Member Profile: Robin Wilcox

Professional Highlights

Robin Wilcox was recently named Associate Director of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). PHAB is a new organization, responsible for the development and implementation of an accreditation program for state and local health departments.

Her appointment follows a career of leadership and innovation in the public health arena in many different venues, including non-profits and state and local health departments and coalitions. As a member of the Coordinating Council of the Coalition for Healthier Cities and Communities, Robin was a national leader in the healthy communities. She was a founding co-chair of both the Coalition’s Progress Measures Action Team and the States’ Network. On the local level she was Vice President of the Pennsylvania Institute for Healthy Communities and a Vice President for Community Health of the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council. She developed the first synthesis of literature on social capital as a determinant of health and authored a series of articles on importance of social capital in healthy communities.

As the Director of Programs for Safe Kids Worldwide in Washington, D.C., she developed child injury prevention programs and increased media attention on the subject by creating a summer-safety states’ report card. Robin also served as the Vice President of Community Health at Texas Health Resources. During her time there, she guided the heath system’s thirteen hospitals in efforts to improve communities’ health, and educated leaders on the importance of community benefit programs.

Among her other accomplishments are serving as a community public health consultant, directing the promotion of the School of Public Health at MCP Hahnemann University, and serving as the Executive Director of a five-county health policy and planning agency in southern New Jersey. She has also published several articles in places such as the Public Health Reports journal and given presentations about community health and community benefit to national audiences at public health conferences.

The Future of Public Health

Robin believes that our world is radically changing as new ways to manage and share information are expanding both how and with whom we communicate. Programs such as Wiki engines, YouTube, and Facebook allow huge amounts of information to be shared across the globe in a second. She believes that we must consider not only how this shrinking world poses challenges to health protection and promotion but also how it also provides immense opportunities for creative ways to communicate, impact social norms, and address disparities. She says, “Our challenge in public health is to think beyond our standard constructs. What was - isn't. What is - will not be for long.”

ACHI’s role

Robin is a charter member of the Association for Community Health Improvement and a member of the Advisory Council. “ACHI is a unique organization and a great resource for both contacts and information,” she states. “[This organization] helps to keep me connected with people who work to improve population health. ACHI is very important to me professionally.”