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MLA Webcase
Partnering for Public Health:
Information, Librarians, and the Public Health Workforce

Cosponsored by The National Library of Medicine (NLM)
MLA's Educational Webcast
Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Jody Henry Hershey

Director, New River Health District, Christiansburg, VA

Dr. Jody Hershey, a native and resident of southwestern Virginia, presently serves as the Public Health Director of the multi- jurisdictional New River Health District (a multijurisdictional 1,458 square mile urban, suburban, and rural health district with a population of 170,000). In this capacity, he provides leadership and direction within the Virginia Department of Health and oversees all public health promotion, disease prevention, and environmental protection activities in the city of Radford and the counties of Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, and Pulaski. Dr. Hershey's previous 18+ years of employment encompasses positions at both the local and state public health levels and in two state agencies, as well as in the private and corporate health care sectors.

Dr. Hershey obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia, and a Doctor of Medicine from the Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia. His postgraduate medical education includes residency and fellowship training in Family Practice and Preventive Medicine with board certification in both specialties, as well as a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Hygiene and Public Health. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice and a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Hershey has held leadership positions and continues to serve on numerous committees for a variety of public and private Boards of Directors, as well as local, regional, state, and national professional organizations, medical societies, health governance, and advisory boards including the American Public Health Association (APHA), National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), Public Health Leadership Society, Southeast Public Health Leadership Institute, Institute for Community Health, Southwest Virginia Medical Society, Blacksburg Electronic Village, Blue-Ridge Southwest Virginia Film Company, Miss Virginia Pageant, and Hollins Communication Research Institute. He has taught in several academic and medical institutions and continues to teach at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. In 2003-2004, Dr. Hershey served as President of NACCHO and is currently serving as Immediate Past President. Within NACCHO, Dr. Hershey presently serves on the Workforce and Leadership Development Committee and is a member of the City Forum. In addition, he is NACCHO's liaison to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), serves on ACIP's Influenza Working Group, and represents NACCHO on national issues such as West Nile Virus and Emergency Preparedness and Response. He has chaired the National Profile of Local Health Departments Work Group, Finance, Nominations, and Public Policy Committees. Also, from 1998-2001, he held the Public Health Service Region III position on NACCHO's Board of Directors.

Dr. Hershey has received many awards on a local, state, and national level such as the Lions Club, Kiwanis, and Lutheran Brotherhood Leadership Awards. He received the 2000 NACCHO Award for Excellence in Environmental Health and a 2001 NACCHO Award for Excellence in Creating Healthy Communities recognizing his local health agency's outstanding, significant, and innovative activities and programs in the area of environmental health and in creating and building healthy communities, respectively. Dr. Hershey received the 2002 J. Howard Beard Award from NACCHO that nationally recognized his local public health agency for its outstanding, significant, and exemplary programs and activities. His health district was selected and served as one of 41 Turning Point community partners, a national public health reform effort jointly sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations. He was also one of an elite group of national public health leaders selected to serve as a 1996-1997 Scholar in The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/University of California Public Health Leadership Institute, an Institute to strengthen America's public health system by enhancing leadership capacities of the Nation's top public health officials. Dr. Hershey completed the 2002-2003 Management Academy for Public Health--administered by the North Carolina Institute for Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill--that prepares teams of health professionals for new management challenges in community health.

Dr. Hershey's professional and academic interests, publications, and presentations include a diversity of public health and health care topics such as information technology and public health informatics, childhood and adult immunizations, faith and health collaborations, partnerships and coalitions, leadership and workforce development, emergency preparedness and response, community health assessment and performance measures, infectious and chronic disease, environmental health and safety, injury prevention and control, congregational (parish) nursing, ethics, geriatrics, health care administration, quality assurance, occupational safety and health, food and drug safety, and special populations. Two of his special interests include health education/promotion/disease prevention and media advocacy, and he has appeared on major local, regional, and national radio and television networks and affiliates in the United States and Asia, and he has served as a medical consultant and commentator for national radio and television networks. On a more personal note, Jody is a gentleman farmer, model, and triathlete.

Watch MLANET for more information! Or contact Debra Cavanaugh, mlapd3@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x32.

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