Kaye Bender, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the owner of Kaye Bender Consulting, LLC, where she works as an independent public health, organizational, and education consultant and strategist. She also serves as the Executive Director of the Mississippi Public Health Association. She is a part-time Professor at the University of MS School of Nursing and the School of Health-Related Professions. She also serves on several doctoral dissertation committees for schools outside of Mississippi.

Dr. Bender served as the President and CEO of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) in Alexandria, VA, from 2009-2019. She was the Dean of the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Nursing prior to PHAB. She worked in local public health for several years in Mississippi and was the Deputy State Health Officer for the Mississippi Department of Health for 12 years.

She is an active member of the American Public Health Association and was recently elected President-Elect of the organization. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She is also a board member (Chair-Elect) of the National Board of Public Health Examiners; the Public Health Foundation; and the MS Public Health Institute. She has numerous publications and presentations related to governmental public health infrastructure improvement.

Dr. Bender holds a BS in Nursing from the University of MS Medical Center; an MSN from the University of Southern Mississippi; and a PhD from the University of MS Medical Center.

Dr. Craig H. Blakely, is dean at the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences. He obtained his doctorate degree from Michigan State University and a master of public health degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.
He has researched and published extensively regarding access to care for underserved expectant mothers, juvenile delinquents, substance abuse and rural health. He has served as principal investigator for grants totaling more than $13 million. His expertise is in bioinformatics and policy development. He has been a reviewer for numerous journals and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Primary Prevention.

He is a member of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control International Advisory Group and the American Public Health Association.

Dr. Richard S. Kurz is Dean Emeritus of the School of Public Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC). He formerly served as Dean of the Saint Louis University School of Public Health from 1993 through 2001and as Chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy at Saint Louis University as well as in other administrative roles. He received his baccalaureate degree in sociology from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia (1967) and his doctoral degree in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1976).

In 1991, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA), the international consortium of accredited health administration programs, and on the Executive Committee of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) from 1996 to 2001. For six years, he was the Editor of the Journal of Healthcare Management, the international journal published by the Foundation of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). He served as a Commissioner for the Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) from 2004 to 2010 and as Co-Chair of the Missouri Council for the Accreditation of Local Health Agencies, and is currently a member of the Public Health Accreditation Council of Texas.

Dr. Kurz has published and presented in the areas of health services organization and management, especially on the topics of leadership, access to care, and quality improvement. Recently, he was coprincipal investigator of a three-year, St. Louis-based project “Managing Hypertension in African America Males” and a co-investigator for the five-year, St. Louis site of the CDC funded, national project “Controlling Asthma in American Cities”. He has served on advisory boards and task forces nationally for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Veterans Administration, and the Institute of Medicine as well as for the Missouri Department of Health and the Texas Department of State Health Services.

While in St. Louis, he was active locally in several civic organizations concerned with children’s health, including service as Chair of Vision for Children at Risk, a multicounty coalition of organizations serving children; as President of the St. Louis City Board of Health; as Chair of the Board of the St. Louis Regional Asthma Consortium, and a Board member of the St. Louis Material, Child, and Family Health Coalition. In Fort Worth, he is co-chair of the Hispanic Wellness Coalition and United Way of Tarrant County Health Council and the UNTHSC representative for the Healthy Tarrant County Collaboration. He is currently leading a community collaborative effort to reduce infant mortality in Tarrant County based in the School of Public and the UNTHSC Center for Community Health.

Dr. Joel Lee holds the position as John A. Drew Professor of Health Administration, and Director of the Doctor of Public Health degree program at the University of Georgia College of Public Health and previously served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Dr. Lee completed his MPH and Dr.P.H. at the University of Texas School of Public Health and is a member of the charter group certified by the National Board of Public Health Examiners. He previously served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Chair of the Department of Health Services Management, and Director of Doctoral Studies, and as director of the University’s undergraduate and graduate degrees in health administration.

