Our Vision
Health people, in healthy communities across Nevada
Our Mission
Our mission is to be recognized by local, state, and federal partners as a leader in health and public health in Nevada.
Our Values
Collaboration
Community Building
Trust
Non-partisan Approach
Consistency
Innovation
Our Action Plan
- Take a leadership role in the practice of public health and policy development in Nevada
- Advance core public health functions in local and state public health jurisdictions in Nevada
- Sustain and further develop NPHI as an innovative and high-performing organization
What We Can Do
- Provide technical assistance to counties, both those that have health authorities and those that do not, to create dashboards of their health issues
- Continue development in rural and frontier counties to create Boards of Health (BOH)
- Continue activities to develop and train current BOHs
- Work with counties on developing departments or districts of health
- Discuss and develop agreements with counties regarding cross-jurisdictional sharing initiatives
- Train selected rural county personnel on clinical, environmental, and epidemiology skills
- Work with counties to develop community health needs assessments and improvement plans
- Develop and deliver training for capacity building assistance for leadership and public health essentials or a partnering mentorship program
- Work with the Nevada Association of Local Health Officials (NALHO) to develop agendas and needs assessments for biannual or annual training for county personnel and elected leadership
Meet Our Team
Dr. Joseph Iser
President
Joe Iser has a medical degree from the University of Kansas and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, General Preventive Medicine and Public Health, and Occupational Medicine, with a broad background in public health, primary care, and medical education. He has a Doctorate in Public Health in Health Policy from the University of Michigan and an MSc in Infectious Diseases from the University of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His interests include indigent care, infectious diseases, disaster medicine, environmental health, and international medicine. Retired after 24 years of active duty with the US Public Health Service, he is now the Chief Health Officer for the Southern Nevada Health District. Dr. Iser sits on a number of boards, including the Health Officers Association of California, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Nevada Public Health Foundation, and the School of Community Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Advisory Board. He is an officer for the Nevada Association of Local Health Officials and a former board member of the California Conference of Local Health Officers. He volunteers at several other community-based organizations and is active in county and state medical societies. In his spare time, he skis, canoes and kayaks, fly fishes, and square dances.
GEROLD DERMID-GRAY
Treasurer
Gerold Dermid, MBA is the Director of the Nevada Public Health Training Center, housed within the School of Community Health Sciences at the University of Nevada, Reno. Mr. Dermid has worked in the field of public health for the past 17 years, focused on accreditation, quality improvement, workforce development, social marketing and community engagement. He has provided leadership and strategic direction to communities throughout the world in communicable disease prevention, with a special focus on HIV/AIDS, chronic disease prevention, substance use services, health equity, social justice, and international development. He currently manages workforce and student training programs locally, nationally, and internationally, with a special focus on the development of trainings within traditionally underserved communities.
Dr. John Packham
Board Member
John Packham, Ph.D., MA, is the Associate Dean of Statewide Initiatives and Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine. Dr. Packham has co-authored nearly 100 policy-relevant, statewide research reports, including ten editions of the Nevada Rural and Frontier Health Data Book and five editions of Health Care Careers in Nevada. For over two decades, Dr. Packham has served on numerous statewide and national boards, advisory councils, and commissions including Governor Sisolak's Patient Protection Commission, Nevada Public Health Association, and Access to Healthcare Network. Dr. Packham is a frequent speaker on health care policy and public health issues facing Nevada and is regularly asked to testify on health policy issues being addressed by state and local policy makers.
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Antonina Capurro
Board Member
Dr. Antonina Capurro is a public health advocate who is passionate about improving the health of vulnerable citizens. Dr. Capurro currently serves as a Deputy Administrator in the Nevada Division of Health Care Financing and Policy and oversees Nevada's Primary Care Office. Previous to this position, she served for over five years in the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services as Nevada's first Hispanic State Dental Officer, and for almost a decade, trained the next generation of clinicians as a professor and program developer at the UNLV School of Dental Medicine. During the pandemic, she authored Nevada's reopening plan for dental offices, worked with the Governor's Medical Advisory Team to permit dental practitioners to administer vaccinations, created innovative programs to reach underserved school- age children and provided dental education for legislative policies.
Valerie Cauhape
Board Member