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Marshall, Walker Nominated to Fill Role As Association's Next President-Elect

Posted on: Saturday, 6 August 2005, 03:01 CDT

APHA's annual election of officers to be held at 133rd Annual Meeting in New Orleans in November

FOLLOWING are biographical sketches and personal statements from the candidates for APHA president-elect. The member elected by the Governing Council will become president-elect at the close of the 2005 Annual Meeting and assume presidency at the close of the 2006 Annual Meeting.

The candidate

EDWIN C. MARSHALL, OD, MS, MPH, is professor of optometry and associate dean for academic affairs and student administration at the Indiana University School of Optometry and adjunct professor of public health at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He has professional interests in clinical, epidemiological and health services research, health policy and public health practice, health professions education and administration and minority health.

Marshall has been a member of APHA since 1975 and is a founding member of the Vision Care section. He has served as section councilor, section chair, Intersectional Council member, Governing Council member, Executive Board member, vice chair and chair. He was a member of Tire Nation's Health Editorial Advisory Committee and the Executive Board's Finance and Audit Committee, as well as chair of the Strategic Planning Committee that guided the process for the current APHA strategic plan. He served on the search committees for both the current executive director and the associate executive director for public health practice and policy. He is on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Public Health Institute and has served as president of APHA's Indiana Affiliate.

Marshall

Marshall is chair of the Indiana State Department of Health's Minority Health Advisory Committee, which in 2003 released "Healthy Indiana - A Minority Health Plan for the State of Indiana." Among his professional activities, he serves as secretary of the Health Care Data and Quality Subcommittee of the Indiana Commission on Excellence in Health Care and on the Board of Directors of the Bloomington Hospital and Healthcare System and is a member of the Professional Advisory Committee of Prevent Blindness Indiana.

His statement

Health is the cornerstone of societal advancement. It sets the stage for educational achievement, economic development and an enhanced quality of life for the individual, community and society.

Public health is then the bridge to the future of our society. It is the bridge between what we know and what we do. As public health practitioners, we are the architects of our health care future, and we have a social responsibility to build the bridge on a foundation of equity, social justice, human rights and world peace.

However, public health faces many challenges, not least of which is the expanding challenge of ensuring universal access to quality health care and improved health care outcomes. Even within the world's richest health care system, public health protections remain disparate and unequally accessible for many individuals and communities. Health care access, racial and ethnic health disparities, public health infrastructure, work force development and diversity, Medicaid and Medicare solvency, bioterrorism, evidence-based practice, local health department support, public health credentialing, obesity, chronic disease epidemics, tobacco control, the built environment and the aging population present formidable - but not insurmountable - challenges and opportunities on the path to a healthier society.

Health requires a collaborative effort, and APHA - with its resource of sections, Special Primary Interest Groups, Caucuses and Affiliates - is the natural catalyst for creating new synergies, energizing multidisciplinary collaboration and synthesizing traditional and non-traditional partnerships for promoting, protecting and ensuring the public's health.

My background and 30 years of experience in APHA and the Indiana Public Health Association have helped me develop an appreciation for the diverse needs of APHA and its Affiliates, along with a strong preparation for public health leadership. I would be honored to once again have the privilege of working with you to address our public health challenges as president of APHA.

- Edwin Marshall, OD, MS, MPH

The candidate

DEBORAH KLEIN WALKER, EdD, is principal associate at Abt Associates, an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Public Health and a lecturer at the Harvard University School of Public Health. Her professional career has ranged from special consultant to the Office of the Assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to associate commissioner for programs and prevention at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Within APHA, Walker has served on the Intersectional Council, Executive Board, Governing Council and as chair of the Maternal and Child Health section and the board Personnel Committee. She was an appointed member to the Children's Health Task Force and Intersectional Council Steering Committee and has chaired MCH Section committees. She is a board member and APHA Governing Council representative for the Massachusetts Public Health Association. Her many awards and honors include a recognition award from the Massachusetts I Organization for Addiction Recovery, and an outstanding leadership award from the Coalition for Excellence in MCH Epidemiology.

Walker

Walker's professional activities include working on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality, as board member and president of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs and as associate editor of the Maternal and Child Health Journal. Walker is a founder and advisory board member of New England Serve, where she also headed the Task Force on Financing for Children with Special Health Care Needs. She was a member of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Poison Prevention and Control as well as the Committee on Genomics and Public Health.

Her statement

I am passionate about public health, since it is putting social justice into practice every day for every community. Our greatest challenge is to develop the political will to use the evidence and social strategies we know are necessary to make positive improvements in the health of the public.

APHA must be a leader in facing these challenges in the new century:

* to improve the public health infrastructure at all levels of government;

* to assure universal health care coverage for all;

* to assure quality health care services, regardless of payer or delivery system;

* to improve services and practice to reduce disparities and meet the needs of the growing diversity in the nation's population;

* to enhance environmental protections in more competitive worldwide markets; and

* to increase efforts to build and maintain healthy communities.

Public health issues facing the nation and world are complex. Improvements in health for all in every community will take sustained work and energy! To accomplish this, APHA must strengthen its advocacy role and amplify its voice. We will reach our potential when all Affiliates are a major force in monitoring and shaping public health initiatives at the state and local levels and as we enhance collaborative efforts among all parts of APHA - sections, Affiliates, Special Primary Interest Groups and Caucuses. These challenging political and social times require our greatest organization and cooperation.

As president of APHA and member of the Executive Board, I will listen to members and help guide APHA to be a more effective organization. If elected, I promise to combine my passion for public health, my perseverance and organizational skills with my extensive knowledge and experience of public health issues and practice at the federal, state and local levels to be a caring, effective and accountable board member and president.

- Deborah Klein Walker, EdD

Copyright American Public Health Association Aug 2005

Source: Nation's Health, The

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