Community Health Education Center Librarian, Dana Ladd, PhD., is the new Chair Elect and Membership Committee Chair of the Medical Library Association (MLA)’s Consumer and Patient Health Information Section (CAPHIS). CAPHIS is a MLA member community section that “connects health sciences librarians and other consumer health information specialists with a forum, educational opportunities, and specific resources for patients, their families, and other consumer health information users.” Dana will serve one year as CAPHIS Chair-Elect, one year as Chair and one year as Immediate-Past Chair.

Ladd has 19 years of experience as a librarian and has extensive experience in consumer health reference, collection development, health and wellness program planning and health literacy. She has developed and taught consumer health information and health literacy workshops aimed at public librarians, patrons, health care providers and medical students.  

She has been a member of CAPHIS since 2008 and has attended their business meetings at the Medical Library Association annual conferences and has contributed articles and several book reviews to the CAPHIS Consumer Connections newsletter.

In this role as Chair Elect Dana will assist CAPHIS as the group transitions from a MLA section to a caucus and will work with other consumer health librarians to create a consumer health top websites and core titles lists.