Karen S. Days
President, Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence

The president of the Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence, Karen S. Days is committed to creating a community culture that does not tolerate family violence. With the help of a strong Board of Trustees that includes the Coalition’s founder, Abigail Wexner, the work is being accomplished through: mobilizing community resources, raising community awareness, supporting new initiatives for prevention and intervention, and increasing and enhancing community education.

Ms. Days has served as the first and only President of the Coalition since its founding in 1998. Prior to that she spent nine years working in the criminal justice field. Her positions included: Fellow at the Office of Criminal Justice Services of Ohio; Night and Weekend Director, Columbus City Prosecutor’s Office; Crime Prevention Specialist for the Alliance for Cooperative Justice; Assistant Chief of the Grants Section of the Office of Criminal Justice Services of Ohio; and Director of Safety at United Way of Central Ohio.

Currently, Ms. Days serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for United Way of Central Ohio and as treasurer and a member of the Board of Trustees of Westside-Eastside Child Care Centers Association.

In 2001, she received the “Karama Community Leadership Award” from the Columbus Urban League.

In addition, she volunteered for three years at the Short Stop Teen Drop-in Center of Directions for Youth and Families and as a mentor at Salesian Boys and Girls Club.

A graduate of The Ohio State University in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in Criminology/Criminal Justice, she is attending law school in the evening program at Capital University.

Johnathan D. Thackeray, MD
Clinical Director of the Child Assessment Center at the Center for Child and Family Advocacy.

After graduating from the Medical College of Ohio in 2000, Dr. Thackeray completed a residency and chief residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at Indiana University .  Following this training, he completed a fellowship in child abuse and neglect at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Cincinnati , Ohio .  Dr. Thackeray was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2005 and serves as the Clinical Director of the Child Assessment Center at the Center for Child and Family Advocacy.

Dr. Thackeray is active in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Section on Child Abuse and Neglect and serves as editor of the section’s newsletter.  He has been received as a Scholar Member of the Ray E. Helfer Society - an honorary society of physicians seeking to provide leadership to enhance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of child abuse and neglect.  His professional interests include intimate partner violence and medical student education.

Gail M. Heller
Executive Director, CHOICES

Gail M. Heller oversees all aspects of CHOICES’ work, serving victims and survivors of domestic violence in two central Ohio counties. Her responsibilities encompass overall management and administration, including: policy development and implementation, supervision of the staff of over 30 professionals and para-professionals, case consultation, public speaking, legislative and expert testimony, budget development, grant and proposal writing, and strategic planning. She served as CHOICES’ administrative director from 1984 to 1987, when she was promoted to Executive Director.

Under Ms. Heller’s leadership, CHOICES has enhanced its shelter service offerings, adding special programs with tutoring and activities staff for children of shelter residents, established outreach efforts, designed a corporate domestic violence in the workplace training program, and created relationships with other community groups for supplemental services.

Ms. Heller is a popular speaker on topics related to domestic violence, and she has addressed diverse audiences throughout the local community, Ohio, and nationally.

Prior to joining CHOICES, Ms. Heller served as an outpatient therapist, social services worker and youth leader for various organizations. Ms. Heller has served as an adjunct faculty instructor at The Ohio State University’s College of Social Work.

Ms. Heller received a master’s degree in social work in 1984 and a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1976, both from OSU. She is a past president of the Ohio Correctional and Court Services Association, serves on several task forces of the Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence, is the past board chair of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network and is an elected delegate representing Victims and Restorative Justice programs to the American Correctional Association in Arlington, Virginia.

Velerick Watts, MSW
Chalmers P. Wylie Ambulatory Care Center

Velerick Watts, MSW is a social worker at the Chalmers P. Wylie Ambulatory Care Center. He graduated from The Ohio State University in 1997 and serves on the Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence Health Care Task Force.

Philip V. Scribano, DO, MSCE
The Ohio State University College of Medicine

Dr. Scribano is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Section of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He also serves as Medical Director for the Center for Child and Family Advocacy at Columbus Children’s Hospital.

He is an attending physician in the Child Assessment Center, medical director of the Center for Child and Family Advocacy, and medical liaison for the emergency care of suspected child abuse and neglect at Children’s. He has been active in the area of health services, emergency medicine, and child abuse research and has published over twenty-five original articles and book chapters in the areas of Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Child Maltreatment. He is board certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine.

He has been an invited speaker for the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Ambulatory Pediatric Association. He is a member of the Sections of Emergency Medicine and Child Abuse of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Ambulatory Pediatric Association, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, and the Ray E. Helfer Society.

A graduate of Rutgers University and The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, School of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Scribano has also received a Master of Science degree in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed his internship at Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Stratford, New Jersey, and Residency in Pediatrics at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He then completed a Fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Scribano is especially interested in severe physical abuse, psychosocial aspects of child maltreatment, and legal advocacy of victims of abuse.

Olivia Thomas, M.D.
The Ohio State University and Children’s Hospital

Dr. Olivia Thomas is the Chief of the Section of Ambulatory Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University and Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio. She is the Director of the Primary Care Network where patient care activity is provided through comprehensive health care assessments and acute care to all patients who attend one of the hospital’s eight community sites or three hospital-based teams in the Primary Care Center. A Mobile Care Unit staff provides acute and primary care to students at 14 schools through the school year and during summer school.

Dr. Thomas is a member of the Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence board and chairs its Health Care Task Force.

Dr. Thomas received her Bachelor of Science Degree from Kentucky State University, Frankfort, Kentucky and her Doctor of Medicine Degree from Creighton University Medical School, Omaha, Nebraska. She completed her residency at The Ohio State University, Department of Pediatrics College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio.