Bio
Sandra J. Winter, PhD, MHA, is currently the Executive Director of Senior Coastsiders in Half Moon Bay, CA. Senior Coastsiders is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that has provided opportunities, support, and resources for older adults on the San Mateo Coast since 1977. Senior Coastsiders prepares meals that are served in the dining room or home delivered; provides information assistance and caregiver support; carries out minor repairs to improve home safety; facilitates transport to and from the center; and coordinates a variety of classes and activities. Sandi is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and a member of the Community Health and Prevention Research (CHPR) Master of Science Advisory Board.
Sandi was born and raised in Zimbabwe, then moved to Cape Town in South Africa where she was a successful entrepreneur, owning and operating a number of businesses in the advertising industry. In 2003 Sandra moved with her family from Cape Town, South Africa to Lexington, Kentucky where she completed a Master of Health Administration in May, 2006 and a PhD in Public Administration (Health Policy Track) in December, 2009 at the University of Kentucky. Her graduate research work focused on the health care that is provided to prison inmates in Kentucky.
In 2009 Sandra moved from Kentucky to California where she started working at the Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC). At SPRC Sandra held a number of positions including Fitness assessor, biometric screener and wellness advisor with the BeWell program; Social Science Research Assistant with Abby King’s Healthy Aging Research and Technology Solutions (HARTS) lab; Project Manager for the SPRC/Qassim University College of Medicine, Saudi Arabia collaboration, Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute and Director of the WELL for Life initiative.
Sandra's research areas of interest include wellbeing, community-based interventions among under resourced populations; reducing health disparities (particularly in a global context); the role the environments in which we live, work and play affect our ability to lead healthy active lives; and how we can use technology to encourage and support health behavior improvements.
