The Big Shot of the Year Award, Immunize Colorado’s highest honor, is presented to champions of childhood immunizations.Robert Brayden, MD is a retired pediatrician. He attended Colorado State University and the St. Louis University School of Medicine where he received his Doctor of Medicine. He was a pediatric resident at the University of Colorado and served as Chief Resident at Cardinal Clennon Hospital in St. Louis. He was a Behavioral and Child Development post-doctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University and joined the Vanderbilt faculty for five years. In 1994, he moved to the University of Colorado to serve as Professor of Pediatrics at the CU School of Medicine. He joined Immunize Colorado soon thereafter where he served on the Board of Directors, including seven years as the Board President and three years as Vice President.

Dr. Brayden’s efforts to promote vaccination include presenting more than 110 lectures for the Colorado Rural Immunization Services Project, Children’s Hospital Colorado, the University of Colorado and for Immunize Colorado, as well as providing expert testimony at the Colorado State Capitol to support immunization policy. In addition to lecturing in towns and cities across Colorado, he has had immunization-related research published in numerous academic and medical journals. He previously served as a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and was named one of four 2013 Career Teaching Scholar Awardees by the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He retired from the University of Colorado in 2014 and from the Immunize Colorado Board of Directors in 2017. He is married and has two children and two grandsons

The SOUPer Hero Award recognizes individuals for their dedication and commitment to providing expertise, ideas, and collaborative support for Immunize Colorado’s programs.Jessica Cataldi, MD, MSCS is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in the Section of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology. After graduating medical school at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, she completed her pediatric residency and infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Colorado.

Dr. Cataldi works with several research teams at ACCORDS (The Adult and Child Consortium for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science) studying how to address vaccine hesitancy and improve immunization delivery, acceptance and uptake, particularly related to maternal immunizations, through practice-based and policy interventions. As an associate professor, she also teaches students and trainees about vaccine safety and vaccine community. She has also participated in global health work (clinical and research), including work in sub-Saharan Africa to study HIV and tuberculosis. Her research has been published in numerous academic journals. In 2016, she was awarded the Excellence in Quality and Patient Safety award at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

In the vaccine advocacy space, Dr. Cataldi has provided testimony at public hearings in support of science-based vaccination policy, been published in the opinion pages of The Colorado Sun and served on Immunize Colorado’s public policy committee. Through her work with Immunize Colorado, the Colorado chapter of the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), and Children’s Hospital Colorado, she continues to hone her skills in vaccine policy and pediatric advocacy.

The Sure Shots are nominated by friends or colleagues and are selected based on their leadership, collaboration and advocacy in the field of immunizations.Ms. Marianne Martinez graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She began her nursing career at Tucson Medical Center in their General Pediatrics Department and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. She received her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Arizona where she also held the position of Pediatric Pulmonary Clinical Nurse Specialist for five years. She took a brief hiatus from nursing to raise her three children, but returned to the career when they entered school.

Ms. Martinez has been a school nurse for St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) since 1999. She works with three schools in SVVSD in the consultant model promoting health, wellness and safety. In 2017, she took on a new role in the district as the Safety and Compliance Nurse which involves ensuring that the district follows CDPHE guidelines for immunizations, reporting and compliance and supervising staff members in the health services department (including the SVVSD Vision and Hearing Screening team).

Ms. Martinez is a member of the National Association of School Nurses and the Colorado Association of School Nurses. She has a special interest in immunizations and has strongly advocated in support of science-based vaccine policy in her school district as well as at the Colorado State Capitol. In 2014, she testified for House Bill 1288, which resulted in CDPHE making Colorado’s school vaccination rates publicly available each year, in front of the House of Representatives Health and Environment Committee. She finds much value in all that she does, especially working with the staff, children and families of her community.

“Marianne’s dedication, perseverance and hard work have not only benefited our school district but she has increased the knowledge base and safety of our entire community. She gives so much of her heart and soul to educating not only her co-workers but also parents, educators and medical practices. Marianne’s drive, enthusiasm and dedication to our district has increased our immunization rates over the last few years dramatically.”

– Joni Creighton, School Nurse Consultant, St. Vrain Valley School District

The Sure Shots are nominated by friends or colleagues and are selected based on their leadership, collaboration and advocacy in the field of immunizations.
Ms. Haley Houtchens has been a registered nurse at Children’s Hospital Colorado for 12 years. Inspired to become a nurse after her son was born with a major cardiac defect, she began her nursing career in the Cardiac Progressive Care Unit at Children’s. She then moved to the North Campus Urgent Care facility and for the last five years has been a school nurse consultant for Brighton 27J school district.Ms. Houtchens is passionate about the importance of immunizations for all students. Many of the students she works with in the school setting are immunocompromised, having had transplants or childhood cancer. She has become a strong advocate for protecting these students’ fragile immune systems by educating those around her about the critical importance of improving immunization rates in Colorado. She partnered with Brighton 27J administrators, schools, parents and family caregivers to lead an effort to establish a district policy that enforces current state law requiring vaccination documentation. As a result of her work and collaboration to make this policy a reality, Brighton 27J has increased its vaccination rates over the last three years to 97% or better for all school-required vaccines. She also successfully published an op-ed in her local newspaper in which she advocated for readers to ask their legislators to fight for stricter immunization laws.

Ms. Houtchens is currently a member of the Colorado Association of School Nurses, National Association of School Nurses and the Society of Pediatric Cardiology Nurses. When she’s not working, she loves to run, play tennis and support her kids in their endeavors. She is married to her college sweetheart, with whom she recently reconnected after a random series of events 27 years later. They have six children between them.

“In August 2019, Haley received the Daisy Award which recognizes outstanding nurses and nursing excellence at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Haley’s noteworthy contributions to protect Colorado kids and communities from vaccine-preventable diseases make her a perfect recipient of the 2020 Sure Shot Award.”

– Ellen Stern, Policy & Advocacy Specialist, Government Affairs, Children’s Hospital Colorado