Summer Institute 2011: Plenary Session Presenters

The Plenaries: An Institute with Expertise

The Summer Institute offers plenary sessions with experts who share their valuable experience and knowledge on current issues and trends in public health practice. In 2011, plenary presenters included:

Monday: Lawrence Wallack, DrPH, MPH

Lawrence Wallack was the founding director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group, an organization conducting research and training in the use of media to promote healthy public policies. He is currently Dean of the College of Urban and Public Affairs at Portland State University and Emeritus Professor of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley.

Wallack is one of the primary architects of media advocacy, an innovative approach to working with mass media to advance public health. He has published extensively and lectures frequently on the news media and public health policy issues. He is the principal author of News for a Change: An Advocate's Guide to Working with the Media (1999) and Media Advocacy and Public Health: Power for Prevention (1993). He is also co-editor of Mass Media and Public Health: Complexities and Conflicts (1990).

Wallack has appeared on Nightline, Good Morning America, the CBS Evening News, the Today Show, Cable Network News, Oprah, and numerous local news and public affairs programs.

Join us this August for informed discussion and learning! You will return to work motivated and inspired to improve the health of your community.

Tuesday: Linda Murray, MD, MPH

Linda Murray is well-known for her extensive career serving the medically underserved in a variety of clinical settings in Canada and the United States. She has been the president of American Public Health Association since 2009.

She is currently the Chief Medical Officer for the Cook County Department of Public Health of the Cook County Health and Hospital System in Illinois. Murray also practices as a general internist at Woodlawn Health Center and is an attending physician in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Cook County Hospital. Murray is an adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois School of Public Health.

In addition to her leadership role in the American Public Health Association, Murray is on NACCHO's (National Association of City & County Health Officers) Health Equity & Social Justice Team. She also serves on the board of the Chicago-based Health and Medicine Policy Research Group.

Thursday: Les Beitsch, MD, JD

Les Beitsch is a professor and director of the Center on Medicine and Public Health at the Florida State University College of Medicine. Prior to joining the College of Medicine, Dr. Beitsch was Commissioner of Health for the State of Oklahoma, serving in that capacity from June 2001 until November 2003. Before that time, he held several positions within the Florida Department of Health over the course of twelve years, most recently as Deputy Secretary. Dr. Beitsch holds a B.A., Chemistry, Emory University, 1977; M.D., Georgetown University School of Medicine, 1980; Internship, Medical College of South Carolina, 1981; and a JD from the Harvard School of Law, 1988. Dr. Beitsch received the 2007 ASTHO Alumnus of the Year Award. He served on the Exploring Accreditation Steering Committee and currently serves on the PHAB Research and Evaluation Committee. Dr. Beitsch has numerous publications and awards to his credit.

Friday: Health Leadership Panel

Allene Mares, Assistant Secretary, Community and Family Health, Washington State Department of Health

Kathleen O’Leary, BSN, MPH, Public Health Administrator, Washington County Department of Health & Human Services

Steve Scanlin, JD, MSW, Chairman, Central District Health Department Board of Health, President-elect, National Association of Local Boards of Health

Crystal Tetrick, MPH, Associate Director, Urban Indian Health Institute