Congratulations to Alan Baker and Donna Petersen, Former CEPH Councilors!

At CEPH we are so lucky to have some of the most talented and dedicated public health professionals in the country serve on our Council. We often have former and future APHA presidents and accomplished faculty and administrators among our ranks. I was delighted, but not surprised, to learn that two former CEPH Council members received awards from the American Public Health Association at its 2021 Annual Meeting in Denver!

Mr. Alan Baker received the APHA Executive Director Citation for his longtime efforts to advance and support APHA. Alan, a former interim executive director and chief of staff at APHA, was a practitioner appointee to the CEPH Council who served from 2010 to 2015. During his tenure, he served for several years on the Executive Committee as CEPH’s Treasurer, improving our financial reporting processes and internal controls as the organization was experiencing a high rate of growth. He was a pleasure to work with as he was thoughtful, diligent, and always prepared to raise and discuss difficult questions. He was a tremendous representative for public health practice and the public health workforce on the Council.

Dr. Donna Petersen received the Martha May Eliot Award for her lifetime service to the field of maternal and child health. Donna is the dean of the College of Public Health and senior associate vice present of USF Health at the University of South Florida. An academic appointee to the CEPH Council, she served from 2010 to 2016 and on the Executive Committee as CEPH’s President for three years. Under her leadership, CEPH developed and adopted the 2016 criteria which was the most significant change in public health higher education in a century. She tirelessly advocated for the transition to a competency-based framework for education in public health because she believed that the public health workforce of the future should be trained not only with basic knowledge but also with practical skills that would allow them to be leaders in the field, including management and leadership strategies, systems thinking, advocacy, and communication, among others.

Congratulations to Alan and Donna! These awards are well deserved and the CEPH family is proud to call you colleagues and friends.

Written By: Laura Rasar King, EdD, MPH