Creating Health Education That Reaches Every Learner
Highlighting Cristina Saunders, Chief Program Director of HEAL United
As Chief Program Director for HEAL United, Cristina Saunders recently led the development of the HEAL Adapted Curriculum, expanding the organization’s evidence-based health education resources to better serve students with diverse learning needs. Drawing on her experience as a special education teacher, Cristina helped create practical, flexible lessons that empower educators to deliver meaningful health and physical activity instruction in inclusive classroom settings. Her work reflects a deep commitment to ensuring that every student—regardless of ability—has the opportunity to develop lifelong healthy habits while giving teachers resources that are easy to implement and designed for real classrooms.
Reflecting on the project, Cristina shared:
“Working on the HEAL Adapted Curriculum brought me back to the beginning of my career as a special education teacher and reminded me why I became an educator. Throughout the process, I kept thinking about the teachers. Their responsibilities are already so great, and I wanted this curriculum to be something that truly helped—not just one more thing to do. Knowing the HEAL Adapted Curriculum can help teachers reach more students and give every learner the opportunity to build lifelong healthy habits has made this work especially meaningful to me.”
One thing of note, Cristina is an avid hiker. On multiple occasions she has hiked a full marathon. She discusses her first marathon hike in detail on the HEAL United website and is an informative read no matter if you are a hiker or not.