Boston, Mass., November 5, 2006 – American Public Health Association (APHA) member Elizabeth Zelazek, RN, MS, was honored today with the 2006 Executive Director’s Citation for her outstanding service to APHA. She received the award here during the 134th APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Zelazek, chair-elect of the APHA’s Committee on Affiliates and an active member of the Wisconsin Public Health Association, was instrumental in securing a $5.9 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation that APHA will use to create an initiative to build the capacity of the Association’s 53 Affiliates. The goal of the initiative is to assist Affiliates in their efforts to engage communities in improving their health.
For the past two years, Zelazek has headed the Assessment, Dues and Fundraising Workgroup for the Committee on Affiliates. In that capacity, she has led the committee’s effort in support of the affiliate infrastructure grant and has been a tireless leader in helping draft a document that addresses the needs of the Affiliates.
Susan Polan, PhD, APHA’s associate executive director for public affairs and advocacy, described Zelazek as “an invaluable member of the Committee on Affiliates and a very deserving APHA member.”
A registered nurse and consultant with interests in public health and public health nursing, Zelazek is retired from the City of Milwaukee Health Department, having served in a number of capacities there, including public health nursing director and maternal child health program manager. She has worked as a public health nurse, a public health nursing supervisor and a division nursing manager.
She recently served as the Wisconsin Public Health Association’s project manager for the Public Health Statute Modernization National Collaborative, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Zelazek serves on many statewide public health committees and is a past-president of the Wisconsin Public Health Association. She is a member of the Wisconsin Council on Immunization Practices and serves on the Wisconsin Public Health Association’s board of directors.
Zelazek has been honored many times for her contributions to public health, receiving the Wisconsin Public Health Association’s Member of the Year Award, Recognition and Commendation Award from the Wisconsin Division of Health, and the APHA Committee on Affiliates Chair’s Award for her continued contributions and leadership in local, state and national public health, among other honors.