Luke Fiedorowicz, Ph.D., director of Science, Research and Academic Affairs and Donna Dunn, Ph.D., director Learning and Development.

Two employees at the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) have taken on new roles to guide the department's efforts to stay on the cutting edge of public health and protect and improve the health of all Georgians. Donna Dunn, Ph.D., and Luke Fiedorowicz, Ph.D., started their new positions this month.

"We as an organization are turning from a good department into a great department, and these areas that Donna and Luke will work on are key components in that transformation," said James Howgate, DPH's chief of staff.

Dunn, formerly of the Office of Training and Workforce Development, is now the director of Learning and Development in human resources. Her new role's focus shifts from facilitating development of public health skills to strengthening all-around professional development throughout DPH.

Dunn said her work is still all about learning.

"I'm on a mission to help people discover learning individually, as a unit and as an organization at large," she said. "Organizations that are learning organizations that allow people the depth and breadth to learn and flourish are the ones that really succeed."

Dunn will focus on helping employees learn the skills they need to be successful in their jobs, such as giving supervisors the skills to manage their staff more effectively or making sure new employees are integrated and invested in DPH from their first day on the job.

"These things don't have much to do with public health practice, but they have everything to do with being a good solid organization," she said.

Another element in transforming DPH into a great public health organization will be an increased focus on research throughout the department. Fiedorowicz will lead those efforts in his new role.

For the past two years, Fiedorowicz led DPH's Institutional Review Board, a federally-mandated program that regulates U.S. research to ensure all projects involving human subjects meet scientific and ethical guidelines. In that role, Fiedorowicz recognized the department's potential as a leader in public health research in Georgia.

"We have great resources and staff here," he said. "The fact that we are a relatively new department gives us the opportunity to build relationships with other institutions and establish ourselves as a research-oriented department."

Fiedorowicz will work on encouraging DPH professionals to engage in more research, helping them apply for grants and collaborate with researchers at other institutions to investigate public health in Georgia. He will also nurture the department's relationships with academic programs in the area, making sure public health schools are producing graduates the public health workforce needs to move forward.

By building stronger connections with other public health institutions and highlighting the innovative work of DPH scientists, department leaders hope to give DPH increased visibility and a stellar national reputation.

"We have a real opportunity to highlight all the great work that DPH does and what our employees can bring to the field of public health," Howgate said. "Both of these positions will help us build a solid future for the department of public health."