Laurel Elizabeth Zaks

Laurel Elizabeth Zaks, MPH, RD, age 38, died Friday March 28, 2008 in DeKalb County, GA.  Ms. Zaks was a versatile results-oriented leader with 14 years domestic and international experience in public health, nutrition consulting, maternal and child health, program development and management training and provided technical assistance to over thirty countries.  A graduate of Severna Park High School, she received her BS in Science in Clinical Dietetics and Nutrition, University of Pittsburgh, her Masters degree from in Public Health in Nutrition from UNC at Chapel Hill, and was a post-graduate Nutrition Fellow at the Center for Development and Learning, Chapel Hill, NC.  From June 1992 to August 1992 she was a Nutritionist with the Free Romania Foundation, Bucharest, Romania cross-training staff in 3 orphanages with medical clinics in health and nutrition issues.  She was also a Community Developer in Pop Wuj, Quetzeltenango, Guatemala from the fall of 1995 until February 1996 teaching primary health prevention strategies.  From November 1996 to June 1997, she developed and communicated policy and legislative strategy on domestic hunger for Congress and lobbied Congress on nutrition programs involving welfare reform.  While in Washington she was also a Pediatric Dietitian with the Children's National Medical Center working on initial and follow up nutritional assessments of HIV/AIDS and gastrointestinal disease patients.  From July 1997 to January 2001 she was a Public Health Educator/Nutritionist with the Peace Corp in Ecuador. During her service she was assigned to work in the capital city of the northern jungle province, Tena and its surrounding communities. She served as a public health promoter in the region. During the latter two and a half years of her service, she worked with a Center for Malnourished Children in Santa Domingo de Los Colorados where she served as the nutritionist/health educator working in an interdisciplinary medical team and in local communities.  She started her career with the CDC as a Public Health Advisor in February 2001 and was a leader in the Coordinating Office for Global Health (COGH) and the Office of Capacity Development and Program Coordinator for the African Region until May 2005.  Prior to this she trained and advised international counterparts to develop curricula and conduct appropriate in-country management skills training programs in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Central Europe.  Laura was a guest lecturer at the University of Georgia, Morehouse College, Emory University in Atlanta, School of Public Health in Chapel Hill, NC, and Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland.  She did extensive volunteer work and received many awards.  A recipient of the 1994 North Carolina Governor's Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service, she was a Registered Dietician with the National Commission on Dietetic Registration and a member of the Georgia Dietetics Association.  An accomplished author, she had written six publications in her field of study. She had several major presentations on Disease and Disease Control in places such as Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Nicaragua, Uganda, Philippines, Macedonia, Ecuador as well as several cities in the US.  Survivors include her parents, Dr. Arnold and Mrs. Maryanne Walko Zaks of Naples FL; sister, Ellen Habermacher and her husband Dr. Geoffrey Habermacher of Chicago, IL; brothers; Jason Zaks and his wife Kristen of Winston-Salem, NC, Brian Andrew Zaks of Charleston, SC; grandmother, Ann Betz Walko of Wilmerding, PA; and nieces, Brystol Ann Habermacher, Holden Grace Habermacher, and Lillian Frances Zaks. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Manna Food Bank, 627 Swannanoa River Road, Asheville, NC 28805.  A reception will follow her memorial services that will be held at 10:30 am Tuesday April 1, 2008 in the chapel of A. S. Turner and Sons, Decatur.