Dr. Lee has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA), the Kentucky Health Care Strategy Forum and a variety of American College of Health Care Executives committees. He was an inaugural inductee and secretary/treasurer of the Beta Gamma Chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health, and a founding member and officer of the Beta Chi Chapter at the University of Georgia. Professor Lee currently serves as Program Chair for the American Public Health Association Academic Caucus and Chair of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) Doctor of Public Health Program Directors. He has served as Chair for the Associate Deans for Academic Affairs, and as chair of the ASPPH Health Services Administration Council, as a member of the ASPPH Health Policy and Management MPH Competency Workgroup, the DrPH Competency Model Development Project Task Force, and the Steering Committee of the Academy of Distinguished Public Health Teachers. He was the founding chair of the AUPHA Public Health Faculty Network, and chaired the Doctoral Education Faculty Forum.

In 2005, he was appointed to the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Performance Excellence Award. He serves as a judge for the Kentucky Center for Performance Excellence Awards. Dr. Lee was appointed to the Item Writing Committee for the NBPHE examination, and its Outreach Committee. He was elected as a member of the Governing Council of the American Public Health Association representing the Health Administration Section, and has served on the editorial boards of several journals. Most recently he served as a co-editor of a theme issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice addressing: Teaching and Learning in the Community sponsored by the ASPPH/Pfizer Academy of Distinguished Public Health Teachers. He has been engaged in a variety of workforce continuing education programs and certificates for healthcare practitioners in the U.S. and international public health/health administration activities in Russia, Romania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Dr. Lee is a recipient of the University of Kentucky Alumni Association “Great Teacher Award”. In 2005, he was selected by students for the “Golden Apple Award”.

John E. McElligott grew up in Naperville, Illinois, and graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Science degree. He then served as a community health volunteer in the Peace Corps in both Cote d’Ivoire and Madagascar. John received a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He was a Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Fellow and received the Outstanding Graduate Award of his class. He is an elected member of Delta Omega, the national honorary society in public health. John earned the Certification in Public Health from the National Board of Public Health Examiners.

In July 2012, John became Deputy Executive Director of the Commissioned Officers Association of the United States Public Health Service and of the PHS Commissioned Officers Foundation for the Advancement of Public Health. He is co-chair of the Guard/Reserve Committee of The Military Coalition. From 2010-2012 he was Public Health Policy Analyst for the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and from 2008-2010 he was Project Manager at ASPPH. From 2006-2008, John worked for the Arizona Department of Health Services in Phoenix, Arizona.

John is an officer in the United State Army Reserve. He is currently with the Civil-Military Operations Center, 354th Civil Affairs Brigade. He served on active duty in 2015 at the Institute for Military Support to Governance, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. John earned the Leadership Award from Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. John was an Honor Graduate and received the Army Values Award from the Quartermaster Basic Officer Leadership Course at Fort Lee, Virginia. Other military awards include the Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Ribbon, Army Service Ribbon, and the Norwegian Road March Badge.

John and his wife Leslie live in Silver Spring, Maryland.

David R. Buys, PhD, MSPH, CPH, FGSA is State Health Specialist for Mississippi State University Extension and Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition, and Health Promotion.  Dr. Buys leads research-based health-related efforts across Mississippi’s 82 Counties with a focus on preventing and managing chronic diseases; promoting mental health including opioid misuse and suicide prevention; and creating healthy home environments. He teaches on gerontology, nutritional epidemiology, social determinants of health, health professions, and other matters; he also mentors undergraduate and graduate students.

Dr. Buys has competed for and leads projects funded with more than $8 million in federal support from agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the United States Department of Agriculture, and other partners.

He has published nearly 40 peer-reviewed articles, including in Public Health Nutrition, the American Journal of Public Health, The Gerontologist, the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, the Journal of Extension, and other leading journals.

Dr. Buys is actively involved in multiple professional associations, including the American Public Health Association and the Gerontological Society of America; he is past president of the Mississippi Public Health Association, through which he championed the Certified in Public Health exam across the state.

He completed formal training in medical sociology, health services research, and epidemiology from Mississippi College, Auburn University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is Certified in Public Health by the National Board of Public Health Examiners and is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.

Lori Tremmel Freeman has been the Chief Executive Officer for the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) since May 2018, having returned to the organization after previously served as its Associate Executive Director from 2010-2014. In the CEO role, Ms. Freeman works to ensure our country’s nearly 3,000 local health departments have the capacity to deliver essential health services to their communities, advocates for local public health within the U.S. governmental public health system, and assures strategic alliances and partnerships with a wide variety of federal, state, local, public and private agencies and organizations to advance the health of our nation. Prior to joining NACCHO, she served as Chief Executive Officer for the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) where she provided direction and leadership to protect and promote the optimal health of women, children, and families and actively advocated for sustainable and long-term funding for maternal, child, and adolescent health through the federal Title V grant program. While at AMCHP, she received the distinguished HHS Maternal & Child Health Bureau Director’s Award for noteworthy contributions to the health of infants, mothers, children, adolescents and children with special health care needs. 

