sickle cell, ADHD, Fit4You, Medical Home (for medically complex children) and Birth-to-5, a medical/mental health integration program for young children.  She also works to improve the quality of OBCC's services in general. 

 

 

Caren and her partner, Casey, live downtown with their two cats, Paddy and Dinette.