Communications Team

Over twenty-five years of experience in higher education. For the past twenty years, has served in dean-level positions in student affairs at both Yale University and The Catholic University of America; providing experience in organizational leadership, strategic planning, policy development and implementation, program development, curriculum development and review, accreditation preparation, budget preparation and allocation, student development and counseling, and higher educational law. Teaches courses in student personnel services in higher education (online), and educational leadership theory and development. Research focus is on the relationship between educational leadership and motivation.

Kira is responsible for overseeing the YSPH Office of Communications.  Kira has come from Smithville Communications where she was Vice President of Marketing, Product and Customer Service and led the marketing and customer service departments to develop brand, acquisition and customer communication strategies.  Prior to Smithville, Kira was Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Public Relations at Frontier Communications in New Haven.  She obviously brings with her experience in marketing and communication strategies, but also experience with the New Haven community and local organizations.  She resides with her family in Trumbull, CT where she is an advocate for special needs children and fostering diversity within the community.

As a writer for the Yale School of Public Health's Office of Communications, Colin Poitras promotes the innovative and collaborative work of the school's outstanding faculty and students on a variety of platforms including Yale Public Health magazine, Yale News, the YSPH website, and other content areas. Prior to coming to Yale in 2018, Colin spent 10 years as a science writer and media relations specialist for the University of Connecticut, where he wrote about and promoted research advances in engineering, materials science, pharmaceutics, artificial intelligence, and chemistry. Colin has 20 years of news writing experience with the Hartford Courant and was a member of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage in 1998.

At the Yale School of Public Health, Jessica is a web content manager with over 30 years of experience in marketing and manufacturing operations. Her expertise in digital design, prepress, printing, and e-commerce web helps create engaging content highlighting the school's legacy and leadership in public health education. Working collaboratively with multiple departments and stakeholders, she focuses on developing resonating content for all YSPH web audiences. With her strong communication skills and the ability to use data to drive content decisions, she manages YSPH websites, web analytics, and SEO. This helps to maximize web search rankings, optimize content, analyze user engagement, maintain site quality standards, and ensure consistent brand messaging across channels. In addition to supervising web specialists and student workers, Jessica is also a project manager for website development. She manages a network of content contributors to ensure accuracy and consistency. She monitors all website changes submitted to the web team by the YSPH community and manages the Office of Communications work request Salesforce ticketing system. Over the next year, the school is undergoing a web transformation, and Jessica is leading the charge! Her mission is to revamp the website design and assemble a new CMS platform that delivers modern, dynamic design and content to engage and inspire end-users. Jessica plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining the school's online presence. She ensures the content's accuracy, consistency, and approachability to amplify the school's mission and values that will continue to inspire others in the field of public health education.

Kayla Steinberg is the Digital and Social Media Strategist at the Yale School of Public Health. In this role, she manages the Yale School of Public Health social media and shares the school's work, stories and public health messages through creative multimedia and digital communications. Prior to joining Yale in 2020, Kayla was the communications coordinator at a local public health department in Michigan, where she shared timely information on everything from infectious disease outbreaks to mental health and the overdose crisis. Kayla also has experience in multimedia storytelling, journalism, and non-profit communications.

Jane E. Dee joined the communications team at Yale University in 2018. As a communications officer at the Yale School of Public Health, she is the managing editor of Yale Public Health magazine, the school's official publication that focuses on the activities of students, faculty and alumni. Jane previously worked at Yale School of Medicine where she was a prolific writer, publishing widely on topics including medical advances from the department of internal medicine. Before Yale, she was a senior publications editor and executive editor at CT1 Media, which comprised a local TV station and The Hartford Courant, one of the largest regional newspapers in the country. She also was the company's liaison between the newsroom and its business divisions, responsible for strategic communications and marketing. Jane received her master's degree from Wesleyan University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts.

Jazminx Ellis is the Senior Administrative Assistant at the Yale School of Public Health Department of Communications and Public Relations. In this role, she supports the YSPH Communications and P.R. team and its community members. Jazminx also has experience in entrepreneurship, health insurance administration, marketing and financial benefits administration including FMLA and Short Term Disability.

Fran Fried came aboard as a writer and associate communications officer at YSPH in April 2022. She writes and compiles student, faculty, staff and alumni profiles for the YSPH website, in addition to writing feature and news stories. She also compiles the school’s Insider and Events Calendar newsletters. She’s been a jack- and jill-of-all-trades her entire adult life. She was in journalism (print and online) for 30 years at news organizations in Connecticut, California and New York, as an editor and writer covering features, news, music/entertainment and sports. She’s also an advocate for trans rights; she has written op-ed pieces in The New York Times (online) and New Haven Register, has spoken to several college classes, and was asked for her input when a Long Island school district created a trans-inclusive student policy. She has hosted music shows on terrestrial and online radio for more than 30 years, and in 2017, she took part in one of the weirdest finishes in the history of Jeopardy!

Sabrina Lacerda is the Web Coordinator at the Yale School of Public Health. Some of her top priorities are to make sure everyone can easily access information on YSPH’s website and to help share the work of its members. Prior to joining the Yale community, Sabrina worked for eight years in Brazil, where she was in various roles related to digital marketing, event planning, and website management.