Lori Tremmel Freeman is a career non-profit executive, having enjoyed three decades of working in senior association leadership and management roles. Lori Tremmel Freeman’s career includes holding additional CEO and senior leadership positions with the International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA); Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI); the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI); the American Public Health Association (APHA); and Grant Thornton LLP. She also serves on numerous national advisory groups and Boards related to public health. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science from Lock Haven University and a Masters degree in Business Administration and Marketing minor from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and currently resides in Haymarket, Virginia with her husband and twin children. 

Laura Rasar King has served as Executive Director of the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) since 2004. Her career spans nearly 20 years in public health, most of which has focused on quality assurance in higher education in public health and related professional fields. In her current role, she is responsible for managing the work of CEPH and supporting its Board of Directors. She assists universities interested in establishing a public health degree program and pursuing accreditation both nationally and internationally, and maintains relationships with governmental and private sector organizations that share common interests in higher education, accreditation, academic public health and public health workforce issues.

Her other professional positions have included: Outreach and Education Director in the Environment and Health Program at Physicians for Social Responsibility, as well as positions focusing on clinician education at The George Washington University’s Medical Faculty Associates and the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation. Early in her career, she worked at HealthReach Network, a consortium of 11 federally funded health centers in rural Maine, as a VISTA Volunteer.

Her professional activities have included a variety of appointed and elected positions in the American Public Health Association (APHA), and in APHA’s Public Health Education and Health Promotion (PHEHP) section. She was the 2002 Judith R. Miller Award recipient for service to the PHEHP section and APHA in support of the practice and profession of health education. She has served on the Division Board for Professional Development of the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (NCHEC), on the Board of Trustees of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) and as a member of the Assessment Process Workgroup of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). She currently serves as Chair of Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA).

Although her primary interest lies in higher education quality, she is also interested in quality education throughout the lifespan. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, on the Elementary Curriculum Advisory Committee for Howard County, Maryland and on the School Improvement Team for Triadelphia Ridge Elementary School. She received an MPH in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services and BA in Psychology from American University, both in Washington, DC. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Organizational Leadership at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES).

Dr. Paul Kuehnert is President and CEO of PHAB, where he oversees all aspects of PHAB’s mission and work, including accreditation-related strategies, partnerships, long-range planning, PHAB’s Board of Directors, committees/think tanks, and student opportunities. Dr. Kuehnert’s career spans nearly 30 years of providing executive leadership to private and governmental organizations to build and improve systems to address complex health and human services needs. Immediately prior to joining PHAB in January 2020, Dr. Kuehnert served for seven years at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in Princeton, NJ, most recently in the role of Associate Vice President for Program.  Prior to joining RWJF in 2012,  he spent five years as the County Health Officer and Executive Director for Health for Kane County, Illinois, a metro-Chicago county of 515,000 people. In that role, Dr. Kuehnert provided executive leadership and oversight to four county departments: Health, Emergency Management, Community Reinvestment and Animal Control.  Earlier, he served as Deputy State Health Officer and Deputy Director of the state of Maine’s Health Department. Dr. Kuehnert is a pediatric nurse practitioner and holds the Doctor of Nursing Practice in executive leadership as well as the Master of Science in public health nursing degrees from University of Illinois at Chicago. He was named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow in 2004, a Fellow in the National Academies of Practice in 2010, and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2015. 

Allison Lewis is Executive Director of the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research where she provides leadership and direction to achieve the mission of increasing the inclusion of core clinical prevention and population health in health professions education and increasing interprofessional learning. Ms. Lewis oversees implementation and evaluation of all programs and services; directs the organization’s education and advocacy efforts; oversees the planning and convening of the annual Teaching Prevention meeting; and develops and maintains relationships with many like-minded organizations that include a wide variety of medical societies, health professions, and non-governmental public health organizations.

