Howard L. Bost’s life-long mission was the provision of health care to the Commonwealth and the nation. He earned a Ph.D. in medical economics from the University of Michigan, the first such degree awarded in the nation. Dr. Bost not only played an active role in the creation and development of the University of Kentucky’s Chandler Medical Center, in 1960 he also worked on the Kentucky Governor’s Commission that drafted legislation that developed a program for medical assistance for the poor. His leadership in this role earned him the appointment of Executive Director of the Committee on Health Care of the Aged under Senator Jacob Javits, which ultimately resulted, in the passage of Medicare legislation, a program that provides universal medical benefits to the aged in the United States. Dr. Bost then served as the first Deputy Director of the Bureau of Health Services in the Social Security Administration under President John F. Kennedy. When he returned to Kentucky, Dr. Bost continued to advocate for health care for the Commonwealth and the nation through a variety of activities, including building UK’s employee retirement program and spearheading the creation of Appalachian Regional Hospitals, serving Central Appalachia. Upon his retirement from UK in 1982, his family established the Howard L. Bost Health Services Management Award for the outstanding graduating HSM student.
The story of Mary Breckinridge is well known in the annals of health care, not just in Kentucky and the United States, but throughout the world. In 1925 she founded the Kentucky Committee for Mothers and Babies in Leslie County, Kentucky, and in 1928, the name was changed to the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS), a project through which she introduced the first trained nurse-midwives to the United States. She was familiar with eastern Kentucky since she had family that resided there and her great- great grandfather, John Breckinridge, served as a U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Riding horses up mountains, through fog, flood, or snow, the FNS nurses brought modern healthcare to one of the poorest and most inaccessible areas in the U.S. Ms. Breckinridge demonstrated that care provided by nurse-midwives, acting as nurses to the total family, would drastically cut infant and maternal mortality and also morbidity and mortality for the entire community. The legacy of this remarkable woman lives on through provision of clinical services through FNS operated clinical facilities, as well as educational programming by the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing. FNS celebrated 75 years of service in the year 2000.
Viola Davis Brown, through determination and resolution, made a significant impact on the health of Kentuckians. Mrs. Brown broke the color barrier in nursing education, becoming the first African American to attend a nursing school in Lexington. Upon graduation from the nursing program at St. Joseph Hospital in 1959, she continued with the hospital, shortly being appointed Supervisor of Nursing. In 1972, Ms. Brown was among the first graduates of the Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program, a pilot program developed by the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine and the Hunter Foundation for Health Care. In 1980, she was appointed by Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown, Jr., as Executive Director of the Office of Public Health Nursing, the first African American nurse to head a state office of public health nursing in the United States. Later, she became Principal Assistant to the Kentucky Commissioner of Health, Chief Nurse Representative to all branches of state government, local health departments, health professions and the community, at large. Governor Wallace Wilkinson, in 1988 appointed her Project Coordinator of the Governor’s Interdisciplinary Task force on Nursing Shortages. While she was in the position of Principal Assistant, the number of public health nurses in Kentucky grew from 350 to 1400. Her tenure in the position of Principal Assistant to the Commissioner extended through the administration of five governors and three State Commissioners.
After earning his medical degree, Dr. Chambers served as Fayette County Health Officer. He joined the UK faculty in 1928 as the first Director of the Department of Hygiene and Public Health and as head of the University Health Service where he used population-based data to identify major health problems associated with hygiene and outlined methods to address those problems. In 1930 he obtained funds to offer a certificate series in public health for health officers, nurses, and sanitarians. Chambers was a proliferate author. Topics among his many manuscripts included the public health and medical needs of the population, insufficient health personnel to meet these needs, and the articulation of medicine and public health. He also published a book, The Conquest of Cholera. Throughout his career at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Chambers advocated and lobbied for the creation of a medical center and a school of public health, among other health professional programs at the University of Kentucky. Had he been successful in his efforts on behalf of a school of public health, UK would have had one of the earliest schools of public health in the nation. In the opinion of many, the Chandler Medical Center resides in Lexington because of the extraordinary efforts of John Sharpe Chambers.
After completing his medical degree at the University of Louisville, School of Medicine, his residency training and a stint with the U.S. Air Force, Dr. William McBeath returned to Kentucky in 1961 as a field officer with the Heart Disease Control Program of the US Public Health Service. He also became the first resident in the Department of Community Medicine at UK and later joined the department as faculty. As Director of the Division of Medical Care for the Department of Health, Dr. McBeath was at the forefront of implementing landmark federal legislation such as Medicare and Medicaid. His office also began the new federal-state Medicaid program in Kentucky, known as the Kentucky Medical Assistance Program, which purchased medical care for welfare recipients. In 1973, Dr. McBeath left Kentucky to become Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, a position he held until his retirement in 1993. In recognition of his 20 years of service to APHA and in appreciation for his selfless commitment to public health, he was awarded the Sedgewick Memorial Medal, the organization’s most prestigious honor. His commitment to equity and fairness in APHA and in his personal life is best described in a special note from the organization’s parting tribute, “APHA’s early recognition of the importance of diversity as a matter of justice and as a source of vitality for the Association is a tribute to Bill McBeath’s principles and his genius in implementing them.”
Dr. Joseph Nathaniel McCormack was born in Nelson County in 1847. A graduate of Miami Medical College, Dr. McCormack might be referred to as the father of Public Health in Kentucky. He was appointed to the State Board of Health in 1879.He was elected as the first secretary of the Board in 1883, an office he held for over 30 continuous years.
Dr. McCormack was elected President of the Kentucky Medical Association in 1883, and maintained the offices of both the Board of Health, and KMA from his home in Bowling Green.
In 1883, he was elected Secretary of the National Conference of State Boards of Health, and became its president the following year. He was also an active member of the American Public Health Association. Along with his son, Dr. A. T. McCormack, he wrote virtually all of the Kentucky health statutes. The current Kentucky Department of Public Health is based upon the essential fundamentals envisioned by Dr. McCormack: sanitation, birth and death monitoring, laboratory, and public health nursing.
Upon his retirement as President of the Board of Health, his son, Dr. Arthur T. McCormack, succeeded him and he remained as a Director of the Board and its Bureau of Sanitation. He subsequently served on the Rockefeller Foundation Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease. In 1903, Dr. McCormack noted, “If we doctors threw all our medicines into the sea, it would be that much better for our patients, and that much worse for the fishes.” Upon his death, the Kentucky Medical Association recognized him for his role as State Health Officer for “enactment of sanitary laws and cooperation of the intelligent laity in their enforcement.”
For more than four decades, the founder of Rudd Equipment Company, Mason C. Rudd, used his considerable energy, talent and resources to promote the health of the people of the Commonwealth. In 1971, he became Chair of the Louisville Metro Board of Health, and his tenure in the position can be characterized as exceptional, both for his length of service and for his commitment to the cause of public health. Mr. Rudd played a pivotal role in the creation of many nationally recognized public health and health care initiatives, such as the Childhood Lead Poisoning Program, the AIDS Prevention Program and a national bioterrorism training center at the University of Louisville. Mr. Rudd also has been a tireless advocate for the environmental aspect of public health. During his tenure, regulations were developed governing the maintenance and operation of private wastewater treatment plants, ands septic tanks were banned in certain areas of Jefferson County. Mr. Rudd also championed accessibility to quality health care for all the people of Metro Louisville, particularly underserved populations. He was very active in the planning and construction of the University of Louisville Hospital and served as Chair of the University Hospital Board. In 1996, Jewish Hospital named its new 14 story Heart Lung Center for Mason C. Rudd. Mr. Rudd’s lifelong advocacy for the health and well-being of the people of Kentucky has demonstrated what a generous benefactor he is, not just to medicine and to medical research, but to individuals in hardship and populations in need.
Born in Owensboro, KY, Dr. Clay E. Simpson, Jr., Ph.D., M.S.P.H., dedicated his professional career to improving the health of America’s disadvantaged populations. In 1959 Dr. Simpson earned a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Kentucky, the forerunner to the Master of Public Health that is offered in the College of Public Health today. Throughout his career, Dr. Simpson managed and helped create programs of vital importance to the development of health care practitioners from disadvantaged backgrounds and programs that gave access to underserved, usually minority populations. One such program, the Health Careers Opportunity Program, provides academic enrichment services to over 10,000 students annually in more than 200 projects throughout the United States. In July, 1995, Dr. Simpson was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and served in this position until his retirement on January 30, 1999.He also directed the HHS Office of Minority Health. This federal office is ultimately responsible for promoting programs that have the potential to improve the health status of minority populations in the United States. Dr. Simpson was the recipient of two Surgeon General’s Medallions and the Superior Service Award, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Public Health Service.
