PHF E-NEWS Original Date: 6-21-04
Subject: News Release--Public Health Foundation's Board Elects Three New OfficersFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ron Bialek (202) 898-5600
The Board of Directors for the Public Health Foundation is pleased to announce the election of three new officers for the position of Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary/Treasurer.
"It is an honor to Chair the Board of this remarkable organization that is recognized as a leader in improving public health. Over the past year, the Public Health Foundation has made significant contributions to building capacity and improving performance of public health systems," said Dr. Martinez at the annual Board meeting.
The Public Health Foundation continues to make significant contributions to the field, with the recent implementation of the first national public health Learning Management System, TRAIN (http://www.train.org), a public-private partnership between PHF, state governments, public and private universities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and KMi, Inc. PHF also introduced an online Public Health Infrastructure Resource Center (http://www.phf.org/infrastructure) in December 2003 and is planning on rolling out the Performance Improvement Initiative, which will continue the work of the National Turning Point's Performance Management Collaborative (http://www.turningpointprogram.org/Pages/perfmgt.html).
Ricardo Martinez, MD, previously Vice Chair and a Board member since 2000, was elected as Chairman of the Board. Dr. Martinez, is a board-certified emergency physician who has dedicated his career to trauma care and automotive injury prevention. He currently holds the positions of Chairman and President of Safety Intelligence Corporation and is a Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, and an Adjunct Professor of Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Martinez served five years as the 10th Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 1994-1999. A strong focus of Dr. Martinez's leadership at NHTSA was to make motor vehicle injuries a public health priority issue.
Bobbi Berkowitz, PhD, a PHF Board member since 2000, was elected Vice Chair. Dr. Berkowitz is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychosocial and Community Health at the University of Washington School of Nursing and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Public Health. She serves as the Director for both the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Turning Point National Program and the NIH/NINR funded Center for the Advancement of Health Disparities Research at the UW. Bobbie is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a member of the Institute of Medicine. She holds a PhD. in Nursing Science from Case Western Reserve University and Master of Nursing and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Washington.
Les Beitsch, MD, JD, a PHF board member since 2001, was elected Secretary/Treasurer. Currently a Visiting Professor and Director of the Center for Medicine and Public Health at Florida State University College of Medicine, Dr. Beitsch most recently served as the Commissioner of the Oklahoma State Department of Health, where he introduced and implemented a variety of performance management and improvement techniques. He also served from 1997-2001 as Deputy Secretary and Assistant State Health Officer for the Florida Department of Health. Dr. Beitsch received his MD from Georgetown University School of Medicine, and his JD from Harvard Law School.
Ted Ervin Award
Also during the Annual Board meeting, former Board member Maurice Mullet, MD, and current Health Commissioner for the Holmes County Health Department in Ohio was awarded the Ted Ervin Award for Outstanding Service. The award is given to a public health professional that demonstrates outstanding commitment to the Public Health Foundation in the development and implementation of programs to help the Foundation achieve its mission. Ted Ervin was a member of the Public Health Foundation Board of Directors from 1982 to 1989 and founded the National Public Health Program Reporting System.
For over 30 years, PHF has worked to build public health infrastructure by providing information, data, and training for America's public health system. PHF is a national, non-profit, non-member, mission-driven organization, focusing on strengthening and building capacity and infrastructure of public health agencies and systems. PHF pursues and accepts project opportunities and contributions that enable it to advance the field of public health and fulfill its mission. For more information about PHF or any of the projects mentioned above, go to www.phf.org.