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Community Advisory Council (CAC)

The Community Advisory Council’s role is advisory and collaborative with the CTR organizational structure and specifically aims to:

  • Clarify best approaches to solving health problems
  • Reach people statewide with new research information
  • Build connections for research in the broad community

The role of CAC members is to:

  • Be involved in clinical research issues in CTR priority health areas
  • Review and disseminate information to others in their network and communities served
  • Work collaboratively to develop approaches to solve problems
  • Advocate for practical application of the research

The CAC adds value to the CEO in its mission to engage the community in translational research:

  • Simplify the message from ACCEL to the community .
  • Helping the CEO/ACCEL with circular feedback from the project to the community and back.
  • Clarifying the language – develop a common language.
  • Clarifying the process for building trust and sharing power between the academic/medical research community and the broad community.
  • Helping with overcoming existing barriers in reaching the community – lack of trust and inclusion.
  • Reviewing communications for “the community” in draft (i.e. the website)

Community Advisory Council Members

Gwendoline B. “Gwen” Angalet, PhD, (CAC Chair)

Gwendoline B. “Gwen” Angalet, PhD, is the ACCEL Program Community Advisory Council Chairperson. She is the CEO of GBA Consulting, a management consulting firm providing professional services to clients in the public and not-for-profit sectors, helping them to lead and manage change and achieve improved results and lasting impact. Current projects include efforts to increase support to children, youth, and their families living in the city of Wilmington, to achieve academic success, promote positive development, and prevent violence. Gwen’s career in public service spans over three decades, most of which was in leadership and management roles in the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families and Nemours Health and Prevention Services. Additionally, Gwen serves on the boards of community non-profit organizations, including the Wilmington Hope Commission.

Octavia Dryden

Octavia Dryden, known by many as “Penny”, holds a Business Administration and Economics degree from
Delaware State University. She has more than thirty years of experience in the social and environmental
justice field and an extensive background in community engagement, partnership, and coalition building.
She was a member of the development team to establish the nationally recognized New Castle County
Community Partnership in 1991. She later served as its Executive Director and led the development of 10
Neighborhood coalitions, two county-level coalitions, Wilmington Prevention Coalition and New Castle
Prevention Coalition. Octavia is currently the executive director of Community Housing & Empowerment
Connections Inc. and chairperson for the Delaware EJ Community Partnership, and Delaware Concerned
Residents for EJ@CHEC. In these capacities she oversees the development of the Community Air
Monitoring Network 4 Delaware and the Connecting BIPOC to Clean Energy Opportunities Initiative. In
2017, Penny co- authored the Environmental Justice for Delaware, Mitigating Toxic Pollution in New
Castle County Communities report, served as Co-Principal Investigator for a ACCEL Sponsored Retreat
entitled: The Health Impacts of Toxic Pollution Research Retreat: Moving Collaboratively from Data to
Action through Community Engaged Research.

Terry-Ann Richards

Terry-Ann Richards is an Administrative Assistant at UD with CRESP. Her work focuses on research,
evaluation, and outreach activities. These include correspondence, scheduling, data organization,
performing administrative duties while ensuring confidentiality. Terry-Ann studied at Medgar Evers
College in Brooklyn New York, while becoming a member of the inaugural class of Public Allies where she
had training on bringing communities together to work for a common good. She is a mother to two boys
aged 13 and 21. Terry-Ann’s passion and majority of her work experience has been in the nonprofit
sector tying into her community interests and finding different ways to help low-income communities.
She enjoys volunteering with her sons to show them the importance of being a part of a community
changing process.

La Vaida Owens White MSN, RN, FCN

La Vaida Owens White MSN, RN, FCN

La Vaida Owens White MSN, RN, FCN has more than 40 years nursing experience in acute and long-term
care, rehabilitation, home care and community health. She is currently working in the practice setting of
Faith Community Nursing, and as Coordinator for the Delaware Region Health Ministries Network. Ms.
Owens White is a faculty educator for the International Parish Nurse Resource Center and instructor for
the Foundations of Faith Community Nursing core curriculum. As a community activist and life member
of the NAACP, she is active in leadership positions in community-based associations. One of her current
interests is in nursing research, exploring a collaborative partnership of community and faith-based
organizations in addressing childhood obesity.

Sara M. Fuller

Sara M. Fuller is a Tribal Citizen of the Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware. She has been involved with
several Tribal activities and events over the years including environmental cleanup, Lenape Youth Camp,
web and media development and outreach support, mobilizing the participation of Lenape Tribal Citizens
in completing the US Federal Census. Sara recently retired from the Delaware Transit Corporation (DART)
after completing 27 years of service to Public Transportation in the areas of Marketing, Communications
and Outreach.
She has worked with diverse communities and organizations advocating for accessibility, inclusion,
environmental justice and equity. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors, organic gardening,
genealogy and spending time with family. Sara earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Public
Relations from Rowan University.

ALTA M. PORTERFIELD, Delaware Libraries’

Alta M. Porterfield

Alta M. Porterfield, Delaware Libraries’ Statewide Social Innovator, takes to heart the Social Innovation (SI) mission to “help you find and take your next step.” The SI programming started with job seeker and small business programming, but quickly added various AmeriCorps VISTA programs including Social Sustainability, Healthy Futures, Literacy, Emerging tech, and Telehealth. The SI team includes a licensed counselor, social workers, teleservice specialists, digital navigators, and interns. Collaboration with non-profits and government agencies are key to SI’s sustainability. This is a large part of Alta’s day to day work:  networking and putting all the pieces together. ​
Her early career started with running a placement agency after being awarded the top Texas placement counselor at age 25. She learned early on that a successful project requires empowering the team with resources, support, and trust. Her team has won national and regional awards during her 10plus years with Delaware Libraries.