Jeneane McDonald is an instructor and Vice Chair in the Department of Public Health where she is responsible for teaching and coordinating the MPH student culminating experiences, bridging students into practice, and facilitating practice partnerships with local, regional, and national population health stakeholders.
Ms. McDonald holds an MPH in Community Health Practice, a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology, and BS in Psychology. She is presently working toward a Doctorate in Public Health Leadership from the University of Illinois Chicago. She served as the Executive Director of the Iowa Public Health Association for 15 years in addition to other public health roles with the Iowa Department of Public Health and previously in health care administration.
She is passionate about teaching, mentoring, and connecting the next generation of the public health workforce. She strives to cultivate relationships and trust to build an adaptive public health workforce engaged in systems-level learning and evidence-based practice.
Ms. McDonald is engaged in public health systems and workforce research grounded in systems thinking. Current projects include work with the Midwestern Public Health Training Center focused on workforce development and mapping the region’s public health system. Her doctoral work focuses on the capacity and capability of Iowa’s public health system and developing cross-sector collaborations and community engagement for systems change to improve population health.
Ms. McDonald is well recognized as a leader in public health and has received prestigious awards, including the Gift of Clear Air Champion from the Clean Air for Everyone Iowa Citizen Action Network, the Award for Excellence from the American Public Health Association Council of Affiliates, the Iowa Public Health Heroes Award by the University of Iowa College of Public Health, the Henry Albert Memorial Award from the Iowa Public Health Association and DMU MPH Faculty of the Year.
Community Engagement
| Iowa’s Congenital and Inherited Disorders Advisory Committee | Chair Elect |
| Iowa Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System | Advisory Committee |
| Iowa Tobacco Prevention Alliance | Board of Directors |
| Midwestern Public Health Training Center | Regional Steering Committee Region VII Public Health Workforce Systems Practice Team |
| Iowa Public Health Association | Iowa Public Health Workforce Core Coalition & Visioning Group |
| Several Iowa-based Health Foundations | Volunteer Grant Reviewer |
| Education: |
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| University of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ — Master of Public Health May 2001 | Community Health Practice Concentration, Summa Cum Laude |
| Arizona State University West, Glendale, AZ — Graduate Certificate in Gerontology December 1997 | Summa Cum Laude |
| University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND — Bachelor of Science in Psychology May 1994 | Magna Cum Laude |