Four board officers remain committed to driving and transforming public health practice
Alexandria, VA – The Public Health Accreditation Board is pleased to announce new officers for its Board of Directors. As of July 1, 2022, the following public health leaders will serve as officers to guide PHAB’s strategic direction and initiatives for the coming year:
- Chair, Wilma Wooten, MD, MPH | Public Health Officer, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency (CA)
- Vice Chair, Claude A. Jacob, DrPH(c), MPH | Public Health Director, City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (TX)
- Secretary/Treasurer, Chris Atchison, MPA | Clinical Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa, College of Public Health
- Immediate Past Chair, Rex Archer, MD, MPH | Professor and Director of Population and Public Health, Kansas City University
Board officers were elected at PHAB’s annual meeting on June 9, 2022 and serve a one-year term to ensure PHAB carries out its mission to advance and transform public health practice by championing performance improvement, strong infrastructure, and innovation. As PHAB continues to expand in areas of public health innovation and service sharing, and continuously improves our Accreditation and Recognition programming, having a diverse and dedicated Board will be crucial to our success.
“We are proud to welcome such strong and dedicated health leaders as officers on our Board,” said PHAB President and CEO Paul Kuehnert, DNP, RN, FAAN. “Not only do they each bring the experience and passion needed to lead during these times, their long-standing relationship with PHAB and commitment to public health practice makes them invaluable to our organization and mission.”
About Wilma Wooten, MD, MPH, Chair
Dr. Wilma Wooten has been with the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency since 2001, initially as Deputy Health Officer and, since 2007, as the Public Health Officer. Trained in family medicine, public health, and preventive medicine, she has oversight for almost 500 employees and a budget of over $100M, serving a county of 3.1 million residents.
In addition to being a member of PHAB’s Board of Directors, Dr. Wooten is president of the Health Officers Association of California. She also serves on the Board of the California Conference of Local Health Officers, currently holding the role of immediate past president and co-chair of its Chronic Disease Committee. From 2009-2011, she served on the board of directors of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
About Claude A. Jacob, DrPH(c), MPH, Vice Chair
Claude A. Jacob is the Public Health Director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District where he is responsible for a jurisdiction of over 2 million residents. His previous work experiences include serving as a senior health administrator at the Cambridge Health Alliance, Illinois Department of Public Health, Baltimore City Health Department, and Sinai Health System in Chicago. Mr. Jacob is a Past President of the National Association of County and City Health Officials and serves on the Board of Directors of the Public Health Accreditation Board.
Mr. Jacob received training at the National Public Health Leadership Institute and is currently a doctoral candidate in public health leadership at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health.
About Chris Atchison, MPA, Secretary/Treasurer
Christopher Atchison, MPA, is the director emeritus of Iowa’s Hygienic Laboratory and clinical professor emeritus in Health Management and Policy at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Mr. Atchison held secondary appointments in the College of Nursing and the Public Policy Center, and also served on the Iowa Prevention of Disabilities Policy Council, co-chaired the Partnership for Better Health, and was on the Board of the Child and Family Policy Center and on the Steering Committee for the National Academy of State Health Policy. He served as Director of the Iowa Department of Public Health (1991-1999) and was the inaugural chair of the Iowa Child Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). He was vice-chair of Healthy Iowans 2010, the Long-Term Care Coordinating Council and was a member of the Governor’s Health Care Reform Task Force and the Iowa Empowerment Board.
About Rex Archer, MD, MPH, Immediate Past Chair
Retired from KCMO after 23 years as Director of Health for the City of Kansas City, Missouri, Rex Archer, MD, MPH was responsible for safeguarding the public health of nearly half a million residents and a daytime population of almost one million. Dr. Archer is the Director of Population and Public Health at the Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine, the eighth largest medical school in the nation.
Dr. Archer served as chair of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), a member of the Past President Council of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and numerous national committees involved with public health including most recently the Council of Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice, Public Health Foundation.
He is recognized as a Public Health Leadership Institute Scholar by UCLA/CDC, Public Health Hero by Research America, and the recipient of the 2013 Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize for Creative Local Public Health Work and NACCHO’s Maurice “Mo” Mullet Lifetime of Service Award.
Full Board of Directors
A complete listing of the PHAB Board of Directors, along with bios can be found here.
- Chair, Wilma Wooten, MD, MPH | Public Health Officer, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency (CA)
- Vice Chair, Claude A. Jacob, DrPH(c), MPH | Public Health Director, City of San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (TX)
- Secretary/Treasurer, Chris Atchison, MPA | Clinical Professor Emeritus, University of Iowa, College of Public Health
- Immediate Past Chair, Rex Archer, MD, MPH | Professor and Director of Population and Public Health, Kansas City University
- Paul Kuehnert, DNP, RN, FAAN | President and CEO, Public Health Accreditation Board
- Director and Executive Committee Member-at-large, Ron Chapman, MD, MPH | Past Director and State Health Officer, California Department of Public Health
- Director and Executive Committee Member-at-large, Colleen Svoboda | Partnerships & Assessment Manager, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center
- Bruce Dart, PhD, MS | Executive Director, Tulsa Health Department, James O. Goodwin Health Center
- Megan McClaire, MS | Chief Deputy Director, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
- Renee Branch Canady, PhD, MPA | CEO, Michigan Public Health Institute
- Julie Willems Van Dijk, PhD | Former Deputy Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Health Services
- Mariah Pokorny, BA | State Registrar, Director Office of Vital Records, South Dakota Department of Health
