Dr. Brenda Stevenson Marshall reflects on the partnership between the APHA Health Administration Section and the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice as she looks forward to retirement and bids farewell to her colleagues.

All endings have beginnings. Frequently, acknowledging the past is the best way to introduce future events. My departure from the chair position of the APHA Health Administration Section (HAS) Mentoring Committee also coincides with my leaving the privilege of serving as our section’s liaison for our partnership with the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice and its companion, JPHMP Direct, where we have developed an HAS series to inform and engage public health administrators of current issues and best practices that embody the HAS theme of “Progress through Leadership.”

In 2015, we began a continuing partnership with the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice with the introduction of the Research to Practice Award. While I was fortunate enough to be the HAS chair in 2016, the year we presented the Inaugural Research to Practice Award as shown in the picture below, this was a team effort. Dr. Kusuma Madamala, the 2015 HAS chair, led the team. After undergoing a review process, 24 of the abstracts submitted were advanced to a selection committee that included membership and diversity chair Alan Baker; present and past section chairs Brenda Stevenson-Marshall and Kusuma Madamala; and JPHMP Editor-in-Chief Lloyd F. Novick and Associate Editor Justin B. Moore. The Research to Practice Award is now firmly established as an important avenue for publication in the only public health management practice journal and a benefit of membership in the HA section.

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JPHMP Direct is the companion site of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. The APHA Health Administration Section presents the JPHMP Direct/APHA HAS Series as an opportunity to emphasize, in an easily accessed venue, research as integral to successful public health leadership. This series is an opportunity to create a forum where public health administrators engage in informed discussions of current issues and best practices that embody the HAS theme of “Progress through Leadership.” Contributions and suggestions for posts compatible with the series theme are welcomed.

Goodbyes are always bittersweet, but I leave knowing our partnership with the Journal is stronger than ever with an increasing number of Research to Practice Award applicants each year, a podcast/webinar agenda, and most importantly a dynamic mentoring leadership team to spearhead this effort. Now, as I cruise into retirement (I’m literally going on a cruise!), please welcome the new HAS Mentoring Committee Co-Chairs, Dr. Mirna Amaya and Ms. Deborah Nabubwaya Chambers, who will also serve as the section’s liaisons with JPHMP Direct.

Dr. Mirna Amaya is the incoming Chair of the Mentoring Committee within the Health Administration Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA) and liaison with JPHMP Direct. She works as a full-time independent Senior Consultant, is currently the Chair of the APHA Human Rights Forum and a Governing Councillor for APHA. She is also affiliated as a researcher with the University of Florida, actively participating in research initiatives at the Emerging Pathogens Institute. In addition to her various academic and research endeavours, she has experience providing technical assistance to different organizations at the local, regional and global level. 

Originally from El Salvador, her academic education began at the Universidad de El Salvador medical school, where she completed five years of physician training before transferring to the University of Florida. At the University of Florida, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Integrative Biology; a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science focused on human rights and development with a minor in Latin American Studies and a certificate in International Relations; a Master of Public Health in Public Health Management and Policy, and a PhD in Public Health with an emphasis on One Health. She also holds a Certificate in Global Health Challenges from the University of Copenhagen.

Deborah Nabubwaya Chambers, MPH, MHA, is a Public Health Program Coordinator specializing in managing diverse undergraduate and graduate public health and healthcare administration programs. She is also a health promoter and global health researcher. Ms. Chambers is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Health Administration at National University. She earned a B.A. degree in Psychology from Daystar University, Kenya, a Master of Public Health and a Master of Healthcare Administration program from the National University, San Diego, CA. Ms. Chambers focuses part of her time on qualitative health research in Kenya and the United States while collaborating with healthcare administrators at the American Public Health Association (APHA) as a section member of the Engagement & Mentoring committees, incoming Co-Chair, and Campus Liaison under the APHA Student Assembly. She also leads the Daystar University Alumni Association (DUAA), her alma mater diaspora chapter as the current Chair.

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About the Author:

Dr. Brenda Stevenson Marshall holds an MPH in policy planning and regulation (UC Berkeley), a MAE in applied economics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a PHD in Health Services Organization and Policy from the University of Michigan, SPH, Ann Arbor, MI). She is a health policy analyst, health economist and health strategist with employment and research experience in public and private health systems. She is the recipient of numerous awards in recognition of her work within the Health Administration Section. APHA acknowledged her mentoring and senior leadership role within the organization nationally in 2020 with the Lyndon Haviland Mentoring Award.