LCDR Steven Merritt has been serving in the field of hazardous materials emergency response and preparedness for the past 21 years.  His areas of specialization include environmental health, industrial hygiene, and radiation safety.

LCDR Merritt currently serves as the Chief of the Preparedness and Site Assessment Section for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Region 8, where he is responsible for managing assessment work for contaminated sites, providing emergency preparedness oversight and compliance assistance to regulated oil and chemical facilities, and providing logistical and contracting support to the EPA Emergency Management Branch.  LCDR Merritt has been deployed multiple times by the EPA and the U.S. Public Health Service as a Safety Officer for COVID-19, wildfire recovery efforts in California and Oregon, and hurricane recovery efforts in Texas and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

LCDR Merritt commissioned into the Corps as an Environmental Health Officer in August 2016.  In addition to his current role with RMCOA, he also serves on the EHOPAC Readiness Subcommittee and is a member of APHT-3.  LCDR Merritt became a Certified Industrial Hygienist in November 2014 from the American Board of Industrial Hygiene.  Prior to that he earned his Master of Health Physics degree from Oregon State University and his Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Chemistry from the Colorado School of Mines.  He is a Colorado native and a resident of Colorado Springs, where he lives with his wife and three children.  His passions include running, hiking, backpacking with family, and home improvement projects.  

CDR Brittany Nork is an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) and is based in Denver, Colorado (although she works remote and lives in Erie, Colorado and soon to be Loveland, Colorado). CDR Nork is a Branch Chief for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Produce Safety Network (PSN). FDA’s ORA PSN promotes produce safety and protects public health through regulatory activities (e.g., inspections, investigations, sample collections) on farms, education, outreach, training, and technical assistance. CDR Nork has been with the FDA since 2007. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health from Ohio University, her Master of Science in Food Safety from Michigan State University and is a Registered Environmental Health Specialist. CDR Nork was the RMCOA Secretary years ago (under Maiden name – Laymon) and is excited to be in this role and support the RMCOA branch!

LCDR Barkman currently serves as the ICE Health Service Corp (IHSC) Field Medical Coordinator (FMC) in Denver with healthcare compliance oversight of two contracted detention centers. LCDR Barkman also serves as an Officer Ambassador in HHS Region 4 and serves as ​Co-Chair on the American Correctional Nurses Association (ACNA) Communications ​Committee. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. She also holds a Master’s of Science in Nursing and a Master’s of Health Sciences with a Public Health Concentration. She also has certifications in Wound Care and is a Certified Correctional Health Professional.

LCDR Barkman started her PHS career in 2008 as a Senior Costep Nurse while attending Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia. Her first duty assignment was at Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, TX where she worked on a busy med-surg unit. Over the years, she worked at five different federal prisons and gained a multitude of experience in the correctional healthcare setting as a wound care nurse, Nurse Practitioner, and Assistant Health Services Administrator. LCDR Barkman enjoys traveling, even if it’s just for a drive to the nearby mountains. Her hobbies include working out, hiking and more recently stand up paddleboarding.

LT Paula Morgan serves as the Service Unit Environmental Health Officer for the Indian Health Service in Fort Duchesne, Utah. In this role, she provides direct environmental services including project development, food safety, institutional surveys, and community injury prevention guidance for all the tribes throughout the state of Utah. LT Morgan began her U.S. Public Health Service career in 2021.  She obtained her Master of Professional Studies in Homeland Security - Public Health Preparedness from the Pennsylvania State University and her Master of Public Health - Environmental Health from the West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 2018. In her spare time, LT Morgan enjoys hiking, reading, and traveling with her husband and two dogs.

CDR William Lanier is a U.S. Public Health Service Veterinary Officer stationed in Salt Lake City, Utah as a Senior Epidemiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service. He also has experience in the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Utah Department of Health. CDR Lanier's professional interests include epidemiology, pathology, and public health policy; however, his favorite roles are those of husband and father.

He is excited to serve his fellow Salt Lake officers, help them communicate with each other and share resources, as well as become more connected with RMCOA and COAUSPHS. CDR Lanier also wants to help officers exert influence and promoting benefits for officers in this position.

LCDR Grace Marx is a medical epidemiologist with the Bacterial Diseases Branch at CDC’s Division of Vector-borne Diseases. Her primary areas of interest include the epidemiology and prevention of Lyme disease, tularemia, and plague. Dr. Marx received her MD and MPH degrees from the University of Washington and maintains board certification in both internal medicine and infectious disease. She continues to see patients regularly at the Denver Public Health infectious disease clinic.

As an officer recently relocated to Fort Collins, LCDR Marx is highly motivated to engage with other officers based in this area. She has many ideas of local activities that might interest other officers, including athletic events such as the Colfax Marathon, and volunteer service opportunities, such as adopting a local park or trail or leading an outdoor program. She is keen to reach out to officers living or working in the Fort Collins area to identify ideas by which we can support one another while advancing the PHS mission of public health promotion.