Just months after Allegheny County appointed a new Health Department director, County Executive Sara Innamorato is changing up most of the faces on the county’s Board of Health.
In an announcement Friday, Innamorato’s office unveiled eight new appointees to the board, which oversees the health department and is responsible for rules and regulations preventing disease, intervening in public health threats and approving the county’s Clean Air Fund expenditures.
If the new appointees are approved by the County Council, they will be part of a new era for the Board of Health. Only one current member was reappointed by Innamorato: Dr. Joylette Portlock, executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh (though she plans to step down from the nonprofit at the end of the year) who has served on the board since 2012.
In a statement, Innamorato called the refreshed board an “exciting opportunity” to tap into the “depth and breadth of public health expertise” of the new members.
“As we tackle urgent challenges in air quality, maternal and infant mortality, racial disparities in public health, food insecurity, and more, I know these nine members will lead with distinction and I thank them for agreeing to serve,” Innamorato said.
Director of the Allegheny County Health Department, Dr. Iulia Vann, extended her gratitude to the outgoing board members in a statement praising their “guidance and support, especially during my hiring process,” as “invaluable, and I am thankful for their service to our community.”
The list of appointees includes community health advocates, physicians from UPMC and Allegheny Health Network as well as academic expertise from Duquesne University’s School of Nursing. If confirmed, the new board will feature seven women and two men.
The new nominees include:
- Elizabeth Cuevas, an internal medicine physician at Allegheny Health Network who serves as the division chief of AHN’s Center for Inclusion Health after playing a role in launching the program in 2014.
- Graham Snyder, medical director for infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at UPMC. He’s also a professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine.
- Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, senior vice president and chief clinical diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Allegheny Health Network. She’s also the academic chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Drexel University.
- Khlood Salman, an associate professor at the Duquesne University School of Nursing.
- Dara Mendez, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health, associate director of the Center for Health Equity and a founder of the Black Equity Coalition.
- Laura Dagley, a registered nurse and medical and environmental health writer for Physicians for Social Responsibility.
- Lisa Scales, president and CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
- Michael Yonas, vice president of community partnerships and learning at the Pittsburgh Foundation. Yonas carries a doctorate degree in public health.
Vann said she looked forward to tapping into the “diverse perspectives and shared passion for health equity and innovation” brought by the new appointees.
“I look forward to working closely with them to address our community’s health needs and drive meaningful change,” she said.
Innamorato’s move marks a departure from the more standard practice which staggered the four-year terms of board members. If confirmed, all appointees will begin their terms at the same time, and end in 2028 unless reappointed.
Though the move is unordinary, it didn’t come as a shock, according to the board’s current chair, Dr. Lee Harrison, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He and other board members have been working with Innamorato to find new appointees that will bring relevant expertise, he said.
“That was a process that we had input on, and I’m really pleased with the outcome,” he said. “The county executive and her team were really receptive to making sure we had the needed expertise on the board.”
After 23 years on the board and 10 years as the chair, Harrison plans to resign once the new members are appointed. He said the decision was a personal one, and he felt the timing was right after the confirmation of the county’s new health department director.
“We have a fabulous new director [and] we have a county executive that is highly committed to public health… she really has a sense for public health priorities,” he said.
Though there are major public health issues ahead for the new board to address — including air quality, the opioid epidemic and maternal and infant mortality rates — Harrison said the Health Department is in good hands to make a positive impact on the region’s health.
“I know that the county executive is committed to those things… I know that we're in a really good place with the health department,” he said. “There are a number of priorities to be addressed [but] I'm highly confident that the board and health department are up to addressing them.”
Innamorato’s list of appointees is expected to be discussed at a County Council meeting next week.
