PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR
Mayor Susan J.M. Bauman has announced the selection of Dr. Kathryn N. Vedder as her choice to become the new Director of Public Health for the City of Madison.
"I am very pleased that our national search for a new Public Health Director has found in Dr. Vedder a forceful administrator with a strong background in a variety of public health settings," Mayor Bauman said. "Her extensive practical experience managing unified public health systems will serve us all well as we proceed in a similar direction. Her proven leadership will ensure quality public health programs into the future for Madison residents," Bauman added.
"I am delighted to be coming to Madison," Dr. Vedder said. "It is a wonderful community with an exceptional public health department. I've enjoyed meeting many highly qualified people who work there while I was being considered for the director's position. I look forward to working closely with them and others as we seize the opportunity to build new bridges through our public health unification efforts," Vedder concluded.
Dr. Vedder has worked in public health at the state, federal, and local levels after a "first" career in academic medicine and administration. She is a graduate of Nicolet High School in Glendale (WI), Northwestern University, Northwestern University Medical School, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is Board Certified in Pediatrics.
From 1998 - 2001, Dr. Vedder served as the Executive Director of Salt Lake Valley Health Department in Salt Lake City, Utah, a city-county local health department, where she supervised about 400 employees working with a $26 million budget. Previously she served as the Director of the Department of Health and Hospitals for the City of St. Louis, where she supervised about 500 employees working with a $28 million budget.
Since 1908, the Madison Department of Public Health has acted to promote wellness, prevent disease, and assure a healthful environment in the city of Madison. The department's 95 employees provide comprehensive public health services, some of which include immunization clinics, communicable disease and environmental epidemiology, food protection, recreational and drinking water protection, animal control, and community health assessment.
The Common Council approved the appointment on May 9, 2002.