Ford Ascends to President-Elect of the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ Board of Directors

WASHINGTON, DC The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) has elected Sandra Elizabeth Ford, MD, MBA, District Health Director and Chief Executive Officer of the DeKalb County Board of Health to its 2020-2021 Board of Directors as its new President-Elect. NACCHO is the voice of the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments. As Board president-elect, Dr. Ford will serve on the Board of Directors’ Executive Committee as president-elect in 2020-2021 before assuming the positions of president in 2021-2022 and immediate past president in 2022-2023, respectively.  Dr. Ford began her first term as an officer on July 1, 2019.

“Dr. Ford has been a long-standing volunteer leader within NACCHO, and has contributed significant amounts of time, energy, and expertise to the organization. I congratulate Dr. Ford on assuming her new role as President-Elect of NACCHO and look forward to her ongoing leadership,” said NACCHO’s CEO Lori Tremmel Freeman, MBA.

Said Dr. Ford, “In this challenging time we currently find ourselves in, is it an honor to be serving as president-elect of the only organization exclusively focused on advocating for public health at the local level. Now more than ever, it is important that the value of our work be understood and acknowledged, and I’m very excited to continue to highlight the work of local health departments.”

About Dr. Ford

A board-certified pediatrician, Dr. Ford has served as the District Health Director and Chief Executive Officer of the DeKalb County Board of Health since February 2005. She manages a diverse array of public health programs that serve over 730,000 people who live in the county, with is part of the metro Atlanta area.

Under Dr. Ford’s leadership, the DeKalb County Board of Health has successfully applied for more than $15 million in federal funds to address health disparities, including $5.6 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to promote smoke-free environments, physical fitness and improved nutrition. More recently the agency received a Minority Youth Violence Prevention: Integrating Public Health and Community Policing Approaches grant from DHHS and the U.S. Department of Justice aimed at curbing violence and improving the health and well-being of underserved and distressed communities. The agency also recently received a Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Ford was asked to serve as the Acting Director of the Georgia Department of Community Health’s Division of Public Health during the agency’s reorganization in 2008, where she helped to develop statewide policies and legislation and enforce public health laws and regulations. Dr. Ford received a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Stanford University, a medical degree from Howard University’s College of Medicine and a master’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Health Services Administration from Howard University’s Graduate School of Business.  She is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Ford has been a member of NACCHO since 2006 and has served on the Membership Committee for many years, first as a member and currently as its Chair.  In 2017, she was elected as an at-large member of NACCHO’s Board of Directors.

About NACCHO’s Board of Directors

NACCHO is governed by a 22-member board comprising local and tribal health officials who are elected by their peers. The Board also includes ex-officio members representing the National Association of Counties and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

As the governing body, NACCHO’s Board of Directors establishes the association’s strategic direction and initiatives, sets the annual legislative agenda, approves official policy statements, ensures that annual goals are met, and provides financial oversight. The Board is NACCHO’s public face, and represents members in matters of policy, public health practice, and collaboration with health partners in the public and private sectors.

NACCHO’s Board is led by four executive officers. In addition to Dr. Ford, this includes:

  • President, Jennifer C. Kertanis, Director of Health, Farmington Valley Health District, CT
  • Vice President, Lisa Macon Harrison, Local Health Director, Granville Vance Public Health, NC
  • Past President, George T. Roberts, Jr., MHA, FACHE; CEO, Northeast Texas Public Health District, TX

About the DeKalb County Board of Health

Celebrating its 95th year of service to Georgia’s fourth most populous county, the DeKalb County Board of Health works to protect and improve the health of those who live, work and play in DeKalb County. With five health centers throughout the county, the Board of Health continually strives to meet the changing needs of the county’s diverse population through excellence in programs and services.

About NACCHO
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation’s nearly 3,000 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visit www.naccho.org.

