Eight recent graduates of the USF College of Public Health (COPH) Public Health Executive Leadership Program (PHELP) have been promoted to health officer/administrator positions at health departments across the state.

Health officers within the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) are the lead public health officials for the counties in which they serve. They are responsible for their department’s operations and any response to community public health events, concerns or disasters.

After a hiatus of several years, the COPH revived PHELP with the aim of teaching and reinforcing leadership skills among early-to-mid career FDOH managers and supervisors who have demonstrated leadership potential. Since its resurrection four years ago, 75 FDOH employees have graduated from the program.

“The program provides those who enroll with new skills and knowledge, but maybe, most importantly, the opportunity for personal leadership development,” Dr. Marissa Levine, a professor of public health practice and director of the Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice, said. “That includes enhancement of the mindset necessary to be a successful leader.” 

The eight PHELP grads recently promoted to health officer include:

PHELP Cohort	Name	Health Officer County Location
2018-2019	Diana Duque	Putnam
2018-2019	Meaghan Crowley	Baker
2019-2020	Natalie McKellips	Dixie/Levy/Gilchrist
2018-2019	Marie Mott	Escambia
2018-2019	Sandy Martin	Jackson
2018-2019	Jennifer Hood	Hendry/Glades
2018-2019	Kim Kossler	Collier
2018-2019	Tonya Hobby	Wakulla/Taylor

“I wanted to take part to learn how to be a better leader, to network and ultimately to advance in the field of public health,” said Kimberly Kossler, who served as a disease intervention specialist, an epidemiologist, a program manager and in other capacities before being named health officer of Collier County in Dec. 2020. 

“I serve as the local lead public health official to provide direction, management, leadership and evaluation of a wide variety of complex and multi-faceted community public health programs,” she added. “This role is an essential part of the Florida public health system and is responsible for assessing, maintaining and improving the health and safety of the entire community.”

Kossler said taking part in the program was essential to advancing her career. 

“The program provided an opportunity to meet other colleagues who had similar ambitions, exchange experiences and share knowledge,” she said. “It gave me a chance to demonstrate my interest and desire to continue to advance my career in public health while learning valuable ways to improve my leadership skills.”

Meaghan Crowley, who at the time she was enrolled in the program served as director of community health in Marion County, agrees. 

“PHELP was an invaluable experience in my leadership journey, which still serves me on a daily basis, even today,” said Crowley, now health officer/administrator in Baker County. “Drs. Levine and Masys [a former COPH associate professor involved in the program] set the foundation by including a myriad of advanced leadership topics such as adaptive leadership, systems thinking, change management, appreciative inquiry, complexity in public health, communication and partnership, to name a few. Rather than merely ‘teaching’ us leadership, they acted as our champions in our leadership journey. I was able to implement many of these lessons while at DOH-Marion and feel they have served me even more in my current role as the DOH-Baker health officer/administrator.”

Crowley said she was so impressed by her PHELP experience, she decided to enroll in the COPH DrPH program with a concentration in Advanced Practice Leadership in Public Health. 

“I have felt supported, encouraged and inspired by all the COPH faculty in my continued leadership journey,” she stated. “I can say without a doubt that [the program] has unquestionably helped me not only in my journey to become a health officer, but to create a culture of quality and excellence at DOH-Baker, where staff are encouraged to be leaders themselves, no matter their position, and to create positive change to better serve our community and one another.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health