“I am, indeed, deeply honored to be elected as the Vice-President of NACCHO Board. Although the pandemic has weighed heavily on our staff and neighbors, we remain vigilant about our long-standing public health issues associated with social justice and health equity,” said Dr. Dwivedi.
Washington, DC, October14, 2021 – The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), representing the country’s nearly 3,000 local health departments, has elected Pramod Dwivedi, DrPH, MS, MSW, MA, Health Director of the Linn County Department Public Health in Cedar Rapids Vice-President of its Board of Directors’ 2021-2022 term. Dr. Dwivedi assumed the role on July 1, 2021. He will become Board President-elect on July 1, 2022.
“I am, indeed, deeply honored to be elected as the Vice-President of NACCHO Board. Although the pandemic has weighed heavily on our staff and neighbors, we remain vigilant about our long-standing public health issues associated with social justice and health equity,” said Dr. Dwivedi. In addition, we must work together on building local public health infrastructure including workforce through the ongoing work of NACCHO.”
“On behalf of the Board of Directors and our local health departments, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Dwivedi to the NACCHO Executive Committee as its Vice President. Dr. Dwivedi has demonstrated a strong commitment to NACCHO during his tenure on the Board and we look forward to his continued leadership as an Officer of the organization,” said NACCHO Chief Executive Officer Lori Tremmel Freeman.
About Dr. Dwivedi
Dr. Pramod Dwivedi currently serves as health director of Linn County Public Health (LCPH) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. LCPH is a full service health department serving approximately 230,000 people in Linn County. In 2015, under his leadership LCPH became the first accredited local health department in Iowa. In 2018, it received the Health Department of the Year award from NACCHO. Currently, his department has been impressively responding to COVID-19 pandemic by creating a robust partnership with cities and town, hospitals, schools, refugee centers and minority groups in Linn County. Dr. Dwivedi strongly feels public health is a team sport.
The community partnerships that Dr. Dwivedi has been instrumental in creating now respond to scores of unmet health and social needs. For example, Community Health Assessment (CHA) and Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), and My Care Community (MCC) – a software platform to address the Social Determinants of Health (SDH) - which connects individuals to needed services such as mental and physical health, housing, transportation, and economic opportunities in Linn County) are working together to improve the overall health of Linn County residents. He also built epidemiologic capacity at LCPH and added new staffing and programming. Dr. Dwivedi firmly believes that epidemiologic capacity is vital to advancing and improving public’s health.
About NACCHO’s Board of Directors
NACCHO is governed by a 22-member board comprising local and tribal health officials who are elected by their peers, as well as three ex-officio members representing partner organizations.
As the governing body, NACCHO’s Board of Directors establishes the association’s strategic direction and initiatives, sets the annual legislative agenda, approves official policy statements, ensures that annual goals are met, and provides financial oversight. The Board is NACCHO’s public face, and represents members in matters of policy, public health practice, and collaboration with health partners in the public and private sectors.
NACCHO’s Board is led by four executive officers. In addition to Dr. Dwivedi this includes:
- President Lisa Macon Harrison, MPH, Local Health Director, Granville-Vance Public Health, Oxford, NC
- President-elect Margaret (Margy) Jahn, Director, Freehold Area Health Department, Freehold, NJ
- Immediate Past President Jennifer C. Kertanis, MPH, Director of Health, Farmington Valley Health District, Canton, CT
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About Linn County Public Health
Linn County Public Health (LCPH) provides many unique services to improve the health of Linn County residents. Our efforts within the community are strengthened by relationships established with other community organizations within the public health system. Through these relationships, LCPH is able to address the public health issues that are present within Linn County at multiple levels. To the right is an illustration of the Social Ecological Model, which depicts the five levels of influence that LCPH targets to prevent public health problems in our community.
About NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visit www.naccho.org.
