Population Health Leadership

Advancing Systemic Change in Public Health

Building a healthier population starts with strong public health leadership.

If you’re working to create a healthier society, you face complex challenges essential to achieving health equity — including systemic barriers, disparate services and systems, resource-constrained environments, and organizational silos.

We’re proud to work with public health organizations around the world to equip their teams, not only to meet these challenges, but to thrive in the face of them. Our focus is on systematically improving the health of entire populations by supporting and developing skills in public health leadership.

We adapt our approach to the unique challenges of clinicians and administrators working in this sector to advance transformational social change in communities. Many of our population health leadership training initiatives are funded by partnerships with foundations for philanthropic leadership.

Whether you’re a foundation executive, state health official, community advocate, healthcare professional, or health educator, we can provide your organization with research-based public health leadership training so that together, we can create a healthier society for all.

Population & Public Health Leadership Development

We can partner with your organization to make investments in your leaders that give you and your community the greatest possible return on investment.

With a combination of leadership analytics, talent diagnostics, 360 assessments, and other instruments, we can do a deep dive into your leaders, your culture, your organizational priorities, and your employee engagement levels to help inform your investments in population health leadership development.

  • Lasting impact for your organization

Develop a common leadership language across your organization and see long-term results.

Our standalone leadership development tools and training materials help you increase the scale and maximize the impact of your internal initiatives to build public health leadership skills.

Take our expertise and deliver training your way, with the convenience, flexibility, and independence you want — and the support you need.

  • Leverage your existing internal facilitators to deliver our world-class, research-based content

We offer a variety of research-based, proven leadership topic modules to help you upskill your team.

Build a long-term outlook for success and combat burnout on your team with a practical yet scientific approach that will help your leaders build both individual and organizational resilience.

We can deliver our research-based resilience training — or you can. Either way, our content will equip your team to survive and even prosper through unprecedented challenges.

  • Proven content module that can be combined with others into a customized learning journey for your organization

Go Deeper on Public Health Leadership Development

Learn more about the 6 most important leadership skills in public health, based on our research, and how we’re helping population health organizations to build leadership capacity:

What Our Population Health Clients Are Saying

At CCL, we measure success by lives touched and impact made. That’s why the organizations we work with and the leaders we transform consistently tell us the same thing: their experience with us is a game-changer. These organizations’ investments in public health leadership development have impacted thousands of leaders in hundreds of communities.

But don’t just take our word for it — take theirs.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Colorado Health Foundation logo
ASTHO logo

“I have learned that you can become a stronger leader for your organization and community through dedicated attention to certain actions. This role as a leader is not about your job title but is about the impact you make and what you inspire in others.”

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Ladder to Leadership Fellow

Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

“I’ve been struggling with oppressive work demands, and this was exactly what I needed. It will be life-changing … as I navigate many leadership challenges with elected officials, the media, and a multitude of stakeholders — not to mention the important work of supporting our own public health response team.”

Debbie Swanson, MS, RN

Director of Public Health
Grand Forks, ND

“This program has been life-changing for me. When I first started, I considered myself what I would call a hesitant leader. I’ve been given so many tools to help me make change in my practice, support my staff, be a better healthcare provider for our community, and continue to improve my leadership skills.”

Debbie Anne Moeller

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner
Castle Valley Children’s Clinic
Sponsored by The Colorado Health Foundation

“This course has filled in a gap in my education. I spent 2 ½ decades learning the intricacy of medical practice in rural areas, but there was a piece missing which had a lot to do with leadership and advocacy. I can use what I learned to multiply my impact as a physician in a rural area.”

Dr Tom White

Family Medicine
Sponsored by The Colorado Health Foundation

Impact of Our Partnerships for Population Health Leadership

What participants said about our programs to develop public health leadership at client organizations:

1 %
would recommend this course to others
1 %
were able to make meaningful connections
1 %
were able to apply program lessons right away

Meet Our Experts on Public & Population Health Leadership

Andrea (Andi) Williams

Andrea (Andi) Williams

Portfolio Director & Faculty

Andi designs and delivers transformational development experiences, with a particular focus on developing public health leaders. Before joining CCL, Andi served as Deputy Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)’s Substance Abuse Policy Research program and the RWJF-funded Executive Nurse Fellows program, which increased the effectiveness of American nurse leaders. She has also authored a book chapter, “Culture of Health Leaders: Building a Diverse Network to Advance Health Equity” in Leading Community Based Changes in the Culture of Health in the US.

