Cara McNamara is an Academic Advisor for the Public Health Studies Program. She gained her advising experience serving the students at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville, MD. Prior to that, Cara worked on several federally funded public health programs for the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The federal agencies she supported include the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Her most recent work with SAMHSA included coordinating the review of programmatic materials for nationally and internationally recognized evidence-based programs and practices for the National Registry for Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP) database. Cara’s public health interest is in health behavior, nutrition and mental health. She is an experienced yoga teacher with an active yoga and meditation practice and holds a certificate in integrative nutrition health coaching.

Ms. McNamara earned a B.A. in History from Shepherd University and her MPH in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from The George Washington University in Washington, DC.