Guadalupe “Rosie” Harrison is a dedicated advocate and community builder who champions inclusivity, equity, and cultural diversity. As the Founder and CEO of GROW Initiative GA, Rosie has transformed the organization into a trusted partner for underserved communities, particularly for non-native English speakers and individuals with disabilities in Coastal Georgia. Deeply influenced by her Mexican heritage and her childhood in Las Vegas, Nevada, Rosie is driven by a commitment to creating positive, lasting change.

Rosie’s work focuses on building strong partnerships with local organizations, businesses, and government entities to address critical issues like food security, healthcare access, and educational disparities. Through GROW Initiative GA’s “full circle” framework, she tackles the root causes of community barriers using data-driven strategies and culturally sensitive programming. Her advocacy extends to policy work in education, health, and nutrition, where she promotes equitable, culturally appropriate, and linguistically inclusive resources.

Passionate about fostering inclusivity and collaboration, Rosie is a tireless advocate for the rights and opportunities of diverse communities, working to create pathways to success for those facing educational and economic barriers. In addition to her work at GROW, she is committed to expanding the organization’s reach, securing funding, and advocating for systemic changes that uplift low-wealth, underserved populations. Her vision and leadership continue to drive GROW Initiative GA’s mission to build a more equitable, thriving society.

Outside her professional work, Rosie volunteers with mentorship programs and nurtures her love for gardening, cultivating a backyard oasis that reflects her dedication to growth, both in the community and her own life.

Ana Palacios a physician and nutrition scientist with 10 years of expertise designing, implementing, and evaluating experimental and observational studies that examine a diversity of nutrition and health outcomes in in diverse populations . My long-term career goal is to find evidence-based nutritional truths that promote nutritional- , mental, and cardiovascular health of all people, but especially those from underserved, minority backgrounds. 

After completing my medical degree at Javeriana University School of Medicine (Bogota, Colombia) in 2007, I participated in the development and implementation of a surveillance program of birth defects, I started a DNA bank with samples from infants with congenital defects and developed a training program for medical staff to screen for birth defects. 

During my postdoctoral fellowship and Master’s degree, my research in basic nutritional sciences focused on identifying factors associated with pregnancies complicated by birth defects, specifically midline field defects. I developed a laboratory assay to measure antibodies targeting folate receptors. The assay was effective to measure antibodies in a diversity of tissue samples (plasma, serum, placenta) in pregnancies complicated with neural tube defects, congenital heart defects and orofacial clefts. I also discovered a novel mechanism of teratogenicity of valproic acid, a common anti-epileptic drug used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorders worldwide which is known to cause a variety of birth defects.  

I then pursued a PhD in Nutritional  Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, which I graduated in 2020 where I did secondary analyses to identify factors associated with anemia in young children from Guatemala and Haiti. My research to date has focused on identifying nutrition disparities and developing, implementing, and evaluating nutrition interventions (including some with micronutrient supplements) in Latin America and the US. 

More recently, I have assessed barriers and facilitators to replacing packed snacks for fresh fruits and vegetables in childcare programs in urban and rural Georgia, and implemented two online randomized controlled trials, the first assessing the effectiveness of lactation cookies in objective and subjective measures of milk production; and the second trial assesses the effectiveness of an online digital wellness intervention in diet quality, weight loss and other secondary outcomes of overweight and obese US adults, relative to standard of care. 

With my diverse background in medical and nutrition and implementation sciences, I have supported primary and secondary population-based nutrition and health studies and health studies across six different countries in Latin America and the US in a diversity of settings.

Beatriz Severson moved to Savannah, GA in December 2019 with the objective of excelling in her family Real Estate Investment Business, Heart Property Solutions, LLC with her husband, Kevin Severson. Currently, she sits as Community Volunteer in the Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition, Health and Mental Health Teams; Coastal Georgia Resilience Steering Committee, under the leadership of Lizann
Roberts, Parent University, under the leadership of Michael O’Neal and HOLA Savanah Mayor’s Office Task Force. She has 30 years of progressive experience in Performance Improvement Programs /Patient Safety and Regulatory Compliance in the Healthcare Industry and the community in South Florida.

Her most recent position at Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG), the Medicare Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO), Quality Improvement Specialist working on improving community outcomes related to Behavioral and Acute Medical Care Coordination , Readmission Prevention Projects and the Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship Project. Before joining
HSAG, she was the Quality Improvement/Patient Safety/Regulatory Compliance Director responsible for
developing, coordinating, and administering hospital-wide performance improvement activities impacting patient health outcomes, and promoting safety and customer satisfaction at Jackson Health System, Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital, Miami, Florida.

Ms. Severson was born in Bogota, Colombia, and moved to Miami-Dade County 40 years ago to pursue The American Dream. She received her BS in Medical Technology from Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia, and she completed her Master’s in Science Healthcare Administration, MSHSA, at Nova Southeastern University in 2000, her Associate in Science in Nursing at Miami Dade College in 2004 and Six Sigma Green Belt Certification at Florida International University in 2014. Certified Instructor Community Resilience Model CRM in 2023.