Laura Rasar King, EdD, MPH, MCHES serves as the Executive Director of the Council on Education for Public Health. A strategic and collaborative leader, she has over 15 years of experience leading public health and higher education organizations in their quality assurance and improvement efforts. Her work and career have focused on bridging the gap between the needs of the public health workforce and academic public health. Working together with faculty, practitioners, alumni, academic administrators, and employers in a multi-year process, CEPH developed and adopted cutting-edge, outcomes-focused accreditation criteria for both the MPH and DrPH programs that require specific foundational competencies of all graduate students for the first time since the inception of accreditation in public health. Under her leadership, the organization has more than doubled the number of accredited public health schools and programs, developed criteria and initiated accreditation of undergraduate public health programs, and extended its reach internationally.
Dr. King has served in an integral role in advancing workforce development efforts in public health through her professional activities. As a member of the National Board of Public Health Examiners since 2013, she served on the Job Task Analysis steering committee which completed the first-ever survey and analysis of the tasks in which public health practitioners are engaged on a day-to-day basis. She participates regularly on task forces and work groups led by the Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health, advising on issues such as articulation between undergraduate and graduate public health education and innovations in pedagogy. She offered her accreditation expertise and supported the development of the Public Health Accreditation Board, serving on their Workforce Think Tank (2011-13) and Assessment Process Work Group (2008-14). She also served as a member of the Division Board for Professional Development of the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing (2004-09) as well as the National Task Force for Accreditation in Health Education. In addition, she has served in a variety of appointed and elected positions in the American Public Health Association, including as a member of the Education Board. 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.
In addition to her public health service, Dr. King serves in a variety of capacities in the higher education accreditation community. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA), where she also is a member of the Education Policy Committee. In her role with ASPA, she testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about professional education and specialized accreditation and has served in an advisory role to the Negotiated Rulemaking process as regulations are developed for the Higher Education Act. She regularly advocates for professional education and its connection to workforce needs, especially in the health professions, and the importance of quality assurance programs at a national level. Dr. King is a frequent speaker on higher education, accreditation, academic public health and public health workforce issues. She has published several articles in public health journals including: American Journal of Public Health, Health Education & Behavior, Health Promotion Practice, and Frontiers in Public Health.
Dr. King received an EdD in organizational development from Northeastern University. Her dissertation work focused on the development and design of DrPH programs in schools of public health and how those factors are influenced by workforce needs. Additionally, she holds an MPH in health promotion and disease prevention from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and BA in psychology from American University.