For over thirty years, Dr. Juanita W. Fleming was a member of the faculty at the University of Kentucky, College of Nursing, and held many important administrative positions at UK while maintaining a record of academic service that places her among UK’s most notable academic administrators. In fact, while serving as the Special Assistant for the President for Academic Affairs, she was the first female to be a member of the President’s cabinet. Known for her contributions to the fields of child health and development and cultural diversity in health care, Dr. Fleming generated over $6 million in external support for research and programs and was responsible for over $9 million in funded projects, authored three books, more than 20 book chapters, and over 50 published articles. She “retired” from UK in 2001, only to be summoned to Kentucky State University two years later to serve as Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and has been in the position on a permanent basis since July 2004. She was selected and served as an American Council of Education Fellow in 1977 and holds an honorary doctorate in Public Service from Berea College. Dr. Fleming has always had a special interest in the health and welfare of children. Her long list of professional accomplishments, awards, and distinguished service reflect her statement of a sincere personal belief: “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence in their chosen field.”
Dr. Mary Pauline Fox is a native of Artemus, Kentucky and a graduate of Union College in Barborville, KY. Her impact on the people of Kentucky began shortly after receiving her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Louisville in 1956. She was one of 6 women graduates in her class of 100 and the first woman physician to go back to practice in Bell County. She served the people of Leslie, Perry and Knott Counties as Health Officer from 1959 to 1966. She was Regional Director for twenty Eastern Kentucky Counties for the Kentucky Health Department until 1966. Continuing to serve much of the population in Appalachia, Dr. Fox was the Assistant Medical Director of the Frontier Nursing Service in Hyden Kentucky from 1966 to 1969. She was also acting Medical Director for the Leslie County Office of Economic Opportunity Health Program. She worked with Dr. Russell Hall as Assistant Medical Director of the Floyd County Comprehensive Health Program until assuming duties as Health officer for the Pike County Health Department in July of 1970. As the health department's director, Fox often spoke at schools, businesses, and in community forums about medical care, in general, and the need for enhanced medical services. She has been called a pioneer in family planning concepts, and said she took deep interest in offering pre-natal medical care to Eastern Kentucky's women. She built three up to date health departments for Knott, Leslie and Pike Counties. Dr. Fox retired in 1993. Mary Pauline Fox has also been called a crusader for social justice. Examples of her focus on justice include her campaign in Washington for sanitary outhouse conditions and building a domestic violence shelter to assist abused families. When she sees an injustice, she works to correct it.
Dr. Gene Lewis devoted his entire career to improve access to primary and oral health care for those with the most need. After receiving his Doctor in Dental Surgery at Baylor University, his public health dental career began with the United States Public Health Service (USPHS). He worked for many years in Region IV of the USPHS; working with Kentucky and other Southeastern states to develop new health professions colleges, new community health centers and National Health Service Corps initiatives. In 1972, Dean Harry Bohannon recruited Dr. Lewis to come to UK as the Chairman of the Department of Community Dentistry. From 1972 - 1975 he served as Assistant Dean, Associate Dean and then Interim Dean of the College of Dentistry. He then returned to the USPHS and held several Director Positions in Region IV. Dr. Lewis is a Diplomat of the Board of Dental Public Health. In 1981, he served as President of the American Association of Public Health Dentists and has served on the Governing Council of American Public Health Association. His career with the USPHS spanned 20 years and culminated in a special assignment as the Executive Assistant to Kentucky Health Services Commissioner from 1982-86. In 1988, Dr. Lewis accepted the call to head up the Program of Public and Professional Services at the UK College of Dentistry where he continued to develop programs to improve the lives of citizens of the Commonwealth. His visionary leadership led to creation of the Kentucky Oral Health Coalition, the first in the nation focused on the oral health needs of the public. Dr. Lewis conducted the first state-wide survey of oral health in 1987 and published the first Kentucky Smile Curriculum for elementary schools. He also created the College of Dentistry's current school dental outreach programs serving Appalachia. The quality of these endeavors was recognized in 1990 by the American Dental Association with an award for Developing Dental Access Programs in Kentucky.
Dan Martin’s life long mission has been the provision of health care to residents of the Commonwealth. Following service in the Navy, Dan attended the University of North Carolina receiving his BS in 1949. He received his Doctor of Medicine at Harvard in 1952. He completed his residency at North Carolina and stayed there as a fellow and Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine until he relocated to Kentucky in 1965. In 1965 Dr. Martin accepted a position at Trover Clinic in Community Medicine, a position as Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine here at UK, and also assumed the duties of health officer of Hopkins County Health Department, a position he has held for 40 years! As the health officer for Hopkins County he has developed numerous innovative programs to provide services for the most vulnerable populations. He bridged the gap between public and private medicine using public health programs, services and education in the private sector of medicine. He was responsible for setting up a primary health care clinic within the health department, implementing telemedicine in a school based clinic, providing mobile dental services, jail consolation services, school health clinics and education of health career students about community medicine. Dr. Martin was the recipient of the Kentucky Rural Health Association Lifetime in rural Health Award in 2003 and the chamber of Commerce Loman D. Trover Award in 1989. His long list of professional advisory boards and committees and awards are testimony to his lifelong devotion to improving the health status and health access for people in the Commonwealth.
Dr. A.T. McCormack succeeded his father Nathaniel as Secretary of the Kentucky State Board of Health, under A.T.'s direction, the Board established various bureaus of "a really practical agency" in the Western Kentucky Normal University in Bowling Green. Between 1913 and 1933 the Board received grants from several sources including the Rockefeller Foundation to make the Jefferson County Health Department the nation’s first full time county health department. Dr. McCormack demonstrated leadership in the establishment of local health departments in the Commonwealth, establishing 45 full time county departments by 1929, and 86 by 1940. In addition, Dr. McCormack established a School of Public Health at the University of Louisville (1919) awarding certificates to public health practitioners, he served as the only Director of the school, as well as Professor of Tropical Health and Sanitation. In 1937, Dr. McCormack wrote Kentucky’s plan and initial operation of regularly scheduled and ongoing in-service education for public health professionals in the State Department of Public Health, personnel of cooperating county and city health departments, and allied (clinicians) groups. McCormack served as President of the Southern Section of the American Public Health Association, and in 1950 the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers (ASTHO) recognized Dr. McCormack’s significant contribution to public health through the establishment of the McCormack Award. For over 55 years the McCormack Award has been presented annually to a current or former public health official who has served in public health for at least ten years, has demonstrated excellence, and has made a significant contribution to the knowledge and practice of the field.
William R Willard was selected to become the founder of the UK Medical Center. He was the Founding Dean of the College of Medicine, the Colleges of Nursing, Dentistry, and Allied Health at UK. . He created the first medical school departments of community medicine and behavior science. Dr. Willard held his MD and DrPH degrees from Yale, and served as the state health officer of Maryland. While Chair of the AMA’s Council on Medical Education he successfully negotiated the creation of family medicine and gave it, within medicine, the responsibility for physician concerns with the community. He was given the AMA’s Distinguished Service Award and the AAMC’s Abraham Flexner award for this leadership. Dr. Willard was key to the creation of the Ohio Valley Regional Medical Program, the comprehensive health planning activities of Kentucky, the Appalachia Regional Commissions health demonstration project in Eastern Kentucky, the Appalachia Regional Health Care system and the Area Health Education concept. He was actively involved in efforts to further enhance and improve health and health care for Kentucky’s citizens. He was an advisor to such leaders in Kentucky as Loman Trover and C. Louise Caudill, as they built major Kentucky regional medical centers. Dr. Willard left UK in 1972 and became the founding Dean of the College of Community Health Science at the University of Alabama. In this capacity he continued his efforts to provide primary care and community health improvement projects to citizens of rural Alabama. His vision and writing in 1960 regarding community health, medical and health professions education would be considered contemporary by today’s standards. He was a visionary, a skilled administrator, and a warm and caring individual. He was well known as an administrator who hired young people, supported and mentored them and watched them soar to the top of their profession. He was much loved by his colleagues and those whose lives were touched.
Lois A. Baker has made outstanding contributions to the health and well-being of countless residents of southeastern Kentucky. Appointed as CEO of Mountain Comprehensive Healthcare as the corporation was being defunded, even before its first clinic was opened Mrs. Baker immediately set out to reverse this disastrous decision by lobbying for a reprieve and a chance to show what MCHC could do for the people of Appalachia if given a chance. Through her resolute efforts and the efforts of allied local officials Mountain Comprehensive’s first clinic was opened in 1972, in Wooten Kentucky. This first clinic was no more than two trailers connected by a roof, but it was the beginning of effective health care in the area; and from that moment on, Lois Baker and MCHC never looked back. Clinics were opened and built “a brick at a time”, opening the corporation's first purpose-built clinic in McRoberts, Kentucky in 1974, MCHC's second purpose-built clinic, the Leatherwood/Blakey Clinic, in 1975, and the flagship clinic, the Whitesburg Medical Clinic. Mrs. Baker has also overseen MCHC's expansion into Jackson, Buckhorn, Booneville, and Harlan Counties providing services to some of the most vulnerable populations in Eastern Kentucky and making it the largest primary care center in Kentucky.
She has also been a valuable and diligent member of the selection committee of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, where she has advocated for students from Eastern Kentucky to be accepted into the College of Medicine.
