The LPHI Welcomes its 2018 Fellows.

The Local Public Health Institute of Massachusetts (LPHI) welcomed its three new Fellows for 2018 at a ceremony at the Public Health Museum during Public Health Week. Fellows of the LPHI are selected for their demonstrated mastery of public health practice concepts, commitment to professional development, and willingness to act as stewards of public health practice in Massachusetts. They have shown immense commitment and dedication to their own professional development as well as to the public health of the Commonwealth.

2018 Inductees:

• Ruth Clay, Health Director, City of Melrose and Town of Wakefield
  Ruth has been the Health Director for the City of Melrose for 20 years and both Melrose and the Town of Wakefield for 9 years. She has also been the Health Director in Reading, MA and Vail, Colorado. The programs in her department include not only food protection but also public health nursing, school nurses, housing and nuisance complaints, substance abuse prevention, tobacco control, anti-obesity and animal control. She has a Masters Degree in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health and an undergraduate degree from Tufts University.
• Gail Johnson, Public Health Nurse, Westford Health Department
  Gail worked as a Registered Nurse for twenty-two years at New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Woburn. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts – Lowell in 2014, and for the last five years, Gail has been working as the Public Health Nurse for the Westford Health Department.  She provides educational services for her community, in addition to organizing and implementing flu, shingles and TDAP clinics each year.

 Honorary 2018 Fellow:

• Dr. Alfred DeMaria, Medical Director, State Epidemiologist, Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
  In the past, he has also served as Chief Medical Officer, Assistant Commissioner and Acting Director of the state public health laboratory. He has been involved in applied epidemiology and public health surveillance for over 25 years.

We welcome these Fellows to our distinguished list of existing Fellows and thank them for the service to the residents of the Commonwealth.

About LPHI

The mission of the Local Public Health Institute (LPHI) is to improve public health and preparedness capabilities and the health of the residents of the Commonwealth by creating, implementing, and sustaining workforce development activities for local public health and other public health system partners.  The Institute offers standardized courses and training materials as well as other trainings upon request. It also works on related projected such as the development of emergency preparedness and other competencies and links those to the development and delivery of specific trainings.

Many of the Institute’s online training modules are developed in collaboration with the New England Public Health Training Center (NEPHTC).  NEPHTC, managed by Boston University School of Public Health, is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).