Jessica Davidson

Jessica Davidson

Senior Faculty

Jessica came to CCL with over 20 years of consulting and industry experience as a thought and strategy partner to executives and senior leaders, with an emphasis in talent and leadership development. Since the start of her career in Human Resources and Organizational Development, Jessica has worked across industries in the public and private sector, transforming leaders and organizations through culture, strategy, and operations. As senior faculty at CCL, Jessica leverages her skills and experience to design programs that drive individual and organizational transformation.

Joanne Dias

Joanne Dias

Senior Faculty

Prior to joining CCL in 2018, Joanne gained experience in a variety of industries including healthcare, automotive, and education, with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to dynamic startups around the globe. She applies her passion for diversity and development to her work with organizations and their leaders to help then fulfill their potential in an ever-changing global marketplace. 

George Houston

George Houston

On-Call Faculty

Before joining CCL, George held a number of leadership roles in business and industry. He served as a high school principal, HR manager for a large corporation, youth pastor of a ministry, and chair of the Civil Rights Commission in the state of Colorado’s Department of Regulatory Agencies. He is author of several books and articles on topics like social identity, boundary spanning leadership across civil-military interactions, and more.

Dr. Shelley Thompkins

Shelley Thompkins

Senior Faculty

An Associate Certified Coach recognized for leveraging best practices across diverse industries and markets, Shelley brings more than 20 years of experience with market-leading organizations and Fortune 500 corporations. As a collaborative leader, design thinker, developer, and learning experience facilitator, she helps leaders become extraordinary performers, visionaries, and collaborators, as well as critical and strategic thinkers. 

Let’s Talk About Public Health Leadership Training

Our experts are here to help. Prioritize your most valuable asset — your people — by partnering with us to strengthen leadership skills in public and population health organizations.

Population Health Leadership: Research, Resources & Partnerships

Replace Type

In this When She Leads podcast episode, Karen talks about her experiences as a woman of color, her unexpected career trajectory, and how she’s changed as a personally and as a public health leader over time.

More About Population Health Leadership

Reimagining How to Enhance Leadership Skills in Population Health

Reimagining what leadership looks like and how it works is foundational to advancing real change and fostering greater leadership in public health organizations.

This process includes moving beyond the individualistic model of leadership and embracing the idea instead that leadership is a collective process; leveraging collaborative, intentional networks drawing on communities and groups that have historically been excluded from systems of power and influence; helping leaders to thrive in a fast-moving environment, learning while doing; and fostering a culture of resilience where individuals support one another with encouragement and resources from organizations and communities.

leadership skills in public health

Public Health Leadership Training: Partnering for Impact

With decades of experience partnering with population health organizations, we know what it takes to develop effective public health leadership. From developing nurse leaders, to designing fellowships for community health grantees, to increasing the leadership capacity of public health professionals, we have worked with a wide array of global partners to strengthen leadership skills in public health.

We offer human-centered, research-based population health leadership development programs designed for the unique environment and challenges facing individuals, organizations, and communities seeking to solve society’s most vexing health challenges.

Frequently Asked Questions About Public Health Leadership

As population health leaders face increasingly complex challenges, they rely on skills to navigate systemic barriers, resource-constrained environments, and organizational silos. To be effective and successful, population and public health leaders must have the ability to collaborate and span boundaries, communicate shared goals and visions, lead strategically, strive for innovation, and measure for community impact.

By supporting and developing leadership skills in public health, organizations can improve their cultures and make an impact on the health of entire populations. At the Center for Creative Leadership, we adapt our population health leadership training approach to the unique context and challenges that your organization and its leaders face. By doing this, we can advance transformational change and strengthen teams together. When we leverage the power of collaboration, we help leaders and teams thrive in a fast-moving environment and foster a culture of resilience where individuals support one another.

More questions? Our experts are here to help. Let’s have a conversation!