She has been recognized by her peers, both in the Commonwealth and in the nation, as a promoter of quality, affordable health care, having been selected to be Chairman of the Board of the Kentucky Primary Care Association; and inducted into the National Association of Community Health Center's "Grass Roots Advocacy Hall of Fame" in 2005. The Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation was recognized as "the Outstanding Rural Health Practice," in May 2000 by the Rural Health Care Association.
Upon receiving his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from The University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry in 1956, Dr. Thomas Merlin Cooper went on to serve in the U. S. Army Dental Corps as a clinical dentist from 1956 to 1958, where he rose among the ranks to Army Captain. Subsequently, he spent nine years in private practice and continued on to serve as a professor at the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry for 28 years.
As a smoker for over 36 years, his own personal battle to stop smoking was unsuccessful until 1984, when he began collaborating with Dr. Richard Clayton to develop a program to change the behavior of smokers. In 1991 the two patented “The Cooper-Clayton Method to Stop Smoking.” The Cooper Clayton Method is a safe and effective way to help people stay smoke-free for the rest of their lives and has saved countless lives by helping thousands to stop smoking. This highly successful program is science based utilizing proven methods, which include education, skills training, and social support.
Their original intent was to get Dr. Cooper off his 36-year journey with cigarettes. Since that time, they have made over 350 presentations to both professional and lay groups on ‘How to Help the Nicotine Dependent Smoker.’ The Cooper-Clayton Method is being delivered in all the Kentucky Departments for Public Health. Drs. Clayton and Cooper have trained over 2,800 K-Mart Pharmacists to provide nicotine dependence counseling nationally, as well 800 facilitators in worksite locations, health departments, and hospitals in Kentucky. The method is also used in several other states such as Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Illinois. When asked how he plans to spend the rest of his life, Dr. Cooper replied, “As long as there are smokers lighting up cigarettes, I hope to be teaching them that nonsmoking is a better option.”
Dr. Kurt Deuschle is known as the father of Community Medicine. Dr. Deuschle began his professional career as a tuberculosis clinician with the U.S. Public Health Service in Arizona, where he was immediately struck with the role of family, community, and environment in individual illness. Soon he was to begin five years as Director of the Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project, Many Farms, which became a classic community-based program model for integrating research, service, and education in remote and underserved areas.
In 1960 it was Kurt Deuschle who developed at the University of Kentucky what was then the only U.S. medical school department named Community Medicine – and name was not its only distinction. There were many innovations but throughout, the stated major objective was a clinical approach to the identification and solution of health problems of populations. Later, as Professor and Chairman of Community Medicine at Mount Sinai, he proved the applicability of this philosophy and approach not only for rural areas, but also for the megalopolis.
Dr. Deuschle personally defined the new discipline of Community Medicine. In the field at the Navajo-Cornell Field Health Project, he teased its basic elements from the realities of community life, and tested its principles in daily practice. At Kentucky his vision and energy firmly established its worth as an essential element in general medical education. In New York City he saw its precepts applied for good to the problems of troubled communities which lie in the shadow of great medical centers. There are hundreds of Arizona Navajo, Appalachian highlanders, and East Harlem residents who recall vividly their personal contacts with Kurt Deuschle and are grateful for the clear direct contribution he has made to their individual and collective lives. Dr. Deuschle passed away in 2003, but his greatest lasting contribution to our society is his continuing inspiration of a whole generation of students, residents, fellows, and colleagues whose lives have been touched by his association and guided by his influence.
Dr. Cora Newell-Fletcher is a native and long-time resident of Kentucky who has dedicated her life to the people of Appalachia through development of nurses and service to her community.
Her passion for the people enabled her to secure over $9.5 million in grants that were used for a church-based clinic and the comprehensive health center, the Berea Health Ministry.
As founder and president of the Berea Health Ministry she provided primary health care for individuals in the seven-county area in and around Madison County who lack the protection of health care insurance.
Upon the discovery that a growing number of people in her community had been putting off visits to the doctor because of a lack of money, she decided something had to be done. Through her tireless efforts the ministry was able to open it doors to its first uninsured patients in November 2003.Patients are asked to pay a minimal fee per visit, but if they can’t afford to do so, services are still rendered. Patients with insurance are seen once and volunteers work with those patients to help them find a doctor. The clinic relies on more than eight professionals including a full time nurse practitioner, one volunteer physician, registered dietitian, social workers, nurses, and physician assistants.
For her community and professional activism she has been recognized with accolades from the National Council of Nursing, American Academy of Nursing, Professional Women of Berea and Berea Chamber of Commerce as Woman of the Year, and a Susan B. Clayton Fellow of Berea College. In addition to her multiple accomplishments she, as well as several other phenomenal women, will be featured in the book “Black Women in Kentucky”, which explores the lives of African-American women past and present who have made a difference in their various communities across the state.
The impact that Ted Hanekamp’s efforts and work have made on public health at local, state, and national levels is noteworthy. He has invested his career to improve the health outcomes of pregnant women, infants, and children.
He obtained his M.P.H. in Public Health Administration from the University of North Carolina and began his career in public health with the Kentucky Department for Public Health in the Chronic Disease program. He worked with the traveling cardiovascular disease clinics that brought consultative services to local health departments.
In 1976 he was appointed Director of the Statewide Family Planning Program. He played an instrumental role in bringing recognition to the OB/GYN nurse practitioner certification process. During the ensuing years Kentucky was able to build a strong family planning program with a component in every local health department, with funding from local funds, Maternal and Child Health block grant, and the Title X Federal Family Planning funds. In 1985 he was appointed manager of the Maternal and Family Planning Services Branch, which was responsible for all the department of public health’s prenatal, SIDS, regionalization of perinatal care, and family planning programs. Following the passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act in 1990, Ted was chosen to represent the Department on the Family Resource/Youth Services Center Advisory Committee. This committee was instrumental in incorporating public health and social services activities into this massive effort to reform Kentucky's education system. Those centers are a vital part of Kentucky's schools. By the time he retired from the state government in 1992, Kentucky could boast of having prenatal and family planning clinics in every county. During his career he was part of a team that helped facilitate a decline in infant mortality, maternal mortality, out of wedlock teenage pregnancy, and incidence of low birth weight in the Commonwealth.
Dr. M. Raynor Mullins devoted his life to educating student dentists, advocating for underserved populations, and building interdisciplinary teams to improve dental public health and address oral health and general health disparities in Kentucky and the United States.
Under his 30-plus years of leadership, the UK College of Dentistry’s Department of Community Dentistry, and the Division of Dental Public Health, developed a national and international reputation for excellence in preventive dentistry, auxiliary education and dental outreach, and public service.
Dr. Mullins served as Outreach Director for the UK Center for Oral Health Research, helping to develop collaborative research and service projects in rural Kentucky.
Amongst his most substantial and lasting contributions were the development of collaborative partnership with the Kentucky Department for Public Health that helped rebuild the state dental public health infrastructure, advocacy leading to inclusion of dental benefits for children in KCHIP, and the development of UK Dental Care, a dental insurance program that improves access to oral health care for more than 10,000 UK enrollees.
The Kentucky Public Health Dental Partnership received the prestigious Glaxo SmithKline Partnership for Healthy Children Award from APHA. In 2005-2006, 31,000 Kentuckians received services via this partnership. UK mobile dental programs provide prevention and care for the underserved children across Eastern and Western Kentucky. These programs received national recognition from General Colin Powell with a 2001 America’s Promise Award that was presented to the UK College of Dentistry by President George Bush in the Rose Garden.
Dr. Mullins also worked on research linking oral health infections and general health and the development of a regional access model for dental education, research and service. His activities helped position UK as a national leader in these areas. On the national front, he also served as president of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry.
Dr. Harvey G. Sloane is a public health physician with extensive “grass roots” and organizational experience. He has demonstrated his leadership abilities as a physician, politician, and public health advocate.
After earning his M.D. at Case Western Reserve University and completing his medical-surgical internship at the Cleveland Clinic, he joined President Kennedy’s Appalachian Health Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service providing health care in eastern Kentucky. Subsequently, he served as a volunteer physician in Vietnam in 1966 treating Vietnamese civilians. Returning to the United States, he initiated and developed the Park DuValle Neighborhood Health Center in Louisville, Kentucky that served 30,000 in public housing.
Dr. Sloane was twice elected as mayor of Louisville, KY serving from 1973 to 1977. In 1990 he wanted to go back to his roots in healthcare and public health at the national and international level, so he moved back to his home site in Washington, D.C. He worked for the Center for Health Policy Research, president and co-founder of Health Care America and Health Care for America Policy Institute, and the National Association of Community Health Centers that worked to link physician training with community and academic health centers. Most notably, he was the Commissioner of Health of Washington, D.C.
He served as a Senior Policy Advisor for Project HOPE, a Washington based charity promoting early childhood development and rural health issues, and work with the Knight Foundation establishing early childhood literacy programs in Gary, Indiana and Camden, New Jersey. As the Director of Public Health at the Eurasian Medical Education Program he inaugurated fascinating work in Russia on HIV, tuberculosis, and cardiovascular control around the Ural Mountains, Siberia, and Far East Russia. The majority of the work is in partnership with the American College of Physicians training Russian physicians both in the U.S. and in their home regions on TB and HIV/AIDS control and advocating necessary resources.
