Elise Gurgevich, PhD, MPH, CHES

Elise has experience overseeing and implementing multi-year community-based programming and institutional partnering projects. Currently, she is the state program coordinator for Penn State Extension’s Nutrition Links program. Nutrition Links is federally funded by the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) and Supplemental Nutrition Education Program (SNAP-Ed) to provide nutrition education to Pennsylvania residents with limited incomes. Nutrition Links reaches eligible audiences across the lifespan. Elise provides administrative oversight to 70 nutrition educators, comprised of professionals and paraprofessionals, in fulfilling the requirements and delivery of the federal programs. She has fiscal responsibility for annual budgets totally over 3.5 million annual allocations. She has served in the role for 19 years.

Elise has served as the Chair for the SNAP-Ed Project Directors’ Committee in Pennsylvania, and the Chair and member of the executive board of the PA Nutrition Education Network.
She also served as the Acting Assistant Director of Program for the Food, Families and Health Unit September 2018 - July 2020.

Her previous experiences include working with community-based agencies on health education awareness campaigns and coordinating a multi-year W.K. Kellogg Foundation national Food System Professions Education initiative. She has been a Certified Health Education Specialist since 1991.