Our Board

Penny was added to the Board as Board Member Emeritus.  She provides the institutional memory for the Board and grounds the organization in its purpose and mission.

Chikako Takeshita is an associate professor UC Riverside. She joined the Women’s Studies Department in 2004. Her first book The Global Biopolitics of the IUD: How Science Constructs Contraceptive Users and Women’s Bodies (MIT Press, 2012) traces the development of the intrauterine device from the 1960s to the present. Her work demonstrates that various social interests, including the desire to restrict global population growth, the threat of medical malpractice litigations, anti-abortion politics, and women’s aspiration for better reproductive control have all played a significant role in directing scientific research on the device. Her current research project Surgical Birth examines cesarean section as a controversial technology that has been the focus of debate in obstetrics, public health, and women’s health advocacy as well as among mothers who are subjected to the procedure. She is also investigating the discourses of sustainable futures that are formulated in the scientific community and the general public. (Bio courtesy of UC Riverside)

Bronwyn Leebaw is Associate Professor of Political Science at UC Riverside, where she teaches courses in human rights, transitional justice, political theory, international politics and ethics, and environmental justice. Leebaw received a PhD in Political Science from UC Berkeley. She is on the steering committees of the Peace and Conflict Studies Minor and the Global Studies Major at UC Riverside.

Liz is a small business owner and a community representative on the Board.  Liz and her family live in one of our focus communities. Her community fought a drag racing track next to her home that had measured noise levels above 130 decibels.  She and her husband sued the County and San Bernardino and won forcing the facility to install mitigation measures reducing the noise significantly.  Liz chairs the Finance Committee and oversees our annual audit.

Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine.  Heidi did her Residency in Family Medicine at Kaiser Permanente, Fontana after receiving her M.D. at Loma Linda University and her BS in Biochemistry (Magna Cum Laude) from pacific Union College.  Heidi provides much-needed expertise in the health issues related to our work.

Nanette is one of our newer Board member but is a longtime member of CCAEJ.  She is a GIS Specialist with Albert A. Webb Associates in Riverside.  She is a longtime activist in the City of Riverside and brings a much-needed guidance to our technology development

Maggie has been a member of the CCAEJ Board since 2004 and currently serves as President.  Maggie is the Director of the Randall Lewis Health Policy Fellowship providing graduate student fellows to cities in the Inland Valleys participating in the Healthy Communities Collaborative. Maggie also is a regional leader and advocate for providing support and counseling to LGBT youth in the Riverside and San Bernardino area.