Leading Systems Change in Public Health: A Field Guide for Practitioners

"The authors bring a passion for social justice, equity, and inclusivity to the dialogue about changing the unjust systems that create disparate population health outcomes." (c)Doody's Review Service, 2022, Suzan C Ulrich, Dr.PH, MSN, MN, RN, CNM, FACNM (Resurrection University)

Leading Systems Change in Public Health: A Field Guide for Practitioners is the first resource written by public health professionals for public health professionals on how to improve public health by utilizing a systems change lens. Edited by leaders from the de Beaumont Foundation and the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health with chapters written by a diverse array of public health leaders, the book provides an evidence-based framework with practical strategies, processes, and tools for enacting meaningful change. Complete with engaging stories and tips to illustrate concepts in action, this book is the essential guide for current and future public health leaders working within and across individual, interpersonal, organizational, cross-sector, and community levels.

The book addresses subjects such as change leadership, health equity, racial justice, power sharing, and readiness for change. It addresses best practices for enacting change at different levels, including at the personal, interpersonal, organizational, and team or cross-sector level, while describing the factors, the processes, skills, and tools required for leading complex change. It not only covers the process of leading systems change but also the importance of community organizing and coalition building, identifying a shared understanding of the problem, how to leverage the lessons of implementation science, and how to understand the relationship between sustainability and public health. Practical examples and stories highlight challenges and opportunities, systems change in action, and the importance of crisis leadership - including lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Features:

• Enables practitioners to improve public health by utilizing a systems change approach
• Applies systems change strategies to help discover solutions for improved community health equity and racial justice
• Integrates practical public health examples and stories from innovative leaders in the field
• Includes tools for how to implement internal processes that generate creative and effective system change leadership

Kristina Y. Risley, DrPH, CPCC is an Executive and Leadership Coach with Kris Risley Coaching. She has served the public health field in this role since being certified with the Co-Active Coaching Institute in 2004. Dr. Risley earned her DrPH in Maternal and Child Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She also has a Master's Degree in Developmental Psychology; she has a sincere interest in the intersection of human and public health workforce development.

Kristina was also a staff and faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health between 2000 - 2018. In these roles, she focused on leadership development of the public health workforce. She worked closely with cross-sector partners to bring a leadership lens to the development of public health practitioners in the early 2000s. She continued this work as a faculty member with the UIC SPH Doctorate in Public Health Leadership Program. In this capacity, she taught a course on personal leadership development for mid- to senior-public health practitioners committed to developing skills in systems change leadership. Kristina brings an unapologetic heart to her work with public health professionals and it is this authentic expression that inspires those she works with to be more, do more, and to have greater impact in their work and more fulfillment in their lives.

Christina R. Welter, DrPH, MPH is a nationally recognized policy practitioner, visionary leader, and practice-based researcher committed to helping organizations and communities co-create equity-centered systems change. She is the Director of the Doctorate in Public Health Leadership Program and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Policy and Administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health. Dr. Welter's scholarship focuses on mixed-method participatory action research and evaluation approaches to understand and address the structural determinants of health; facilitate learning, leadership development, and power building for structural change; and drive policy and systems change toward racial and economic justice.

Dr. Welter oversees multiple applied research initiatives where she has catalyzed several award-winning cross-sectoral leadership collaboratives, co-designed novel capacity building initiatives, and built or translated evidence to foster policy adoption and implementation. Dr. Welter regularly provides technical assistance and serves in advisory capacities to facilitate strategic and transformative change. She proudly served as one of the Deputy Incident Commanders for the Illinois Department of Public Health's COVID-19 response during the Spring 2020, helping the state to expand its strategic management, data systems, and policy response approaches. Prior to coming to UIC, Dr. Welter served as the Deputy Director at the Cook County Department of Public Health. Dr. Welter received her Doctorate in Public Health Leadership from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and her Master's Degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan in Health Education and Health Behavior.

Grace Castillo, MPH is a public health practitioner and health writer. She is particularly interested in public health infrastructure, science communication, and non-communicable diseases. She is a Program Associate at the de Beaumont Foundation, where she focuses on project management for book publications. She has also volunteered with the Virginia Medical Reserve Corps. Previously, she worked for the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) as a student research intern. While at ERIC, she supported a manuscript project documenting a collaborative steering committee's history. She also contributed to a draft guide for researchers interested in beginning community-based participatory research (CBPR). Grace graduated from the Yale School of Public Health's Chronic Disease Epidemiology Department with a Certificate in Regulatory Affairs. While completing her Master of Public Health, Grace interned with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), where she worked with the Research Infrastructure team. Grace earned her BA in English from Yale University.