Chief Public Health Officer

The Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) serves as the senior executive responsible for the
strategy, performance, compliance, financial stewardship, and development of East Central
District Health Department’s public health programs and services. Reporting to the Chief
Executive Officer and serving as a member of the executive leadership team, the CPHO translates
community health needs, statutory responsibilities, grant requirements, and organizational
priorities into measurable public health action.

The CPHO leads East Central’s public health workforce, oversees departmental and grant
performance, advances Public Health Accreditation Board standards, supports emergency
preparedness and response, and maintains strong relationships with counties, state agencies,
funders, healthcare providers, and community partners.

The CPHO also collaborates with Good Neighbor Community Health Center, East Central’s co-applicant
health center partner, to coordinate public health and clinical strategies where the
organizations’ missions intersect, while maintaining appropriate governance, financial, grant,
regulatory, and operational distinctions between the entities.

• Executive Leadership and Strategy
  • Serve as a member of the executive leadership team and participate in organizational strategy, budgeting, workforce planning, risk management, resource allocation, and operational decision-making.
  • Translate East Central’s strategic plan, Community Health Improvement Plans, statutory responsibilities, and grant commitments into measurable departmental priorities and accountable work plans.
  • Advise the CEO and governing boards on public health trends, community risks, program performance, funding changes, and strategic opportunities.
• Public Health Programs and Statutory Responsibilities
  • Provide executive oversight of East Central’s public health programs and ensure compliance with applicable statutory duties, grant conditions, contracts, reporting requirements, and program standards.
  • Evaluate and guide the development, implementation, improvement, expansion,
    transition, or closure of programs based on community need, performance,
    funding, and organizational capacity.
  • Ensure public health programs operate as a coordinated system and provide
    accessible, respectful, culturally responsive, and health-literate services.
• Supervisory
  • Directly supervise assigned directors, coordinators, managers, and other personnel
    in accordance with the approved organizational chart.
  • Provide leadership and accountability for the successful performance of all Public Health Division programs and staff, including teams and functions supervised
    through direct-report managers and supervisors.
  • As directed, provide functional leadership to cross-organizational work groups
    without directly supervising every participating employee.
• East Central and Good Neighbor Collaboration
  • Identify and lead opportunities to align East Central public health programs with
    Good Neighbor services when coordination improves community health, access,
    outcomes, or organizational effectiveness.
  • Work with East Central / Good Neighbor leadership to develop coordinated
    strategies, referral pathways, outreach, education, and follow-up processes for
    shared community health priorities.
  • Ensure collaborative activities maintain appropriate governance, funding,
    compliance, and operational distinctions between East Central and Good
    Neighbor.
• Financial and Grant Stewardship
  • Develop and oversee departmental operating and grant budgets in collaboration
    with the CEO, finance leadership, and program leaders.
  • Monitor financial performance, grant deliverables, reporting deadlines, and
    funding requirements, and ensure timely corrective action when material variances
    or risks are identified.
  • Lead the evaluation and oversight of funding opportunities to ensure alignment
    with community needs, organizational priorities, operational capacity, and longterm
    sustainability.
• Performance, Quality, and Accreditation
  • Lead East Central’s Public Health Accreditation Board accreditation and
    reaccreditation efforts and maintain organizational readiness for applicable
    standards.
  • Establish meaningful departmental goals, scorecards,…