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State health chief leaving for federal job
Dr. Judith Monroe will lead a new office at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
By Shari Rudavsky
Posted: March 2, 2010
After serving on the front lines of the state's battle with the H1N1 virus and preventing Indiana from growing more obese, State Health Commissioner Dr. Judith Monroe is taking her efforts to improve health national.
Monroe will head the new Office of State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, helping to improve the federal <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_2_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: darkgreen">government's
</NOBR> link to local health departments. Her salary will be about $225,000.
"The main question is how best to position all of the resources the CDC has," Monroe said. "How do you take that science and really get that translated on the ground into the practice of public health?"
As one of four deputy directors at the CDC, Monroe also will oversee government relations, work on increasing the reach of health-information exchanges and spearhead efforts to encourage local health departments to achieve voluntary accreditation.
Among the accomplishments that Monroe, who made about $140,000 a year, cites during her five years in office are helping Indiana become the first state to receive H1N1 vaccine shipments.
A few years before she took office, the state was the fattest in the nation. During her tenure, Indiana dipped to 28th, in part because residents of other states have packed on the pounds as Hoosiers' weight has stabilized.
"Dr. Monroe has been the type of public health advocate who has been a frontline leader," said Dr. Virginia Caine, director of the Marion County Health Department, who has held that post through four commissioners.
"She doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, so when she wants any initiative to start, she's going to be out front."
Monroe, who is immediate past president of the Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials, said she will draw upon her H1N1 experience in her new post.
At the disease's height, the CDC, state health departments and local health departments communicated regularly, Monroe said. Doing the same for chronic disease also might produce positive change, she said.
"Hopefully we can move some needles."
It's no surprise that the feds tapped Monroe, Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a news release.
"When you're the best health commissioner in America, someone like the CDC is bound to notice. On behalf of all the kids now immunized, all those who didn't suffer from a hospital error or the H1N1 flu, and all those she helped to lose weight or stop smoking, thanks, Doc. The nation is lucky to have you," Daniels said.
The governor will work quickly to find a replacement for Monroe, said Jane Jankowski, Daniels' spokeswoman.
The person who takes Monroe's place will face challenges.
Resources are tight. A study released Monday by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found Indiana was 48th in CDC funding for state disease and injury prevention. The state received just $14.25 per person, compared with the national average of $19.23.
And, despite reports that cigarette consumption has dropped by 25 percent since 2007, Indiana remains one of the minority of states not to have enacted a comprehensive smoke-free workplace law.
Youth smoking rates have improved in the past five years, and the rate of smoking among adults 25 and older has declined to 23 percent, Monroe said.
Still, until this job came along, Monroe said, she was planning to redouble her efforts to improve Hoosiers' health.
"I was starting to focus on what's the strategy, what can we move the needle on," she said. "This is just a national opportunity that would have been a hard thing to say no to."
http://www.indystar.com/article/2010...+RSS+-+Indiana)
Dr. Judith Monroe will lead a new office at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
By Shari Rudavsky
Posted: March 2, 2010
After serving on the front lines of the state's battle with the H1N1 virus and preventing Indiana from growing more obese, State Health Commissioner Dr. Judith Monroe is taking her efforts to improve health national.
Monroe will head the new Office of State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, helping to improve the federal <NOBR id=itxt_nobr_2_0 style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 100%; COLOR: darkgreen">government's
</NOBR> link to local health departments. Her salary will be about $225,000."The main question is how best to position all of the resources the CDC has," Monroe said. "How do you take that science and really get that translated on the ground into the practice of public health?"
As one of four deputy directors at the CDC, Monroe also will oversee government relations, work on increasing the reach of health-information exchanges and spearhead efforts to encourage local health departments to achieve voluntary accreditation.
Among the accomplishments that Monroe, who made about $140,000 a year, cites during her five years in office are helping Indiana become the first state to receive H1N1 vaccine shipments.
A few years before she took office, the state was the fattest in the nation. During her tenure, Indiana dipped to 28th, in part because residents of other states have packed on the pounds as Hoosiers' weight has stabilized.
"Dr. Monroe has been the type of public health advocate who has been a frontline leader," said Dr. Virginia Caine, director of the Marion County Health Department, who has held that post through four commissioners.
"She doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, so when she wants any initiative to start, she's going to be out front."
Monroe, who is immediate past president of the Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials, said she will draw upon her H1N1 experience in her new post.
At the disease's height, the CDC, state health departments and local health departments communicated regularly, Monroe said. Doing the same for chronic disease also might produce positive change, she said.
"Hopefully we can move some needles."
It's no surprise that the feds tapped Monroe, Gov. Mitch Daniels said in a news release.
"When you're the best health commissioner in America, someone like the CDC is bound to notice. On behalf of all the kids now immunized, all those who didn't suffer from a hospital error or the H1N1 flu, and all those she helped to lose weight or stop smoking, thanks, Doc. The nation is lucky to have you," Daniels said.
The governor will work quickly to find a replacement for Monroe, said Jane Jankowski, Daniels' spokeswoman.
The person who takes Monroe's place will face challenges.
Resources are tight. A study released Monday by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found Indiana was 48th in CDC funding for state disease and injury prevention. The state received just $14.25 per person, compared with the national average of $19.23.
And, despite reports that cigarette consumption has dropped by 25 percent since 2007, Indiana remains one of the minority of states not to have enacted a comprehensive smoke-free workplace law.
Youth smoking rates have improved in the past five years, and the rate of smoking among adults 25 and older has declined to 23 percent, Monroe said.
Still, until this job came along, Monroe said, she was planning to redouble her efforts to improve Hoosiers' health.
"I was starting to focus on what's the strategy, what can we move the needle on," she said. "This is just a national opportunity that would have been a hard thing to say no to."
http://www.indystar.com/article/2010...+RSS+-+Indiana)