Joan Peckolick is the Founder/Director of Self chec (www.selfchec.org), a 23 year old not-for-profit organization she created after personally seeing how practicing health prevention and early detection made the extraordinary difference in people close to her living or dying from cancers, heart disease and other chronic diseases that are often preventable, treatable and curable.
Joan is an on-going advocate of children and the family. In the 1980s, she developed the concept and prototype of a new magazine called Single Parent Family, based on positive role-modeling and family interaction, which was endorsed by Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Lee Salk and Dr. David Elkind.
Several years ago, she created a newsletter/guide for parents called Tuning IN (The Family Guide to Grown-up Films on Video). The American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists highlighted Tuning IN in its newsletter, saying it was a “worthwhile source for concerned parents.” In the 1990s, part of the original idea for Tuning IN was published by AOL Time Warner’s Entertainment Weekly magazine as an on-going editorial feature. In September of 1994, Tuning IN was produced as a two-page special guide in Woman’s Day magazine and in October 1994, Channel 5 Fox Ten O’clock News featured it on their Family File segment.
She has recently created a book for children…
Joan attended Queens College as a psychology major. Prior to creating Self chec she was an award-winning graphic designer, art director and conceptualist who worked under the company name Joan of Art. Her many projects have included art directing Working Woman magazine, design consultancy for People magazine and redesigning the graphics for the Russian Tea Room. She has lectured around the country and has been an adjunct professor at Pratt Institute.