April Hermstad

April Hermstad, MPH, holds a Master of Public Health from Emory University and she joined the EPRC in 2007. During her time with the EPRC, she has coordinated research and evaluation projects focused on policy, system, and environmental changes to support heathy eating, physical activity and other health behaviors, cancer screenings, and access to health care and health-supporting environments. Since 2024, she has co-led the coordination of the EPRC’s core research project, Nurturing Opportunities & Resources in School Pantries for Health (NOURISH), which seeks to foster food security and support school-based food pantries across Georgia in improving the nutritional quality of foods distributed. Since 2019, she has served as external evaluator for the North Central Health District’s CDC Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant focused on reducing racial/ethnic health disparities in rural north-central Georgia. From 2017-2023, she led a team of faculty, staff, and graduate students in conducting a mixed-methods evaluation of Healthcare Georgia Foundation’s The Two Georgias Initiative that funded 11 rural community health coalitions to work toward achieving greater health equity among rural Georgians. Over the years, she has provided support to a variety of other EPRC-affiliated projects including assessing in-store marketing of ultra-processed foods in metro-Atlanta, promoting sun safety for South Georgia municipal/county employees who work outdoors, a clinical trial in Emory breast centers to increase genetic counseling referral for women at risk for hereditary breast/ovarian cancer, and evaluations of colorectal cancer screening programs throughout Georgia. Her professional interests include program evaluation, addressing the social determinants of health, understanding the role of lifestyle factors in preventing and reversing chronic diseases, and reducing health disparities.