Dr. Nafissa Cisse Egbuonye is the director of the Black Hawk County Public Health Department in Iowa and a member of The Kresge Foundation’s Emerging Leaders in Public Health, an initiative that supports leaders at local and county public health departments across the country to strengthen their organizations and improve the health and well-being of the people in their communities.
During the 18-month program, teams of public health leaders worked together to think beyond the traditional role of a public health agency and implement approaches designed to enhance organizational and leadership competencies in business, planning and public health systems development.
In this interview, Egbuonye discusses the most pressing public health issues affecting her community and how her involvement in the initiative has helped her and her colleagues to better understand their community’s needs. (author introduction)