Dr. Patricia K. Nicol was born and raised in Louisville, KY, receiving the MD degree from the University of Louisville in 1952 and MPH from the University of California, Berkeley. Upon graduation from the University of Louisville, she became health officer of the Harlan County Health Dept., and later of the Hardin County Health Department. In 1972 she became the Director of the Division of Medical Care, Kentucky Department of Health Services and was instrumental in establishing Kentucky's Medicaid program. In 1974, she was appointed as the director of the Division of Maternal and Child Health, Kentucky Department of Health, and held that position until her retirement in 1994. For those twenty years, she directed a team of health care professionals whose efforts had a major impact on Kentucky's maternal and infant mortality rates, with the resulting decrease from some of the highest in the nation to the lowest in the Southeast and among the lowest in the nation. Additionally, during her tenure, she oversaw the development of the statewide family planning program, the establishment of maternity clinics in all of Kentucky's 120 counties, newborn screening for infants of mothers served by this program and established the Sudden Infant Syndrome Program and the Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment program for infants and children. Under her leadership, Kentucky became one of the first states in the country to develop a program for the regionalization of perinatal care. The successful WIC program, with increasing funding and patient enrollment, became the entry point for many Kentuckians into integrated healthcare services. She was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of such integrated service delivery systems by positively impacting health outcomes. Her division participated in the establishment of health service components in Family Resource/Youth Services centers in connection with the Kentucky Education Reform activities beginning in 1990, and in the establishment of the Kentucky Children's Health Insurance Program.
Edgar Erskine Hume was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, on December 26, 1889. A graduate of Centre College, he received his MD degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1913. Following his graduation from the Army Medical School in 1917, he was commissioned a first Lieutenant in the Medical Corps. Dr. Hume had a distinguished military career, having commanded a base hospital during World War I, he served as the American Red Cross Commissioner for Serbia following the War and directed the Balkan anti-typhus fever campaign. During World War II, his assignments included appointment as chief of public health for Sicily followed by service in Italy and Austria following the war. In July 1950, General Douglas MacArthur appointed his Surgeon (Director General of Medical Services) of the United Nations Command in Korea. Three weeks after retiring from the US Army, Major General Edgar Erskine Hume died on January 24, 1952. At the time of his death, he was President General of the Society of the Cincinnati. For Hume, war was the most terrible of all diseases and his actions as a soldier were dedicated to its cure. He fought earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, famines, economic dislocations, plagues, and whatever made humanity miserable. Dr. Hume’s public health accomplishments include being one of the founders of the public health honorary society, Delta Omega. His history includes serving in the Division of Sanitation with General Gorgas and in 1922 he received am MPH degree from Harvard University and a Diploma in Tropical Medicine. In 1924 he received a Doctor of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University while serving as a librarian at the Army Medical Library, now the National Library of Medicine. He not only fought the typhus epidemic in Serbia in World War I, but in 1943 to 1944 he was called upon to battle typhus. In 1947 in recognition of his battle against typhus, he received the Typhus Commission Medal for his meritorious service.
Wade Mountz, MHA is President Emeritus of Norton Healthcare, the region's largest healthcare network. Mr. Mountz has a long and distinguished career as a leader in not-for-profit hospital administration, and as an advocate for improved healthcare and education for the citizens of the Commonwealth. Following service in the Naval Air Corps, Mr. Mountz pursued a bachelor's degree at Wallace College, and a master's degree in Hospital Administration from the University of Minnesota. He first came to Louisville in 1950 as an administrative resident at Norton Memorial Infirmary. He became the third hospital administrator in Kentucky with graduate training in the field. In what he refers to as “such fun over the years”, he remained at Norton Infirmary as Personnel Director and Assistant Administrator, and subsequently Administrator. Following mergers, he was named President & Chief Executive Officer of Norton-Children’s Hospitals, NKC, Inc., and Alliant Health System. He continues to serve as President Emeritus of the renamed Norton Healthcare, the largest not-for-profit health care system in Kentucky, and one of the top 100 integrated healthcare systems in the United States. Upon his official retirement from Norton in 1988, he became Acting President/Chief Executive Officer of VHA, Inc. The VHA hospital cooperative keeps the U.S. well through a network of 2,200 community-owned hospitals, offering activities including networking and education for health care workers, and clinical performance improvement programs.
Gilbert H. Friedell, M.D. is Director Emeritus of the Markey Cancer Center, Professor of Pathology Emeritus, and—since 2005—Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He has been a member of the Advisory Committee of the University of Kentucky College of Social Work since 2005.
Dr. Friedell graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1949 and received his training in pathology in Boston. He has been involved for many years in the conduct of laboratory and clinical cancer research and in cancer control activities, with particular emphasis on problems concerning cervical, breast, and urinary bladder cancer. He taught at the Harvard, Boston University and University of Massachusetts Medical Schools before coming to Kentucky. While serving as the Chief of Pathology and then the Medical Director of a 600-bed community teaching hospital in Worcester, MA, he was the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) National Bladder Cancer Project from 1971 to 1983.
Arriving in Kentucky in 1983 as the first Director of the Markey Cancer Center, Dr. Friedell was the founding director of the Kentucky Cancer Registry, the Principal Investigator of the NCI Mid-South Cancer Information Service, and Co-Director of a statewide cancer control outreach program, now termed the Kentucky Cancer Program. All were developed in association with the University of Louisville Brown Cancer Center, although based at the Markey Cancer Center. In 1990 he stepped down as Director of the Cancer Center to become full time Director for Cancer Control. He retired in 1998. Since then, he has focused on a variety of activities to enhance the health of the public.
Since 2005 he and a number of others, concerned about the severely dysfunctional state of the health system in Kentucky, have been developing what has become the citizen-led, statewide, independent, non-partisan Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation. The Committee emphasizes the importance of using its values-based set of principles as benchmarks in assessing the current system, as foundational elements of any reformed system, and as criteria for evaluating the results over time of any changes to the present system.
Throughout his career, Dr. Friedell has put particular emphasis on reaching the medically underserved. Since coming to Kentucky, one focus of his activities has been on the control of cancer and other chronic diseases in the rural population of Eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia. As one example, in 1994 he and his colleagues started Kentucky Homeplace at the UK Center for Rural Health, a lay health worker program funded by the General Assembly to facilitate access to healthcare services for the underserved. It is now active in 58 primarily rural counties across the state.
Among his honors are the following:
National Humanitarian Award, American Cancer Society 1998;
Individual Community Service Award, Susan G. Komen Foundation 1998;
Special Recognition Award from the Appalachian Regional Commission, 2003 for “Untiring commitment, dedication and leadership in improving the health and well-being of the people of Appalachia”.
John Wiggs joined the University of Kentucky College of Dentistry as a Department Administrator in 1969. He subsequently served the College of Dentistry for ten years as Director of Financial Aid and Director of Special Student Programs. In these roles he actively sought financial aid for minority students in the College and operated summer programs to market dentistry as a career. He served as Director of Health Careers Program for the UK Medical Center from 1982-1995, recruiting minority students and students from medically underserved urban and rural areas to Medical Center Academic Programs. In this capacity, he also administered health career related summer enrichment programs such as Health Career Opportunity Program (HCOP) and Professional Education Preparation Program (PEPP). Mr. Wiggs then served as Student Development Director in the Medical Center Minority Affairs Office (1995-1999) which involved recruitment of minority students into undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in the Colleges of Allied Health Professions (now Health Sciences), Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. In addition, he was a member of admissions committees in the Colleges of Medicine and Dentistry, primarily as an advocate for diversity.
In 1999, Mr. Wiggs joined Dr. F. Douglas Scutchfield to help build the University of Kentucky School of Public Health and ultimately played an active leadership role with the ASPH centralized application service (SOPHAS) which designated the University of Kentucky College of Public Health as one of the pilot participating schools. Under the direction of Dr. Stephen W. Wyatt, John Wiggs became Associate Dean for Student Affairs in 2004 and continued his commitment to diversity. His activities resulted in one of, if not the most diverse student enrollments in the UK system.
In 2002 Mr. Wiggs was recognized by the UK Chandler Medical Center Dr. Martin Luther King Dream Award, an honor presented annually to an administrator and staff member who promote Dr. King’s teachings of equality in jobs and in their community. In June of 2006, he was inducted into the Beta Gamma Chapter of Delta Omega, the national Honor Society of Public Health.
John Sterling Wiggs was a champion for diversity, tolerance, and inclusiveness. His career serves as an exemplar of the gifts, talents and wisdom of a true American mentor, leader, visionary and teacher. He turned his love for the University into a remarkable career, touching countless lives along the way.
