Moose Alperin Named President Elect of APHA

Melissa (Moose) Alperin, EdD, has felt the call to serve throughout her career in public health. Her decades of experience chairing committees, developing programs, and teaching have uniquely qualified her for a prestigious new leadership position: president-elect of the American Public Health Association (APHA). It is a challenging time for public health, but Alperin is ready to put in the work.

She was voted into the role by members of the organization’s governing council late last year and will serve as president elect, president, and immediate past president over the next three years.

Alperin is a longtime member of APHA with extensive service to the association through the Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section, Council of Affiliates, and Georgia Public Health Association. Most recently, her service also included an elected four-year term on APHA’s executive board, where she served as vice chair and then chair.

“With my time on the executive board coming to a close, I wasn’t ready for my service to the association to end,” says Alperin. “Running for president seemed like a logical way for me to continue to give back. So, I did, and I was fortunate enough to win.”

At Rollins, Alperin serves as director of online education, director of the Executive MPH program, director and principal investigator of the Region IV Public Health Training Center, and associate professor of practice in the Department of Behavioral, Social and Health Education Sciences.

Alperin says it’s her love of public health and the people affiliated with APHA that keeps her motivated to serve. “These are my chosen family and friends. They’re my people.”

During her presidential year, Alperin will have the opportunity to visit affiliates across the country and hear from practitioners about their public health experiences. Alperin’s background leading major training centers and programs (like those she heads at Rollins) make her uniquely attuned to workforce development. She notes she is eager to hear from colleagues across the nation and to find commonalities and examples of “what pulls us all together” across states and regions.

She also sees her role as president as an opportunity to advocate for public health, celebrate public health’s unsung heroes, and educate more people about what public health looks like in everyday practice.

“I think because of COVID, there are a lot of people that think they know what public health is, and in some cases they do,” she says. “But I do wonder if they understand the breadth of what public health truly touches.”

It is an unquestionably tough time for public health. Programs and the public health infrastructure have been destroyed. Miscommunication and misinformation abound. Alperin says that APHA has been at the forefront of advocating for and educating people about the importance of public health and speaking truth to power.

“This is an organization that is speaking out and is speaking truth. That’s important to me,” she says. “Part of that is being willing to talk not only with people that think like you but seeking out the people who don't think like you, and being willing to have difficult conversations. I want to be part of the solution, and to be on the right side of history when books get written about this time. I hope to be fearlessly part of the solution.”