Casey Blochowiak is the director of curriculum and learning for a K-12 public school district. She has 2 years of experience using the positive deviance approach in the U.S. to provide a framework for school districts to look within and identify teachers whose instructional approaches/strategies yield increased academic success for students.
Lucia Dura: Academic and Consultant
Lucia Dura is an academic and consultant with areas of expertise in qualitative methods and evaluation with the positive deviance approach. She has prior experience implementing positive deviance in the areas of vulnerable populations, education, healthcare, and most recently, correctional prison populations. She has worked in many countries, including the United States, Uganda, and Indonesia.
David Gasser: Consultant
David Gasser has been interviewed for numerous Positive Deviance publications for his abilities to apply the Positive Deviance approach in diverse areas like the private sector, public agencies, health-care and education. David works as a consultant and has been applying the Positive Deviance approach for over 12 years.
Ahmet Günes: Consultant
Inger W. Johannsen: Consultant
Inger W. Johannsen is a partner at Reflexio based in Copenhagen, Denmark. She brings over five years of experience to the Positive Deviance approach and has extensive knowledge working in sectors like vulnerable populations and education. She has worked with institutions for institutionalized children, and within the educational sector.
Jane Lewis: Consultant
Jane Lewis is a consultant that has worked with the government, third sector, universities, and commercial companies through a social enterprise organization. She taught Positive Deviance at Oxford University, HEC Paris, and Oxford Brookes University. With over nine years of experience with the Positive Deviance approach, she has many publications dedicated to the approach.
Curt Lindberg: Director, Billings Clinic Partnership for Complex Systems and Healthcare Innovation
Curt Lindberg has 14 years of experience using the PD approach specifically within the healthcare and educational sectors in North and South America. His work has been received by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among many other international organizations.
Dr. Patricia A Omidian: Director, Focusing Initiatives International
Dr. Patricia A Omidian has over 20 years of experience using the Positive Deviance approach in psychosocial support, community wellness, and disaster/post-conflict. She has worked in West Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East for organizations such as Focusing Initiatives, Aga Khan University, UNICEF, WHO, Save The Children, and The IRC.
Christina Shoemaker Simmons: Consultant
Christina Shoemaker Simmons is a consultant with areas of expertise in education, immigrant accultration, public health and pacific islanders. She has worked extensively in Hawaii, United States with social services and schools and community groups while applying the Positive Deviance approach for over seven years.
Monique Sternin: Co-Founder, Positive Deviance Initiative
Lars Thuesen: Consultant
Randa Wilkinson: Consultant and Academic, Tufts University
Randa Wilkinson has worked with the Positive Deviance Initiative in many capacities and has used her experties in facilitating the Positive Deviance approach in diverse organizations and sectors. Randa has over fifteen years of experience in PD in nutrition, healthcare, education and emergency relief. She has worked in the United States, Western and Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.