4134.0: Tuesday, October 23, 2001: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM

Panel Discussion Session

Infrastructure and Organizational Capacity Required for Effective Health Department Leadership, With Special Focus on Boards of Health

This is the first of two public health infrastructure panel discussions sponsored by the Health Administration Section. This session will explore the hypothesis that major determinants of the success or failure of a state or local health department lie outside the administrative structure of the department itself, and outside the direct control of the health director. Such determinants include the presence or absence of a Board of Health - and the role of the Board; whether or not the health director answers directly to the chief elected official, or to the appointed head of a larger department, which includes public health, and an array of other political and administrative infrastruture issues. This session will explore these issues, share the opinions of knowledgeable individuals, and discuss steps that might be taken at the national level (by national public health organizations and others) to improve the performance of state and local health department in three domains: 1) Provision of basic public health services (diesease control, MCH, etc.); 2) Capabilitiy to respond to emergency situations; and 3) Provision of community leadership in pursuit of community health goals. This session is co-sponsored by the American Association of Public Health Physicians.
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement.
Learning Objectives: Participants will gain a broader understanding of the issues of leadership and administrative structure as they related to state and local boards of health.
Presider(s):Joel L. Nitzkin, MD, MPH, MPA, DPA
Panelist(s):Harvey Wallace
Thomas L. Milne
Joseph Q. Jarvis, MD, MSPH
Jonathan B. Weisbuch, MD, MPH
Joanna V. Dearlove, BA
12:30 PMIntroductory Remarks
12:40 PMThomas L. Milne, Executive Director, NACCHO
12:48 PMJoseph Q. Jarvis, MD, MSPH, Former Nevada State Health Officer
12:56 PMHarvey Wallace, President of the National Association of Local Boards of Health
1:04 PMJoanna Dearlove, BA, University of California, San Francisco
1:12 PMJonathan B. Weisbuch, MD, MPH, Health Director, Maricopa County Health Deaprtment
1:20 PMPanel Discussion
1:55 PMConcluding Remarks
Sponsor:Health Administration
Cosponsors:Black Caucus of Health Workers; Community Health Planning and Policy Development
CE Credits:CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work

The 129th Annual Meeting of APHA