About Us

The Office is under the direction of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs (DASPA), whose responsibilities include implementation of the mandated provisions of two categorical grant programs:

• The Family Planning program authorized under Title X of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), and
• The Adolescent Family Life (AFL) program authorized under Title XX of the PHSA.

OPA Senior Staff

Evelyn Kappeler

Evelyn Kappeler is the Acting Director of the Office of Population Affairs (OPA). As a senior manager, she is responsible for the management and administrative operations of OPA and its component offices. She is also responsible for policy coordination and long-range planning, as well as program and budget oversight. Ms. Kappeler has more than twenty years of experience as a public health analyst at OPA. Prior to working at OPA, Ms. Kappeler served as a policy research associate in the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Before joining HHS, Ms. Kappeler worked as a legislative analyst in the Washington, D.C. Office of the Governor of the State of Illinois.

Susan Moskosky, M.S., R.N.C.

Susan Moskosky joined the Federal Government as a Regional Program Consultant (RPC) for Family Planning in DHHS Region VII, Kansas City, where she also served as the Region VII Women's Health Coordinator. Currently, Ms. Moskosky is the Director of the Office of Family Planning in the Office of Population Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is responsible for administration as well as program and policy development for the national Title X Family Planning Program.

Ms. Moskosky is a certified Women's Health Nurse Practitioner who spent the first 15 years of her professional career providing family planning, prenatal, and other preventive health services and educating nurse practitioner students for the Title X Family Planning Program. She was the Director of one of the five original Title X-funded Women's Health Care Advanced Nurse Practitioner programs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Texas.

Johanna Nestor, M.P.H.

Johanna Nestor is the Director of the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. Ms. Nestor has worked in the Office of Population Affairs (OPA) for over ten years and has been a Project Officer on many Adolescent Family Life prevention and care demonstration grants. In her role as Director of the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, she provides executive leadership and direction in the planning, development and administration of programs to carry out Title XX of the Public Health Service Act, and serves as the overall coordinator for the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs (DASPA) of OPA adolescent pregnancy programs. She provides leadership in promoting public awareness of the problems of adolescent pregnancy and adolescent sexual risk behavior through dissemination of public information and educational materials. Ms. Nestor has her Masters in Public Health from George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Patricia G. Thompson, Ph.D.

Dr. Thompson is the Director of the Office of Research and Evaluation in the Office of Population Affairs (OPA). Dr. Thompson brings an interest in applying scientific findings to improve the world of health services from her work at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality where she was Director of Scientific Review for many years. Before entering the Federal Government, Dr. Thompson taught Sociology at UCLA, San Diego State University, and the Claremont Colleges, in California.