Dr. Ed Baker

Dr. Edward L. Baker, a former Assistant Surgeon General in the US Public Health Service and former Director of CDC’s Public Health Practice Program Office, currently serves as Adjunct Professor in Health Policy and Management at UNC. He teaches a course on the theory and practice of leadership in the School of Public Health’s DrPH program and an online course on Designing and Managing Public Health Information Systems through the Public Health Institute in Atlanta.

While at UNC, he directed the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, the service and outreach arm of the UNC School of Public Health, which was home to the national Public Health Leadership Institute, the Management Academy for Public Health and the North Carolina Local Health Agency Accreditation program. His current professional activities are focused on informatics training and management and leadership development. While serving as Director of CDC’s Public Health Practice Program Office, he led creation of Public Health Leadership Institutes, the Information Network for Public Health Officials, the Public Health Training Network, and the Health Alert Network.

Dr. Baker is board certified in internal medicine and occupational medicine and was trained in epidemiology in CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) and at Harvard School of Public Health, where he served as a professor in occupational health. He also served as NIOSH Deputy Director, leading a range of initiatives designed to prevent occupational disease and injury.