Rice C. Leach, MD grew up in Lexington and Louisville before going east to Amherst College. He returned to Lexington and graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1966. Dr. Kurt Deuschle influenced his career choice from the first day in a Community Medicine seminar and subsequent student assignments in Owen County, Kentucky, Guatemala and Bolivia where he learned Spanish.
After graduation in 1966 he joined the United States Public Health Service for a rotating internship in New Orleans. He was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma the first day of his surgery rotation and notes that he became a “career officer” that day. His first real public health assignment was with the Navajo Tribe where he was responsible for school health, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, environmental health and other preventive health programs.
He received his formal public health training at the Harvard School of Public Health and served as health program director for Indian Health Programs in Arizona and the Dakotas. He worked with the American Hospital Association, NASA, the American Lung Association, the Arizona Hospital Association, and the Statewide Health Planning Agency of South Dakota before leaving the Indian Health Service to become Chief of Staff to the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service.
He retired from active duty and returned to Kentucky in 1992 as the Commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, a position he held for 12 years. On his watch the department conducted a survey of the state’s general health and oral health, developed a nationally acknowledged controlled substance prescription monitoring system, and managed controversial regulatory issues. He constantly emphasized the importance of focusing the public health resources on community wide problems and linking the public health mission with both the public health educational efforts of the state universities and the medical practices across the state. “He put public health back on the map” in the minds of many.
Following retirement from the state health department he joined the staff of the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department as executive director of the Primary care center where inability to pay is not a deterrent to receiving medical and dental primary care services.
He has been recognized by Amherst College, the University of Kentucky, the Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, and the United States Public Health Service and others for his contributions to Public Health.
Dr. Tom Young was inspired at an early age by the life of Dr. Albert Schweitzer to build a life and profession of service. After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a BS in 1973, he attended University of Louisville Medical School and a pediatric residency in Indiana. He completed a fellowship in Community Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and an MPH from the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. After 14 years of private pediatric practice in both rural and urban settings, Dr. Young transitioned to the University of Kentucky to work in school health and in primary care for underserved populations. His work has always reflected the philosophy that medical, dental, mental, and public healthcare need to be integrated and provide each child with a medical home. Working to deliver this model in schools has been a lifelong passion.
As president of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Young helped to form the legislation for KCHIP and served as the first Chair of the KCHIP Council. He continues to advocate for the rights of all children having access to health insurance and quality health care. After initial global health missions to Guatemala in the early 1990’s, Dr. Young has worked to follow his dream of global service. In 2002 he started with 5 pediatric residents on a medical trip to Ecuador. This has grown into Shoulder to Shoulder Global, operating a full-time health clinic in a shantytown in Ecuador, offering internships for UK students and medical residents in Ecuador, with over 100 student and volunteer participants in medical brigades each year. Future plans are to expand to India and Africa.
He received the Humanitarian Award given by the National Conference for Community and Justice in 1999. The American Academy of Pediatrics gave Dr. Young their “Local Hero Award” in 2006. In addition, UK pediatric residents have honored him with four Doane Fischer Faculty Awards for Community Pediatrics. Dr. Young has received the gift of service to others and knows that service is not a sacrifice but a tremendous gift to oneself and hopes others can receive this gift.
RADM (Ret.) Dixie E. Snider, Jr., MD, MPH, is currently a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Director, CDC, and works on special projects. Dr. Snider joined CDC in 1973 working as a medical office at the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In 1975 he was appointed Chief of the Research Branch in the Division of Tuberculosis Control and published numerous papers on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of TB. In 1985, he became Director of the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at a time when TB rates were rising. He and his colleagues developed a National Plan for Tuberculosis Elimination and a National Plan for Combating Multidrug Resistant TB. He also assisted the World Health Organization rejuvenate its TB control activities. National and global efforts in TB control were better funded and national TB rates began to go down.
Dr. Snider worked in the Office of the Director in the “chief scientist position” under a number of titles from 1993-2006. His responsibilities included maintaining scientific credibility, human subjects' protection, immunization recommendations, animal welfare, scientific clearance, scientific review, ethics, and technology transfer. He also was the key proponent of the Presidential apology for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
Dr. Snider received his BS degree in chemistry in 1965 from Western Kentucky University. He graduated from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1969 with highest honors. He served his internship in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and was a resident in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital and at Vanderbilt University. He received a Master of Public Health degree from Emory University in 1984. Dr. Snider is board-certified in internal medicine, allergy and clinical immunology, and preventive medicine. He is the recipient of numerous distinguished honors, including the William C. Watson, Jr., Medal of Excellence, the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Outstanding Service Medal, the USPHS Meritorious Service Medal, and the Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service. Dr. Snider is a member of several professional societies and has held several offices in these societies. He is the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific articles and has made hundreds of presentations at scientific meetings.
In 1990 Henry Cole was appointed as professor of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, University of Kentucky College of Public Health. He is an Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Kentucky, College of Education where for 33 years he taught educational psychology, applied learning theory and cognitive psychology, program evaluation, and instructional design. His EdD from the State University of New York at Buffalo is in educational psychology and science education. He is an internationally recognized expert in teaching critical judgment and decisions-making skills using case materials and narrative psychology principles. Prior to coming to UK, he was an educational researcher and assistant professor at Syracuse and Cornell Universities. He completed post-doctoral study in Injury Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, American Public Health Association, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineers, and the National Institute for Farm Safety.
His interdisciplinary research targets prevention of occupational injuries to mining, construction, and hazardous waste, agricultural, health care workers, and rural high school teachers and students, among others. It begins with injury epidemiology to determine the prevalence and distribution of injuries within worker populations followed by community-based interventions that combine environmental and engineering controls with behavioral and educational interventions to reduce exposure to specific occupational injury hazards. The theoretical basis for this approach is described in “Stories to live by: A narrative approach to health-behavior research and injury prevention,” Handbook of health behavior research methods (Plenum, 1997).
Dr. Cole is a life-long part-time farmer. Early in his career he taught high school physics and general science. Subsequent to the, he served as a US Army medical laboratory technician, and later a clinical laboratory and hemodialysis technician at the Buffalo General Hospital, Department of Therapeutic Engineering.
In 1993 he was appointed as a United Nations, International Labor Organization expert in behavioral safety and occupational injury prevention. As part of that assignment, he studied at the Economic, Social, and Cultural Asian-Pacific (ESCAP) Development Program at the UN Headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand. His international work in mine safety includes assignments in South Africa, Australia, and the Peoples Republic of China.
Glyn G. Caldwell, MS, MD, received a BS from St. Louis University (1960); an MS (1962) and MD (1966), from the University of Missouri at Columbia. After an internship at the US Public Health Service (USPHS) Hospital, Brighton, MA, Dr. Caldwell became Leukemia & Oncology Unit Chief, Ecological Investigation Program (EIP), National Communicable Disease Center, Kansas City, MO (1968), followed by a residency in Internal Medicine, Cleveland Metropolitan General Hospital. Returning to Kansas City he became the EIP Viral Disease Section Chief until 1974, then joined CDC, Cancer & Birth Defects Branch, Epidemiology Program. The CDC reorganized and created Chronic Diseases Division where he became Cancer Branch Chief, then Deputy Director (1980). In 1985, he retired from CDC and the USPHS, reaching the rank of Director (Navy equivalent of Captain).
At the CDC he focused on time-space cancer clusters and environmental emergency responses (Love Canal, Three Mile Island, Mount Saint Helen’s), and a follow-up study of soldiers exposed to Nevada Nuclear Test site detonation, August 1957. He was the CDC oversight for chemical weapons demilitarizing, UT Dugway Proving Ground and Johnson Atoll, South Pacific; involved in other exposure studies (Savannah River Nuclear Facility in SC; Hanford Nuclear Plant in WA); and participated on numerous emergency response and planning committees. He was on the original AIDS Steering Committee beginning in 1981.
Dr. Caldwell was the AZ State Epidemiologist (1985-1987); Deputy Director-AZ State Health Department; Director-Tulsa City County Health Department, Tulsa, OK (1990-1995); Associate Clinical Coordinator -IN & KY Peer Review Organization (HealthCare Excel); Director- Division of Epidemiology & Health Planning, KDPH, and KY State Epidemiologist (1998). His association with UK CPH began as a member of the external advisory committee and adjunct assistant professor. He joined UK faculty as part-time assistant professor (2001), became Interim Director of the Kentucky Injury Prevention Research Center (2003) and serves as Interim Chair of UK CPH Department of Epidemiology. He serves on UK CPH Faculty Council; UK Pandemic Influenza Task Force; Fatality Assessment Case Evaluation Project; Integrated Core Injury Prevention Program; and Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System. He is mentor to MPH and DrPH students.
Forrest W. Calico MD, MPH retired August 31, 2010, as Director of the University of Kentucky Center for Rural Health in Danville, KY. He served as Senior Advisor for Quality with the National Rural Health Association (2005-2007). Prior to that (1999-2004), he was the Health Systems Advisor for the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, where he was responsible for the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program and actively promoted rural healthcare quality improvement.
