President's Message: Dr. Dawn Ford

I am pleased to serve as President this year with an incredible Board and the talented Executive Director, Kim Harrell. I’d like to thank and congratulate our past-President Dr. Christian Williams of Belmont University and Program Chair, Sarah Boop, of Northeast Regional Health Department, for an outstanding annual conference. This event brought together over 525 current and upcoming public health professionals from across the state to engage with expert presenters, develop networks, and of course, have lots of fun, while learning more about public health issues. Thanks to those attending, we raised over $5,626 at our silent auction. These funds will be used for scholarships to eligible members in 2024.

The mission of TPHA is to protect, promote, and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee. We do that by advancing health policy and practice, increasing awareness about public health issues, and providing education and professional development for public health professionals. The priorities of the TPHA Board this year are to focus on our strategic goals to continue to strengthen our organizational infrastructure, expand our membership and partnerships, assist to strengthen the public health workforce, and advocate for public health policy.

Another area we plan to develop further is our grantsmanship. Over the last year, we have received several grants as we are building this capacity. For example, in partnership with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Hamilton County Health Department, TPHA received a $20,000 grant from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)’s Climate Demonstration Site grant. The funds were used to develop and pilot a statewide emergency preparedness tabletop exercise on extreme heat. Because of the success of this work, we have been asked by NACCHO to accept additional funds to conduct a related project in 2024. In addition, we were awarded a $6,000 grant from the American Public Health Association’s Center for Climate, Health, and Equity as a State Partner. With this funding, we advocated for public health language to be added to Chattanooga’s Climate Action Plan which as approved by Chattanooga City Council earlier this year. This work was presented at the APHA annual meeting earlier this month and was highlighted in the November/December 2023 issue of The Nation’s Health.

We would like to keep this ball rolling, so if you would like to partner with TPHA on a project, please reach out. My email address is [email protected].

Dawn Ford, PhD
President, Tennessee Public Health Association