Associate professor Sophie Wenzel appointed to Virginia Public Health Association board of directors
Sophie Wenzel sees her appointment to the board of directors for the Virginia Public Health Association (VPHA) as a “conduit” for information and opportunities to flow both directions between academia and public service.
"I'm hoping I can be a conduit — telling the students and my colleagues about what VPHA is doing, and then the opposite, promoting Virginia Tech’s public health program with VPHA, so they get to know more deeply about what the program does, what we stand for, and our One Health approach,” said Wenzel, associate professor of practice in the Department of Population Health Sciences within the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.
Wenzel is the associate director of the Center for Public Health Practice and Research, which partners with faculty, staff, and students across multiple disciplines at Virginia Tech as well as community organizations to enhance public health practice and research in the region.
"In general, when I approach my work, it's not about me,” said Wenzel. “All the work that we do at the center is focused on the community and community needs, and we respond to community needs. So I'm approaching serving on the VPHA board in the same way — how can I serve them? How can I help them?"
Among the projects Wenzel is currently involved with through the Center for Public Health Practice and Research are an evaluation of a community engagement strategy to address the opioid epidemic in three Virginia communities and research on training for peer recovery specialists.
The Virginia Public Health Association is a nonprofit organization founded in 1950 to help strengthen public health practice, foster health equity, and promote sound public health policy across the commonwealth of Virginia.
Wenzel said she began attending VPHA conferences a few years ago, and gradually developed relationships with board members and officers, until she was approached about joining the board.
"Right around COVID, they decided to really grow their annual conference,” Wenzel said. “And it's been amazing seeing it grow — just the number of new members, new member organizations. The conference is huge now."
Planning the next conference is part of Wenzel’s role, and, as a professor, she is already deeply invested in strengthening public health practice and health equity. “I’m training the future pipeline every day,” she said.
But the group’s third focus, that of influencing public health policy, is fairly new to Wenzel and something she is looking forward to becoming more informed about and involved in.
“I haven't delved into policy and advocacy much, but it's something I'm really interested in, so I'm looking forward to working with them on that,” Wenzel said.
Serving on the board of directors for an agency influencing Virginia’s public health practice and policy is another building block on Wenzel’s long public health career that has already included a stint with the Centers for Disease Control and practice roles in Pennsylvania, Alaska, and Virginia before entering academia at Virginia Tech.
"It's always nice to be in a room with other people that you know care about the public's health, care about underserved populations,” Wenzel said. “I felt very honored to have been selected. I know there are many very capable and knowledgeable public health professionals out there."