Dr. Calico spent his early years in Garrard County, KY and subsequently graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine (1966). Profound influence there by Dr. Kurt Deuschle and the Department of Community Medicine led him to the Harvard School of Public Health where he earned his MPH in 1970. Dr. Calico served in the United States Air Force for thirteen years as a Flight Surgeon and Family Physician, after residency training and Board certification in both Family Medicine and Aerospace Medicine. Subsequently he has directed Family Medicine Residencies (in both military and civilian settings) and served as a physician executive in a large rural healthcare organization. In both capacities he focused on the responsibility of the health care infrastructure to improve population health status through collaboration among healthy community coalitions, provider groups and public health.
Dr. Calico is an active member of the Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation and chairs the Committee’s Public Health work group, with a focus on local Board of Health performance and vision. He was inducted in 2010 into the Delta Omega Honorary Public Health Society. He is a member of his local Board of Health in Lincoln County, and a member of the Board of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. He is actively involved in Coordinated School Health with a particular interest in partnership between schools and health departments for improving health status of our young people.
Eula Hall – the founder of the Mud Creek Clinic in Grethel, Kentucky – has been called an angel, a force to be reckoned with and a living legend. For more than seventy years, she has devoted her life to addressing the health care needs of her local community in eastern Kentucky.
Eula Hall was born in a poor family from Pike County, Kentucky. At age nine, she began school and completed an eighth-grade education. At seventeen, Eula married and then had five children. Ms. Hall recognized very early on the need to bring quality health care to her community. As a community activist, she provided assistance in social and health services such as patient transportation, food stamps and housing opportunities.
In 1973, Eula Hall opened the doors to the Mud Creek Clinic in Grethel, Kentucky. Ms. Hall began with a $1,400 donation and the commitment of two local physicians. The clinic served all those who needed it, regardless of their ability to pay.
When the clinic burned down in 1982, Ms. Hall relocated it to her own house. With her usual tenacity and perseverance, she matched $80,000 in funds from the Appalachian Regional Commission and raised an additional $40,000 within her community to rebuild the clinic – which included additional money for new x-ray equipment.
Eula has received numerous awards for her advocacy work, including honorary doctorate degrees from Berea College, Midway College and Pikeville College, all in Kentucky, and Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In 2004, the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center presented Ms. Hall with the annual David S. Schuller Spirit of AMERC Award. She also has received personal letters from President George Bush, Senator Mitch McConnell and Representative Hal Rogers, among other notables, who have recognized her amazing work and on-going efforts and dedication to the health and well-being of the residents of eastern Kentucky. In honor of Ms. Hall, Kentucky Highway 979 which runs through Mud Creek, was renamed “Eula Hall Highway” in October 2006.
Dr. John Poundstone born and raised in Lexington, KY, began his career as a naturalist at Boy Scout camp, Natural Bridge State Park, and 4-H camp. In 1962, he received a B.A. degree in Liberal Arts from St. Johns College, Annapolis. Graduating as a medical doctor from University of Kentucky in 1966, he, thereafter, earned a master’s degree of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. He is board certified in General Preventive Medicine.
Dr. Poundstone joined the U.S. Navy in 1970 and served as Head of the Venereal Disease and Tuberculosis Control Division, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Washington, DC.; Chief of the Division of Epidemiology and Biometrics at the Navy Medical Research Unit, Great Lakes, IL; and Officer in Charge of the Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit in Naples, Italy with responsibilities in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
In 1980, Dr. Poundstone left active duty to serve in the Naval Reserve, retiring as a Captain. He became Commissioner of Health for Lexington, KY – a position he served for twenty-three years. During this time, he developed a broad range of public health and primary care services which were nationally recognized. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Kentucky - Colleges of Medicine and Public Health president of the American Association of Public Health Physicians, vice president of the Lexington Medical Society, president of the Kentucky Public Health Association, and president of the Kentucky Health Departments Association. He has served on numerous committees related to public health such as the Boards of the US Conference of Local Health Officials, National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Public Health Foundation, and the Emergency Medical Advisory Board for Lexington Division of Fire. The senior member of the Rotary Club has also served as a delegate to the Kentucky Medical Association.
He is married to the bioarcheologist and paleopathologist, Mary Lucas Powell. He has two children: Katharine, an AIDS epidemiologist who works in China, and Virginia, an artist who lives in New York.
Dr. F. Douglas Scutchfield is the Peter B. Bosomworth Professor of Health Services Research and Policy at the University of Kentucky. He is the Director of both the Center for Public Health Services and Systems Research and the Center of Excellence in Public Health Workforce Research and Policy.
Dr. Scutchfield was born in Wheelwright, Kentucky. He received his B.S. degree from Eastern Kentucky University, who awarded him an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 2004. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Pikeville College. He received his M.D. from the University of Kentucky, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He is certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine and was a Charter Diplomat of the American Board of Family Practice from 1972-1985.
Dr. Scutchfield began as Assistant Professor in the UK College of Medicine. He became the first Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Alabama’s College of Community Health Sciences and was subsequently named Associate Dean. He was the founding Professor and Director of the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. He returned to the University of Kentucky in 1997 where he was Founding Director of the School of Public Health.
Dr. Scutchfield is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Family Practice and the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM). He served as President of the ACPM and received their Outstanding Recognition Award and Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Scutchfield served as a member of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates and as Chair of the AMA Section Council of Preventive Medicine. He received the AMA’s Dr. William Beaumont Award and its Distinguished Service Award, the highest recognition of a physician, in 2003. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees and President of the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and was a recipient of their Duncan Clark Award. He has also served as a Board member of the Public Health Foundation and received their Theodore R. Ervin Award.
Jim Cecil was raised on a small farm in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky near Pewee Valley. He was awarded his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from Bellarmine University, Doctor of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.) degree from the University of Kentucky, and master's in public health (M.P.H.) degree from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Cecil joined the University of Kentucky, College of Dentistry faculty in October 1996 following a long and distinguished career with the United States Navy in clinical, research, administrative and junior and senior leadership roles in the Navy Medical Department. He received numerous meritorious service awards with the Navy and the Department of Defense.
In January 2001, Dr. Cecil was appointed State Dental Director, Kentucky Department for Public Health, and Dental Director for the Department for Medicaid Services, for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In June 2007, Dr. Cecil stepped down as dental director and became part-time faculty with the UK Colleges of Public Health (Department of Health Behavior) and Dentistry (Center for Oral Health Research). He retired for one last time in June 2011.
Dr. Cecil provides consultation services related to public health, dental public health, maternal and child health, health program evaluation, quality assurance and risk management in health systems.
Dr. Cecil's research and service interests include the epidemiology and prevention of oral diseases and conditions, the linkages of oral infections with systemic diseases and conditions, health services projects related to access to oral health care, and the assurance of sound health and safety for those most at risk.
He is a fellow of the International College of Dentists and the American College of Dentists; a member of Omicron Kappa Upsilon; a member of the Pierre Fauchard Academy (honorary); and a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels. In 2005, Dr. Cecil received the John W. Knutson award for meritorious service to Dental Public Health in the United States from the American Public Health Association. Dr. Cecil continues to be an active member of national and international dental, public health, health research and community organizations.
Dr. James W. Holsinger, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., serves as the Charles T. Wethington Jr. Chair in the Health Sciences at the University of Kentucky. His faculty appointments include Preventive Medicine and Health Services Management in the College of Public Health, and Medicine, Surgery, and Anatomy in the College of Medicine. He graduated from Duke University Medical School in 1964 and the Graduate School in 1968. He served in a variety of academic and administrative appointments at several universities as well as serving for 26 years in the Department of Veterans Affairs, retiring in 1994.
In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed him Chief Medical Director of the Veterans Health Administration, and in 1992, he became Undersecretary for Health, Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a recipient of the Department’s Exceptional Service and Distinguished Career Awards. From 1994 to 2003, he served as Chancellor of the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center. Dr. Holsinger served for two years as the Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services of the Commonwealth of Kentucky following his appointment by Governor Ernie Fletcher in 2003. He is a recipient of the Cabinet’s Superior Service Award. Dr. Holsinger served for more than 31 years in the United States Army Reserve, culminating in his assignment to the Joint Staff as Assistant to the Director for Logistics in 1989, and his promotion to Major General in 1990. Dr. Holsinger retired from the United States Army Reserve in 1993 and is a recipient of the Army’s Distinguished Service Medal. He served as the President of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States from 1992-1993 and is a recipient of the Association’s Founder’s Medal. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Healthcare Executives and a recipient of the College’s Gold Medal Award.
Dr. Lawrence served as CEO and Chairman of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals until his retirement in 2002. He was appointed CEO in 1991 and Chairman the next year. Since then, he has pursued interests in new business development, teaching, public policy, and writing. He is a member of the boards of Agilent Technologies, McKesson Corporation, Dynavax Technologies, Proventys, Wellpartners, and Proteus Biomed. He is Senior Venture Partner with Physic Ventures and a Scientific Advisor to Burrill Life Sciences Fund. He also serves as an advisor to the CEOs of SomaLogic, Inc., and MedExpert, Inc., and teaches with the Estes Park Institute. He consults with selected health care systems that pursue advanced integration strategies. Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente in 1981, Dr. Lawrence worked in Public Health and Human Services in Multnomah County, Ore., on the faculty of the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine and the School of Medicine; as an advisor to the Ministry of Health of Chile; and as a Peace Corps physician. Dr. Lawrence is a founding board member of the Lucian Leape Institute of the National Patient Safety Foundation and a Distinguished Advisor to the NPSF. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the AOA physician honor society. He is the author of From Chaos to Care: The Promise of Team-Based Medicine (Perseus, 2002). Dr. Lawrence received his bachelor’s degree from Amherst College (1962), his M.D., from the University of Kentucky (1966), and his Master of Public Health from the University of Washing ton (1973). He completed his residency in General Preventive Medicine at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington, and is Board Certified in General Preventive Medicine (1974).
A native of Warren County, KY, Lillian South exerted a powerful influence on Kentucky’s public health. She was born the daughter of a doctor, John F. South and his wife Martha (Moore) South on January 31, 1879. Lillian went to public school in Bowling Green, KY and graduated with a BA degree from Potter College when she was only 18 years old. She then travelled to Patterson, NJ where she studied for two years for her RN degree in nursing. Having “aced” every course in nursing school, she decided to pursue a doctoral degree in medicine. After 5 years, she earned her MD degree from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (1904). She returned to practice in Bowling Green, joining the successful practice of Drs. J.N. McCormack and A.T. McCormack. Two years later the three doctors established St. Joseph Hospital in the South family home on 12th Avenue. The home was re-built to accommodate 42 beds.
Just a few years later, in 1910, Dr. South was appointed as state bacteriologist at the State Board of Health in Louisville, a position that she held for 40 years. In this capacity, she gained national recognition for her many years of research on hookworms, rabies, and leprosy in Kentucky. She is credited for virtually eradicating the once widely prevalent hookworm from the state, through public health campaigns to exterminate houseflies which are the vector. She also led the movement to ban the use of the public drinking cup. Dr. South was also a champion in the use of vaccines and in 1937, saved countless lives by vaccinating large numbers of survivors of the Great Flood.
Dr. South was also very active in state and national organizations and was the first woman to be elected vice president of the AMA (1914). She was an active member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Kentucky Medical Association, the Jefferson County Medical Society, and the Tri-County Medical Society. She was the president of the Association of Southern Medical Women and councilor of the American Association of Medical Women.
Ms. Spears was born in Breathitt County, KY and spent her early childhood years in Fayette County, subsequently graduating from the Good Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing, in Lexington, KY. Ms. Spears earned a BSN from the College of Nursing, received an MsEd in Higher Education from the College of Education, University of Kentucky and was elected as a charter member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing in 1979. Ms. Spears received the College of Nursing's Outstanding Alumna Award in Community and Professional Service in 2005. In 2010, during the College of Nursing's Fiftieth Anniversary celebration she was recognized as an Outstanding Alumni for accomplishments and contributions within the Commonwealth and across the nation.
Ms. Spears served as the Kentucky Department for Public Health's Administrator for Continuing Education for fifteen years, she provided continuing education units for public health professionals in many disciplines. As the KDPH's manager for education/training, she provided public health service education to 4500 public health practitioners in Kentucky's 55 local health departments. Ms. Spears served as the Project Coordinator for the Kentucky Health Interview and Examination Survey as well as co-directing the 1999 Governor's Conference in Public Health. In 2002, in collaboration with the College of Nursing, she developed the Public Health Nurse Scholars Leadership Institute and in 2004, the Public Health Nurse Certificate Program.
Ms. Spears led the KDPH's effort to develop the Public Health Transition Training Initiative. This strategic initiative provided education and training to over 9,000 health professionals and assisted public health practitioners to make the transition from an individual clinic-focused service model to a population health practice model. This initiative focused on developing the competency of the public health workforce and building the health care infrastructure for public health practice in Kentucky. Eula Spears retired June 30, 2010 as the Assistant Dean for Practice and Service in the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky. Ms. Spears is currently an adjunct faculty member on a Maternal Child Health Epidemiology HRSA grant with the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona.
A Jefferson County native, Representative Tom Burch served in the United States Navy and graduated from Bellarmine College with a degree in business administration. He retired after nearly 40 years with General Electric Corporation, where he worked as a production control manager. Representative Burch was first elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1972 and is currently the longest serving House member.
He has served as Chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee since 1985. He also serves as a member of the Licensing and Occupations Committee, the Seniors, Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection Committee, and the Budget Review Subcommittee on Human Resources.
Representative Burch has received many honors, including: Award from the Kidney Foundation for Legislation; Kentucky Association of Homes for Children "Circle of Love" Award; Legislator of the Year, 1990, for Child Support Legislation; Legislation on Behalf of Victims of Domestic Violence Award; Outstanding Legislator, Kentucky Welfare Reform Coalition for Welfare Reform Act; Outstanding Legislator Award for Health Legislation; the Distinguished Service Award, Jefferson County Health Board; the Excellence in Public Health Award, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials; the Mental Health Association of Kentucky Award for his 30 years of exemplary leadership; the Friends of Foster Care Award from the Kentucky Organization for Foster Youth; the Circle of Leadership Award from the Kentucky Association of Adult Day Centers; the Nettie Award for his efforts to improve surveillance and control of HIV; the Kentucky Child NOW Destiny Award; the Beth Riddell Advocacy Award; the Carl D. Perkins Award from ARC of Kentucky; the American Heart Association Outstanding Legislator Award; the Paul Mason Memorial Award for his work toward improving public health; the Paul Mason Legislative Advocate for Children Award from the Kentucky PTA; and the State Safety Leadership Award from the National Transportation Safety Board.
Representative Burch has been active in the Kentucky Welfare Reform Coalition, the National Organization for Women, the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association, the Home of the Innocents, the Lions Foundation, Kosair Children's Hospital, and the Kentucky Organ Donor Council. He is a board member of Brooklawn Youth Services and helped establish Day Spring, a facility for special needs residents. He is also an active member of St. Bartholomew Church.
Dr. Hacker, a native of Manchester (Clay County), served as Commissioner of the Department for Public Health from 2004 until his retirement August 1, 2011, covering two administrations.
Since his retirement Dr. Hacker continues to be active on a number of committees of special interest to him. They include MITRE Corporation’s Center for Transforming Health, Health and Population Health Advisory Board; the Southern Obesity Summit Advisory Board; and the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials committees on E-Health Policy and the Committee for Healthy Babies. Prior to becoming Commissioner, Dr. Hacker served the Department as a physician consultant. Following the terrorism events in the fall of 2001, Dr. Hacker joined the Division of Epidemiology and Health Planning as the first Manager of the Public Health Preparedness Branch, leading the Department’s emergency planning and response capacity to national notice. He also served as Acting Director of the Division of Laboratory Services from 2002 until 2005. Dr. Hacker received both his Bachelor of Science (1968) and Doctor of Medicine (1972) degrees from the University of Kentucky. Following a three-year residency at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center he founded Corbin Pediatric Associates in Corbin, Kentucky in 1975.
Dr. Hacker continued in private practice in Corbin until 1993 when he accepted the position of Vice President for Health Services at Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH), an eleven-hospital integrated healthcare system with facilities in Eastern Kentucky, Western Virginia, and Southern West Virginia. He left ARH in 1999 to serve as the Medical Director of Kentucky Health Select, a managed Medicaid program based in Central Kentucky. Dr. Hacker is Board Certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Pediatrics.
He was chosen to be a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society (1972) and the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society (2010). He is a Certified Physician Executive and is a member of the American College of Physician Executives. Dr. Hacker holds an appointment at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine as a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, and Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health.
As the only microbiologist in Congress, Congresswoman Louise McIntosh Slaughter has long played a role in the major health and science issues of our time. Since first joining Congress in 1986, Rep. Slaughter has forged a reputation as a powerful advocate for advancements in science and our nation’s health. In the process she has broken down gender barriers and successfully championed healthcare protections for every American citizen.
Congresswoman Slaughter became the first woman to serve as Chairwoman of the influential House Committee on Rules in 2007. In this position she played a key role in passing the historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which reformed the American healthcare system. Congresswoman Slaughter is also the author of the Genetic Information Non- Discrimination Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008. This legislation has been called the “first civil rights legislation of the 21st Century”. In addition to authoring this legislation, Congresswoman Slaughter is the author of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, commonly called the STOCK Act. President Barack Obama signed the STOCK Act into law on April 4, 2012. Congresswoman Slaughter has also led efforts in Congress to improve body armor protections for American soldiers.
In 2006, Congresswoman Slaughter wrote to the Department of Defense and requested an investigation into the alarming rate of fatalities among American soldiers due to inadequate body armor. As a result, the Department of Defense launched a series of investigations that led to important changes in their procurement process and improved body armor for American troops.