Ms. Lewis represents the organization on groups such as the Healthy People Curriculum Task Force, the CDC Advisory Committee on Integrating Immunization into Undergraduate Nursing, and the CDC Academic Partnerships to Improve Health. Ms. Lewis serves as the Assistant Treasurer on the American Journal of Preventive Medicine governing board and is the Principal Investigator on several grants with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Ms. Lewis has over 25 years’ experience in non-profit health organizations overseeing research and education programs focused on strengthening public health and prevention services. Prior to her appointment as Executive Director, Ms. Lewis oversaw the membership and marketing initiatives of the association, directing national public health programs to support faculty carrying out research and educational projects.

Prior to coming to APTR, Ms. Lewis oversaw campaigns at the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America to educate children about their disease and oversaw programs at the American Institute for Cancer Research aimed at educating the public and health professionals about the scientific link between nutrition and cancer prevention.

CDR Sam Price began his career in the Department of Health and Human Services as a Presidential Management Intern in May 1997 and joined the USPHS Commissioned Corps in April 2009. He began working at the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Primary Health Care in October 2013 as a Public Health Analyst for the Northeast Division and works with Health Centers in the New England Region to improve the health of the Nation’s underserved communities and vulnerable populations. He previously served at the Department of Health and Human Services in various offices within the Office of the Secretary planning and coordinating budget activities. He has earned a Bachelor of Business in Accounting from the University of Texas at San Antonio, a Master of Business Administration from Rice University, and a Master of Public Health from the George Washington University. He also passed the Certified in Public Health (CPH) Exam in 2013 to earn the CPH credential.

Dr. Pauline Rolle is the Medical Director for the Florida Department of Health in Duval County (DOH-Duval). She is Board Certified in Pediatrics and Public Health. A native of Miami, she is a graduate of Fisk University and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee and she completed her Pediatric residency training at the University of Florida Health Science Center at Jacksonville in Jacksonville, FL. She also completed her Master of Public Health at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.

Dr. Rolle has been with the health department since 2003. Before assuming her current role, she was a community pediatrician at West Jacksonville Family Health Center located in Northwest Jacksonville. Dr. Rolle was a National Health Service Corps physician who provided comprehensive pediatric care to children birth to age 21 in an area that lacked quality medical care for children. She also served as a University of Florida faculty member and clinical preceptor for medical students, nurse practitioner students, and physician assistant students from several colleges and universities in Florida and Georgia. In 2013, Dr. Rolle became the Medical Director for the Florida Department of Health in Duval County. As Medical Director, Dr. Rolle oversees the clinical, dental, pharmacy and behavioral health programs for DOH-Duval. She is also the DOH-Duval subject matter expert for pediatric and adolescent related topics, including immunizations, sexual health, obesity prevention, and general health and wellness. She enjoys traveling with her family, cooking and the occasional outdoor activity. She also loves a good bargain. She is married to Harold Rolle Jr. and they have 2 children (Marha and Harold III).

Nizar Wehbi MD, MPH, MBA, CPH is an Assistant Professor at the College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Dr. Wehbi started his career in Clinical Medicine taking care of patients in inpatient and outpatient settings. With interest in Cancer Research, he tried to identify biomarkers (proteins) that would predict prostate and bladder cancer at very early stages of the disease. He then moved to hospital administration and worked for The Nebraska Medical Center in strategic planning and business development, providing support to hospital leadership in developing, implementing and monitoring the organizational strategic planning process.

In the College of Public Health, Dr. Wehbi serves as the academic advisor for many MPH students and he teaches graduate courses in Health Services Administration, Human Resources Management, US Health Care System, and Health Policy. Nizar also serves on the Faculty and Planning Committee of the Interprofessional Leadership for Excellence and Academic Development, known as iLEAD, a UNMC-wide faculty development program.

Dr. Wehbi’s research interests focus on healthcare quality, outcomes measures, efficiency of healthcare services, the use of six sigma and LEAN principles for process improvement, health and wellness programs, and strategic planning and governance in healthcare organizations.

Dr. Wehbi is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is board certified in health care management. He is Certified in Public Health (CPH) and served as an item writer for the National Board of Public Health Examiners CPH exam. He was appointed to the 2012 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The award program is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a US organization can receive. Dr. Wehbi serves as a trustee and is on the Board of Directors of the Omaha Home for Boys, and is a director of the Heartland Healthcare Executives Group, which is the Nebraska chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives.