Dina Drankus Pekelnicky – Associate Board Social Media Chair
Information Systems Manager, National Children’s Study, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dina’s relationship with HealthConnect One began while she was in graduate school, where, as a fervent advocate for the investment in and improvement of infant and maternal health and well-being, she identified strongly with HealthConnect One’s mission and goals. She initially served as Communications Associate, her focus on enhancing the use of social media, while also serving on the Associate Board. After graduating, she continued working with HealthConnect One as Project Director on the development of the Chicago Area Breastfeeding Resource Guide and as an Associate Board member. This is Dina’s third year on the Associate Board, on which she serves as the Social Media Chair.
As the Information Systems Manager of the National Children’s Study in Wisconsin, Dina leads efforts related to data quality, confidentiality, and access; participant privacy protection; and information systems and information technology infrastructure design and implementation, as well as other domains. She also serves as the Membership Director for the Kettle Morraine chapter of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) and as a Research Associate at the University of Chicago.
Over the years, Dina has served in a variety of roles, including graphic artist, Institutional Review Board (IRB) coordinator, engineer, organizational consultant, statistician, survey researcher, and social worker. Dina’s experiences have reinforced in her the value of technology, information, and systems to catalyze change and have deepened her interest in leveraging these assets at the intersection of direct service and policy for the achievement of social justice.
Dina earned her Master of Arts in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago, with concentrations in the Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy; Policy Planning, Analysis, and Advocacy; and Community Organizing, and her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences from Northwestern University, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.