Prior to entering Congress, she served in the New York State Assembly (1982-86) and the Monroe County (N.Y.) Legislature (1976-79); and as regional coordinator for Secretary of State Mario Cuomo (19 76-78) and Lt. Gov. Mario Cuomo (1979-82). Rep. Slaughter holds a Bachelor of Science degree (1951) in Microbiology and a Master of Science degree (1953) in Public Health from the University of Kentucky. A native of Harlan County, Kentucky, Congresswoman Slaughter is married to Robert Slaughter and has three daughters and seven grandchildren.
Marcia Stanhope, DSN, RN, FAAN, was the Good Samaritan Endowed Professor and Chair in Community Health at the University of Kentucky’s College of Nursing prior to her retirement from the University June 30, 2012 after 30 years of service.
Dr. Stanhope was also named the University Provost Public Scholar, only the second person to achieve this recognition. She has had an illustrious nursing career that spans nearly 50 years. Dr. Stanhope is a public health nursing icon and was the senior author of the renowned textbook, Public Health Nursing: Population Centered Health Care in the Community. The book is now in its eighth edition and is one of the most widely used community health nursing textbooks in the world. Dr. Stanhope has served as a member of more than 25 nursing organizations and interdisciplinary health policy groups. Her numerous awards and achievements include the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s President’s Award, the Creative Achievement Award from the Public Health Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association, and the American Nurses Association Pearl McIver Outstanding Public Health Nurse Award.
Dr. Stanhope has been honored as Outstanding Alumna by the University of Kentucky Medical Center and by the College of Nursing. She was also one of 275 alumni of the University of Kentucky to be named a Distinguished Alumni. In 1988 Dr. Stanhope was named a fellow of the prestigious American Academy of Nursing.
Brief bio (1-2 paragraphs) to include information regarding your current role as well as background in public health and/or health administration.
“Lawrence Prybil has been a Professor in UK’s College of Public Health since 2010, where he also served as Associate Dean and retired in June, 2021 as the Norton Professor in Healthcare Leadership. He also is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa where he was Associate Dean and Senior Advisor to the Dean in Iowa’s College of Public Health.
Before returning to Iowa to participate in building its new College of Public Health, Dr. Prybil held senior executive positions in two of our Nation’s largest not-for-profit health systems for nearly twenty years, including ten years as CEO for a six-state division of the Daughters of Charity National Health System (now Ascension Health).
Dr. Prybil received master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine and is a Life Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. He has served on the governing boards of hospitals, health systems, the American Hospital Association, and several other organizations, including the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. He is recognized for expertise in governance and executive leadership, and has authored or co-authored 120 publications including a book on governance ethics published last year by Routledge, Inc. He has directed several national studies regarding effective governance in healthcare organizations and multi-sector partnerships focused on improving community health funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and numerous other organizations.”
What does being a public health legend mean to you?
“During my career, I’ve been privileged to serve in senior executive positions in two major health systems. serve on the boards of not-for-profit and investor-owned companies, hold academic appointments in fine universities, assist hundreds of young men and women prepare for their careers, and lead research studies in two areas about which I care deeply. To be recognized by colleagues for making valuable contributions both in organizational and academic leadership is a high honor for which I am deeply grateful.”
Greg Corby-Lee is the Strategist for Kentucky’s Harm Reduction Initiative, a joint project of the University of Kentucky and the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. His current role involves introducing local health departments to what this Initiative can offer in ways of staffing and covering most costs for harm reduction programs. He also coordinates the training of the local people that are hired by the Initiative to work in all of Kentucky’s Harm Reduction/Syringe Exchange Programs.
Greg has been involved with HIV in Kentucky for over 35 years, starting as a volunteer and fundraiser for AIDS in the early ‘80s. In 1986 the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department brought him onboard as the first local AIDS Coordinator in the state. During that time, he was also a Disease Intervention Specialist and provided over 7,000 HIV tests, as well as partner notification services for positives. In 1992 he was promoted to HIV/STD Manager at the Lexington Health Department, and managed that growing program for 15 years. In 2007, he became the HIV/AIDS Continuing Education Director with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services/Department for Public Health. For his last few years at Kentucky Public Health, he was the state’s “point person” for Kentucky’s Harm Reduction/Syringe Exchange Program efforts. When Greg took this role, there were only three syringe exchange programs in Kentucky. By his retirement from Kentucky Public Health in 2018, there were 43 counties with syringe exchanges and this momentum continued.
I am very humbled to have my peers and mentors call me a public health legend. I guess this reflects on my empathy and long-term commitment to serving marginalized people. Not only for their sake, but also for the betterment of us all. Perhaps being a “legend” refers to a culmination of things that worked out well over the years. Honestly, it feels a bit highfalutin for me to ponder the question of what it means to be a public health legend.
My path began serendipitously in the early 1980’s as HIV was beginning to terrorize my community. I was a DJ at the time at the “Library Lounge” close to UK’s campus, and worked with the local gay community in raising funds to help those who were dying. It was scary, sad, and frustrating. As the third and fourth Emperor of the Imperial Court of Kentucky, I co-founded the Community Health Trust (which opened the first home for people living with HIV – Glade House in Louisville – the longest, continuously run shelter in the U.S. exclusive to people with HIV/AIDS).
Soon after the FDA approved the first HIV antibody tests in 1985, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department worked closely with the gay community in recruiting the first “AIDS Coordinator” in the state. They chose me, the gay DJ/remixer/computer nerd who had a lot of drag queen friends. Once hired, I went to Atlanta for CDC’s Disease Intervention Specialist training. My mission now was to test as many at-risk people as possible. However, few people with any real risks were willing to be tested. You have to remember – being gay (or at least acting out on it) was still illegal in Kentucky. The stigma surrounding HIV was insurmountable. HIV treatment was little more than poison at the time and there wasn’t any palpable “linkage to care.” Most doctors (and certainly insurance companies) wouldn’t touch this. I understood people wanting to avoid having a government record documenting their HIV risks (gay sex or injecting drugs). Let alone documenting those who tested positive in those days when treatment didn’t exist. I convinced the Board of Health to allow us to test people anonymously. It was a game changer. Test numbers quadrupled immediately and continued to rise. Lexington lead the way in HIV testing in the state for several years. Anonymous testing for HIV in Lexington was another first for Kentucky, and by 1990, this became state law for all health departments.
Testing anonymously did not preclude having transparent data collection. As a computer science geek, I was fascinated with collecting and analyzing data. However, the only computers in the health department at that time were in administration. I persuaded them to by me a computer, and I began to provide program updates at the monthly Board of Health meetings. Even the state’s STD program was entirely paper-based at that time. Maybe being a legend means that I can say, "I remember when …".
In 1991, I became the HIV/STD Program Manager in Lexington and worked closely with the Kentucky Department for Public Health to secure CDC funding for HIV prevention. Can you believe there was a time when CDC funds for HIV prevention were not available? We were a decade in already!
When CDC finally began to provide funding, I served as the State Co-Chair to the HIV Community Planning Group for ten years. CDC required input and guidance from the Community Planning Group for continued HIV prevention funding. This group eventually morphed into the Governor’s AIDS Advisory Council, and is now the Kentucky HIV/AIDS Planning and Advisory Council.
In 2007, I took on the role of HIV Continuing Education Director for the state. This gave me opportunities to make some effective changes. My tenure there included managing the CDC HIV Prevention budget for the state and planning many conferences. I also implemented the “rapid-rapid” HIV testing protocol for Kentucky so that people didn’t have to wait weeks for HIV confirmation. I streamlined trainings to provide HIV testing/counseling. I secured approval from CDC to use federal funds for syringe services programs. I travelled the state working intensely with local health departments to gain political approval for those syringe services programs. That last part was hard. But it paid off. Many politicians were more likely to follow the assumed collective bias of their constituents and local law enforcement than to follow public health science. Helping those who inject drugs to survive seemed last on their list. Somehow, I helped in swaying many of them. Kentucky now has more syringe services programs than any other state. I’m not proud of the need, because it speaks to how much our state is hurting. But I am proud of Kentucky’s public health response, and to have been a part of this groundswell to make our home a safer and more loving place to live.
A few months after retiring from the Kentucky Department for Public Health in 2018, I became the Harm Reduction Initiative Strategist for KIRP (KADAP Income Reinvestment Program) – a joint program between UK and the Kentucky Department for Public Health. At KIRP, our mission is to increase HIV testing across Kentucky – specifically targeting people with high risk. Does that sound familiar? It’s the same objective I’ve had since the beginning of my unexpected trajectory into public health.
I guess to me, being a public health legend means that this is my niche, and it has been for a long time. I love the people that I am working with … and I can honestly say that this has always been the case in public health. Most of all, I genuinely care for the people that we serve. I learn from them still, and that’s how I discover how we can serve them best.
The University of Kentucky College of Public Health is undergoing a review by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) for re-accreditation. Part of this process includes the invitation to provide third-party comments. Anyone, including students, alumni, employers, community partners, etc., is allowed to share relevant information about the college directly with CEPH. If you would like to provide input to CEPH to inform their review, send your comments to submissions@ceph.org by May 4th, 2025.
