The Health-Tech Consultants Team
Dax Martin Weaver, EdD, MPH
President
Dax M. Weaver has been the president of Health-Tech Consultants for the past 20 years.
During that time he has been one of the lead consultants on over 100 evaluations for programs in school districts, colleges/universities, public health, and businesses and organizations. Dax has conducted evaluation-research studies for the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Substance Abuse and Prevention, and the Florida Department of Education. He plays a major role in project management, evaluation and research design, curriculum development, survey design, database management, statistical analysis, and technical report writing.
Dax completed his doctoral degree in educational leadership with a cognate in epidemiological research and evaluation. His doctoral dissertation, What Makes Collaborative Evaluation Approaches Collaborative? A Q Methodology Study on Program Evaluators’ Perceptions, is a mixed methods research study using Q methodology to investigate practicing program evaluators’ perceptions regarding the foundational processes of collaborative evaluation approaches. Additionally, Dax has published over 15 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. He has also authored over 50 technical evaluation reports.
Sharon T. Wilburn, PhD, LMHC, CRC-MAC, BCC, CHES
Founder
Sharon is the founder of HTC and a senior evaluation specialist.
She is also Professor Emerita at the University of North Florida, Department of Public Health, Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. She has over 35 years of experience as an educator and 30 years as a licensed psychotherapist and clinical supervisor.
Sharon has a doctoral degree from the University of Florida in curriculum and instruction with cognates in rehabilitation counseling and services and qualitative research methodology. Dr. Wilburn has worked directly in the program evaluation field for over 30 years with an emphasis on community-based program research and evaluation and has contributed to the development of over 100 evaluation reports.
She served as lead evaluator on projects in the areas of workforce diversity, mental health, substance abuse prevention and treatment, community health, school health, aging, homelessness, sex education, and HIV/AIDS.
Melissa A. Covey, MPH, CHES, CIC
Senior Evaluation Specialist, Data Collection and Analysis Consultant
Melissa is a Certified Health Education Specialist with a certificate in Aging Services Management from the University of North Florida. She is also a Certified Intrinsic Coach.
Melissa currently serves as an HTC Associate, assisting with community program evaluation. She also provides strategic planning, program design and other consulting services to community organizations. In her spare time, Melissa volunteers with community organizations and local governments to identify needs, and to research how local governments across the state can meet those needs.
She served as a part-time faculty at UNF from 2009 to 2014, has served as the state-wide influenza surveillance coordinator from 2001-2004, served as a tobacco-free campuses coordinator and health educator for the public health department, and remains active in establishing community-based e-cigarette use prevention projects and initiating policy change. Melissa has expertise in community/social geographic information analysis (GIS), program design and management, grant compliance, e-learning, and quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.
Edessa Jobli, MD, MPH
Evaluation Associate
Edessa has a Doctor of Medicine degree from Far Eastern University (Philippines) and an MPH degree from University of North Florida (UNF).
Dr. Jobli has over 20 years of experience in health education and promotion; and clinical, behavioral, and social science research in academic, community, and clinical settings. She has substantial experience in design, implementation and evaluation of research and public health programs.
As a research and evaluation scientist, Dr. Jobli managed and supervised research programs and activities funded by the National Institutes of Health and other Federal and state agencies. She served as a Scientific Research Review Coordinator and Senior Research Scientist for 12 years for the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices, a Department of Health and Human Services initiative. She also served as the Assistant Director of Research Services for the School of Nursing at UNF providing research and evaluation consults to faculty and students.
She is a certified scientific research reviewer for Crimesolutions.gov, an initiative of Office of Justice Programs that uses rigorous research to determine what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. She also has a Certificate of Completion of Training: Scientific Research Reviewer on Group Designs from What Works Clearing House (WWC), Institute of Education Science (IES), an evidence-based registry of programs and practices for educators.