Member Spotlight
03/25/2022
MHOA Member Spotlight – Jennifer Tsoi
By Yashashree Marne and Liliana Torres
During the 2021 MHOA Annual Conference, I met Jennifer Tsoi, the Program Specialist at MHOA. This new role is responsible for the design, marketing, coordination, delivery, and evaluation of MHOA programs for local public health
01/21/2022
MHOA Member Spotlight – Matthew Brennan
By Caitlin Carro
Matthew Brennan currently serves as the Director of Public Health for the Town of Foxborough’s Health Department. He began the position in January of 202l. Before he started his position in Foxborough, he served as the assistant director in the the Weymouth Health Department for eight years.
12/21/2021
MHOA Member Spotlight – Kristin Black
By Mingrui Wei
Kristin Black currently serves as the Health Agent for the Northborough Health Department. She is in charge of overseeing the various Health Department tasks including COVID-19 clinics. She is also the grant administrator and project coordinator for the for the Greater Boroughs Partnership for Health which provides shared public health services for Boylston, Northborough, Southborough and Westborough.
10/26/2021
MHOA Topic Spotlight – MHOA Guide for Local Public Health in Massachusetts
By Yashashree Marne
For many entering the field of local public health, the transition can be overwhelming. To alleviate provisional hardships and ensure success, the Massachusetts Health Officers Association (MHOA), along with several associated partners, have developed an “Orientation and Resource Guide for Local Public Health Officials in Massachusetts”.
09/02/2021
MHOA Member Spotlight – Ivan Kwagala
By Mingrui Wei
Ivan Kwagala currently serves as a health inspector at the Melrose Health Department and is a graduate student enrolled in the Master of Public Health program at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, expecting to graduate in December 2021. As he is nearing the end of the program, Ivan is working on finishing up his practicum experience — the designing of two communication products, one for risk communication, and the other for regular communication.
08/18/2021
MHOA Member Spotlight – Jessica Tracy
By Mingrui Wei
Jessica Tracy is a public health nurse of the Dedham Health Department and has over ten years of experience in the field of public health.
08/05/2021
MHOA Member Spotlight – Timothy Muir McDonald
By Abby Faria
Timothy Muir McDonald currently serves as the Director of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Assistant Emergency Management Director for Needham, MA. This role encompasses many responsibilities including a Public Health Division, a youth mental health counseling service, a Senior Center and Aging Services Division, and a Veterans Agent.
07/01/2021
MHOA Spotlight – Claude Jacob
By Mingrui Wei
Claude Jacob currently serves as the Chief Public Health Officer at the Cambridge Public Health Department (CPHD). His responsibilities include overseeing population health initiatives, as well as emergency preparedness and response. The department also runs a number of regulatory functions that support the city’s tuberculosis clinic, the school health nurses, and communicates health-related issues to residents of Cambridge.
02/19/2021
MHOA Spotlight – Jeffrey Stephens
By Abby Faria
Jeff Stephens currently serves as the Health Director for the Westford Health Department. While Dir. Stephens has extensive experience in local public health spanning back many years in both Westford and Fitchburg, no event altered the duties of his career as much as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
01/21/2021
MHOA Spotlight – Amy-Donovan Palmer
By Abby Faria
Jeff Stephens currently serves as the Health Director for the Westford Health Department. While Dir. Stephens has extensive experience in local public health spanning back many years in both Westford and Fitchburg, no event altered the duties of his career as much as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
12/04/2020
MHOA Spotlight – Rae Dick
By Abby Faria
Rae Dick serves as the Director of Environmental Services in the Westford Health Department. In this role, she manages several key areas and roles including health agents, inspections, grants, septic plans, regulation updates, community education, and emergency preparedness. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the health department’s list of daily responsibilities became even longer. “It’s been all hands on deck,” she says.
11/21/2020
MHOA Spotlight – Jayne Smith
By Rana Rahmat
Life has been chaotic and overwhelming for the last several months, particularly for those who work in our local boards of health. I recently had a great conversation with one of these individuals in the field: Jayne Smith, a health agent working for both the Alford and Dalton boards of health.
11/11/2020
MHOA Spotlight – David Naparstek
By Abby Faria
This past week, I had the pleasure of sitting down for a phone call with David Naparstek, the former Health and Human Services Commissioner for the city of Newton, MA. Although Mr. Naparstek retired over ten years ago, he still had plenty of insight on working in local public health, including his current experiences in volunteer-based work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Naparstek is motivated to volunteer because he wants to “help out the communities” during this time.
10/29/2020
MHOA Spotlight – Derek Fullerton
By Abby Faria
Derek Fullerton has many responsibilities. Not only is he a father of two, but he serves as both the Director of Public Health and Chief Health Strategist for the Town of Middleton. Unsurprisingly, his day-to-day schedule has become even busier since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Managing the health department has always been a major task prior to the pandemic,” he says.
10/24/2020
MHOA Spotlight – Aimee Petrosky
By Abby Faria
East Longmeadow Health Department Director and MHOA member Aimee Petrosky has been particularly busy helping with COVID-19 containment efforts in her community. I spoke on the phone with her as she discussed her experiences working through the current pandemic and other public health initiatives throughout her career.
10/08/2020
MHOA Spotlight – Mark Carleo
By Rana Rahmat
Each person that ends up in the world of public health takes their own path to get there. I recently had a chance to sit down (virtually, of course) and chat with one of these individuals with a unique history: Mark Carleo, the Director of Public Health for the Town of Danvers.
09/10/2020
MHOA Spotlight – Teresa Wood Kett
By Abby Faria
Teresa Wood Kett is a Public Health Program Specialist in the Newton Health and Human Services Department and MHOA member. She oversees a number of programs within the department including emergency preparedness, Medical Reserve Corps, tobacco, flu, communication and more. This role provides her with the flexibility to focus on different emerging needs. One such need is the COVID-19 pandemic. I had the pleasure to get to interview Teresa Kett on her career and experiences in the public health field and as a MHOA member.
09/03/2020
MHOA Spotlight – Sigalle Reiss
By Abby Faria
MHOA President Sigalle Reiss is also the Public Health Director for Norwood, MA. I was fortunate to get to interview her on a number of topics. In our discussion, we talked about how she originally got involved in the field of public health, her responsibilities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and her current roles as the president of the MHOA and Public Health Director for Norwood, MA.
09/03/2020
MHOA Spotlight – Erin Egan
By Rana Rahmat
Welcome to the new normal of life. The last four months of the pandemic have made 2020 feel like an eternity and it is easy to think about all the things that have been cancelled or postponed and despair. Even several phases into the reopening, life is so different it seems like we can never go back.
09/03/2020
MHOA Spotlight – Thomas Carbone
By Abby Faria
Over the past several months, the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed MHOA member (and Past President) Thomas Carbone’s already-busy role as the Andover Health Division’s Director of Public Health. I was fortunate to have a conversation with the Director as he reflected on his career in public health, the importance of local public health, as well as being an MHOA member.
