Polk County Health Department
100 Polk County Plaza
Suite 180
Balsam Lake
WIUSA
54810
Biographical Sketch: Gretchen Sampson is the Director/Health Officer for the Polk County Health Department serving a rural county of 44,000 people in western Wisconsin. She is a Past President of the Wisconsin Public Health Association (WPHA). She received her BSN from University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire and her MPH from the University of Minnesota. She has been with the Polk County Health Department since 1977 and has served in the positions of Public Health Nurse, Public Health Supervisor, Assistant Director and Health Officer. Gretchen is the president of the Institute for Wisconsin’s Health Inc. and the chair of the Western Wisconsin Public Health Education Consortium. She is also the fiscal agent for a multi-county Public Health Preparedness Consortium. She is a Year 12 graduate scholar of the National Public Health Leadership Institute and the chair-elect of the APHA Health Administration section.