ASTHO Welcomes New Senior Vice President of Health Equity and Diversity Initiatives

August 12, 2021

ARLINGTON, VA—The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) announced that Kimberlee D. Wyche-Etheridge, MD, MPH, will serve as the organization’s senior vice president of health equity and diversity initiatives, effective Oct. 4, 2021.

Wyche-Etheridge has extensive experience and education in public health initiatives. She most recently served as interim director for the Master of Science in Public Health Program at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. She received her medical degree from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1993, and completed her pediatric internship and residency at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. in 1996. She received her Master of Public Health in 2000 from the Harvard School of Public Health while completing a Commonwealth Fund Harvard University Fellowship in minority health policy. Wyche-Etheridge was recruited to Meharry to assist in public health programming in 2014.

“I am excited to join the ASTHO team and work with state and territorial public health leaders nationwide,” says Wyche-Etheridge. “COVID-19 has illustrated the profound disparities and inequities that exist in communities nationwide and how much work we have to do to address them. I am looking forward to working with the ASTHO team and serving as an advocate, resource, and partner in this important work.”

In addition to serving her community as a medical provider for more than 20 years, Wyche-Etheridge is a prominent leader in the public health field. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the National Medical Association.

To further stay involved in her community, Wyche-Etheridge serves as the Committee Chair of the Tennessee March of Dimes and served as the longest sitting chair of the CityMatCH Organization. She continues to teach the next generation of medical providers at Meharry Medical College as faculty in the department of pediatric and adolescent medicine, as well as in core curricula. She is active in the STEM pipeline, working with middle school, high school, and college students to increase their interest in science.

Wyche-Etheridge has a strong interest in health outcomes, disparities, and equity, especially as they relate to adolescent health, infant mortality, and child wellbeing. In her role, she will be responsible for developing and executing activities in support of ASTHO’s health equity, antiracism, diversity, and inclusion policies and programs. ASTHO is thrilled to be welcoming Wyche-Etheridge to the organization, as it’s committed to advancing health equity and achieving optimal health for all.

“Dr. Wyche-Ethridge has been leading in public health for years, and it has been a great joy to watch her thrive in the many roles she has had in both academia and governmental public health. She will bring expertise, energy, and empathy to our work that will be exponentially additive to obtaining ASTHO’s vision of state and territorial health officials advancing health equity and optimal health for all. She complements the tremendous contributions of our ASTHO staff in this area and will be a great resource for our staff, members, and partners nationwide.”

###

ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories and freely associated states, and Washington, D.C., as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in public health practice.