All DeKalb Public Health center are
now operating under their normal schedules.
*
Todos los centros de Salud Pública de DeKalb ahora
están operando bajo sus horarios normales.
SERVICE ALERT:

Due to a water main break along Clairmont Road, our North DeKalb Health Center will be closed for the remainder of the day. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. All appointments are being rescheduled or re-routed to one of our other health centers.
Stay tuned for updates. Thank you for your understanding!

ALERTA DE SERVICIO

Debido a una rotura en la tubería principal de agua a lo largo de Clairmont Road, nuestro Centro de Salud de North DeKalb estara cerrado por el resto del día. Pedimos disculpas por cualquier inconveniencia que esto pueda causar. Todas las citas se están reprogramando o redirigiendo a uno de nuestros otros centros de salud. Esté atentos a las actualizaciones. ¡Gracias por su comprensión!

SERVICE ALERT

Due to winter weather and potential hazardous travel conditions, all DeKalb Public Health centers will be closed on Thursday, January 23, 2025. Your safety is our top priority, and we urge everyone to stay safe and warm.

Please monitor dekalbpublichealth.com, our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and X), and Atlanta-area news media for further operational updates.

ALERTA DE SERVICIO

Debido al clima invernal y las condiciones de viaje potencialmente peligrosas, todos los centros de Salud Pública de DeKalb estarán cerrados el jueves 23 de enero de 2025. Su seguridad es nuestra máxima prioridad e instamos a todos a mantenerse seguros y abrigados.

Esté atento a dekalbpublichealth.com, nuestros canales de redes sociales (Facebook, Instagram y X) y los medios de comunicación del área de Atlanta para obtener más actualizaciones operativas.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, December 25 and 26, 2025, in observance of the State holiday.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, on November 28 and 28, 2025, in observance of the State holiday.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, on November 11, 2025, in observance of Veterans Day.

SERVICE ALERT:

Due to unplanned maintenance,
our Clifton Springs Health Center will be on CLOSED on Monday, November 4, 2024.

Our East DeKalb, T. O. Vinson and North DeKalb
Health Centers remain open to serve you.

We apologize for any inconvenience and
appreciate your understanding. 

SERVICE ALERT:

Due to unexpected maintenance, our Clifton Springs Health Center will be closing early today at 2:30 p.m.
We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. Thank you!

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, on October 13, 2025, in observance of the state holiday.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, on September 1, 2025, in observance of Labor Day.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, July 4, 2025, in observance of Independence Day.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, June 19, 2025, in observance of Juneteenth.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed, May 26, 2025, in observance of Memorial Day.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed April 18, 2025, in observance of the State holiday.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed January 20, 2025, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr’s Birthday.

SERVICE ALERT:

Our health centers will be closed on January 1, 2025, in observance of the State holiday.

AIR QUALITY UPDATE 

Current weather models show that winds will begin to shift
from the east to the west after sunset on Wednesday.

Smoke from the BioLab facility fire in Rockdale County is predicted to settle towards the ground as it moves toward Atlanta. There is a high likelihood that people across Metro Atlanta will wake up on Thursday morning seeing haze and smelling chlorine.

For more information about health precautions, click here.

last updated 10/2/2024 at 5:45 p.m.

Warning SERVICE ALERT UPDATE Warning

DeKalb Public Health will resume normal operations
for all health centers and services at 8:15 a.m.,
on Monday, September 30.

SERVICE ALERT 

Due to today’s worldwide cybersecurity outage, some services have been impacted.

  • You may experience delays reaching our Call Center, which handles health center appointments.
  • WIC benefit issuance is unavailable at this time. However, eWIC cards can still be used at authorized WIC vendors.


This outage has not only affected DeKalb Public Health, but other government and business services, in Georgia, throughout the nation and internationally.

We apologize for the inconvenience and greatly appreciate your patience, as we work with our partners to fully restore systems.

SERVICE ALERT: Our health centers will be closed on Tuesday December 24 and Wednesday, December 25th, in observance of the holiday. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!