Granville-Vance Public Health Director Lisa M. Harrison is the 2021-22 president of the board of directors of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), which represents nearly 3,000 local health departments across the country.

“It is a privilege to serve as NACCHO’s board president while public health continues to work so diligently during the pandemic to prevent disease and promote health,” Harrison said in press release from the national organization. “I have been in awe of our public health workforce for a long time, but these last two years have been a constant reminder of their tireless dedication to and focus on community.   We are fortunate in the United States to have hundreds of thousands of public health workers across nearly 3,000 local health departments fighting a hard fight at the tip of the spear against COVID-19, against underfunded and outdated systems that can hinder more than help get the job accomplished, and against misinformation that spreads more quickly than fact.  I look forward to working with our partners at all levels to ensure the critical public health system receives long-term sustainable solutions.   In the meantime, you can count on your local health department for vaccines, case investigation, contact tracing, outbreak investigation, data management, education, outreach, infection control, and a host of important partnerships to leverage local community health efforts.”

“On behalf of the Board of Directors and our county and city health departments, we welcome and look forward to Lisa’s strong leadership of local health departments as we continue to respond to COVID and address the myriad of public health priorities facing our communities and our country at this crucial time in our history,” said NACCHO Chief Executive Officer Lori Tremmel Freeman.

Harrison has been the director of the GVPH since 2012. Her previous roles in North Carolina public health have been in research, practice, and policy development.

Harrison has served as the performance improvement manager for the North Carolina Division of Public Health (NCDPH), where she worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a public health infrastructure grant for performance improvement. Prior to that, she participated in the North Carolina 2020: A Better State of Health initiative with the North Carolina Institute of Medicine.  In addition, she worked on the development of the Quality Improvement 101 curriculum for local public health agencies; and established a quality improvement training program for the North Carolina public health workforce.

Harrison has been a member of the public health field for more than 20 years. She has served as the director of the Office of Healthy Carolinians and Health Education at the NCDPH, led the Public Health Incubator Collaboratives Program at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, and directed the Southeast Public Health Leadership Institute (SEPHLI) at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health where she continues to stay connected as adjunct faculty in the Public Health Leadership Program.  In 2015, Harrison served as the North Carolina Public Health Association president where she continues to stay involved connecting public health research and practice.

About NACCHO’s Board of Directors

NACCHO is governed by a 22-member board comprising local and tribal health officials who are elected by their peers, as well as three ex-officio members representing partner organizations.

As the governing body, NACCHO’s Board of Directors establishes the association’s strategic direction and initiatives, sets the annual legislative agenda, approves official policy statements, ensures that annual goals are met, and provides financial oversight. The Board is NACCHO’s public face, and represents members in matters of policy, public health practice, and collaboration with health partners in the public and private sectors.

NACCHO’s Board is led by four executive officers. In addition to Ms. Harrison, this includes:

• President-elect Margaret Jahn, MS, MPH, Director, Freehold Area Health Department, Freehold, NJ
• Vice President Pramod Dwivedi, DrPH, MS, MSW, MA, Health Director, Linn County Public Health Department, Cedar Rapids, IA
• Immediate Past President Jennifer C. Kertanis, MPH, Director of Health, Farmington Valley Health District, Canton, CT