About Us

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Dr. Heidi Lee Pottinger, DrPH, MPH, MA is the Founder & Executive Director of CHARM. She is also a mother and a director of clinical investigations in the Department of Health Promotion Sciences at the University of Arizona (UA), primarily assessing the impact of intensive physiotherapies on very young children with cerebral palsy. Over her career, she has focused extensively on advocacy, education, research, and service efforts. She has a doctorate in Maternal & Child Health, dual Master's degrees in Biomedical & Health Ethics and Global Family & Child Health, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. A native of Nogales, Arizona, Dr. Pottinger previously served as Director of Clinical Research for the Muscular Dystrophy Association national headquarters. She has been recognized by the American Public Health Association for her work evaluating an integrative wellness program in a pediatric hospital setting, by the UA for her research in service to society, and by the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as a "Top 40 Under 40". Aside from her peer-reviewed research publications, she is also a 2018-2019 Fellow of The OpEd Project, publishing her work in The Health Care Blog, The Hill, The Washington Post, Latino Rebels and more. She has also been featured in stories for BBC World, CBS Radio, NBC US News, PBS, and local news.   Propelled by her lived experiences and training, she has a great passion for strengthening resilience in children and families. Dr. Pottinger is also a certified trainer in the Nurtured Heart Approach® and a certified reiki practitioner. Her direct experiences with love, healing, and interconnectedness –with her ancestors, through nature and all of the waves of the electromagnetic spectrum – were the inspiration for Camp Druzy and her children’s book “My Best Friend is a Giraffe”. The book, in both English and Spanish, is about a young boy and his adventures with his best friend Druzy - who only he can see. 

 Dr. Gary E. Schwartz, PhD is the Founding Chair/Immediate Past Chair of CHARM's Board of Directors. He is a world-renowned author and researcher and a Professor of Psychology, Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry, and Surgery at the University of Arizona (UA). In addition to teaching courses on health and spiritual psychology, he is also the Director of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health. His research broadly encompasses the overlapping areas of energy psychology and spiritual psychology for the purpose of increasing health and wellness. Dr. Schwartz founded the Academy for Advances in Postmaterial Sciences and was the founding president of the Forever Family Foundation. In 2002 he received a $1.8 million dollar award from the National Center on Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health to create a Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science at the UA, which he directed for four years. He collaborated with Canyon Ranch on biofield science and energy healing research and serves as the Corporate Director of Development of Energy Healing. He also served as Chairman of Eternea, an organization whose mission is to foster the integration of science and spirituality for personal and global transformation. Dr. Schwartz earned his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University in 1971 and was an assistant professor there for five years. He later served as a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Yale University, as director of the Yale Psychophysiology Center, and as co-director of the Yale Behavioral Medicine Clinic before moving to Arizona in 1988.  Dr. Schwartz has published more than four hundred and fifty scientific papers, including six papers in the journal Science. He also co-edited eleven academic books, is the author of The Energy Healing Experiments (2007), The G.O.D. Experiments (2006), The Afterlife Experiments (2002), The Truth about Medium (2005), The Living Energy Universe (1999), The Sacred Promise (2011), and more. The Energy Healing Experiments (2007) received the Gold Medal from the Nautilus Book Awards.    

  Dr. Audrey "Amparo" Russell-Kibble, DNP, RN, FNP-C, FAANP is the Chair of CHARM's Board of Directors.  She grew up on the U.S.-Mexico Border. Retired from the University of Arizona (UA) College of Nursing, currently Adjunct Faculty, Dr. Russell-Kibble continues to inspire student involvement in the care of the migrant community. Recognizing a gap in the care of migrant children and wanting to help the children integrate into their sponsoring communities, she, together with a student of hers, innovated a unique model of caring for migrant children to include Trauma Informed Care. Her research accomplished an ethnography focusing on Mexican American parents’ perceptions of cultural influences on grieving the death of their child. That study arose from her personal and clinical observations of the need for those providing care to learn the importance of knowing the cultural concepts underpinning grief in this population. Dr. Russell Kibble has provided numerous lectures at UA College of Nursing and Department of Family & Community Medicine on the topics of Loss, Grief, Bereavement, Death and Dying, End-of-Life Care, and Spirituality. She emphasizes the importance of caring and acceptance of the hard-won blessings that accompany grief. Dr. Russell-Kibble earned a Doctorate in Nursing Practice from The University of Arizona in 2011 and was an assistant clinical professor there for almost 9 years. In 2008 she was recognized as one of Tucson Nurses Week’s Fabulous 50 Nurses, and in 2016 was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. 

 Marla Hodes, MA is the Vice-Chair of CHARM's Board of Directors. She is a mother, spiritual seeker, author, and the Founder and Host of the podcast "Interviews with Innocence: Consciousness, Spirituality, and Honoring the Wisdom of Children".

She is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Ethiopian Family Fund, helping children and women in Ethiopia. Her passion is children. She has a Master's degree in exercise physiology and has worked with children in many different capacities. She worked in the pediatric and adult  transplant units at the University of California - San Francisco, teaching about exercise, nutrition, and stress reduction. She also worked at Dr. Gerald Jampolsky's Center For Attitudinal Healing, working with children who had cancer, helping them process their emotions through art therapy and other healing modalities. Marla is a certified reiki practitioner and has studied shamanism, mediumship, near-death experiences, and other healing modalities. She is also a children’s yoga/meditation teacher. She recently finished her first book, “Love Magic”, a book about eternal love, teaching the young that even though someone may be far away or passed to the other side, he/she is always available to connect through love.

Mrs. Megan Romo, CPA is the Treasurer 

of CHARM's Board of Directors. She  is also a Partner at Quick & Associates, PC. A native of Nogales, Arizona, Mrs. Romo has degrees in Accounting and Spanish from the College of Business Administration at Northern Arizona University. 

Elisa Yi, Esq. is the Secretary of CHARM's Board of Directors. Mrs. Yi earned her Juris Doctor and Master's in Business Administration degrees from Howard University, as well as degrees in Government and Asian Middle Eastern Studies from Dartmouth College. She has extensive experience as an attorney and previously worked at the U.S. House of Representatives. Raised in Nogales, Arizona herself, she recently moved back to Santa Cruz County with her family.