skip to main content columnskip to left navigationskip to horizontal navigation

College of Public Health

Two from ETSU College of Public Health elected to TPHA leadership positions

JOHNSON CITY Paula Masters, director of the LIFEPATH program at East Tennessee State Universitys College of Public Health, has been chosen as president-elect of the Tennessee Public Health Association (TPHA), one of the nations largest affiliates of the American Public Health Association.

Masters is one of two representatives from the ETSU College of Public Health voted into senior leadership roles by TPHA members at their recent annual meeting. Dr. Mike Stoots was elected vice president of the TPHA East Region.

Two College of Public Health students were appointed to leadership positions by their peers. Rachel Ward was selected as chairwoman of the Student Section and Christian Williams was chosen as East Tennessee representative for the Student Section.

The TPHA is the states official professional organization for those engaged or interested in public health services, and it is endorsed by the administration of the Tennessee Department of Health. Through the TPHA, professionals and students who represent diverse service areas have opportunities to meet and share ideas in an effort to maintain high standards of quality in all aspects of public health.

A graduate of both the undergraduate and masters of public health programs in the College of Public Health, Masters worked for seven years at the county and regional levels before being appointed director of LIFEPATH. Founded in 2010 by a grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration and housed in the College of Public Health, LIFEPATH is Tennessees first and only Public Health Training Center. It provides academic and non-academic training opportunities for industry professionals across the Volunteer State and Southwest Virginia. Stoots is an assistant professor in the ETSU Department of Community and Behavioral Health and coordinator of undergraduate programs for the college.

I am extremely proud of our colleges longstanding leadership of regional, statewide and national public health organizations, said Dr. Randy Wykoff, dean of the college. Our vital and productive relationship with the TPHA will be even stronger with Paula, Mike, Rachel and Christian in such important leadership positions. The fact that they were selected by their peers to lead TPHA at such an important time in its history reflects exceptionally well on them, on ETSU and on the college.

icon for left menu icon for right menu