MEPHLI Program

The Monterey County Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute (MEPHLI) is a fourteen month leadership academy designed to mirror the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute (EPHLI) program. MEPHLI achieves the vision of John Ramirez, Director of the Health Department's Environmental Health Bureau and Ric Encarnacion, Assistant Director, to bring to the county a local version of the CDC's Leadership Academy. Ramirez and Encarnacion are EPHLI graduates and wanted to offer the leadership development opportunities to all staff.

MEPHLI's inaugural launch began in 2014 and graduated its first cohort in October of 2015. Cohort III began in July 2016 and using local trainers and program resources, leadership training courses covering the following topics were presented:

• EQ (Emotional Quotient) 360 Development Survey
• Creating a Professional Development Plan
• The Health Department's Core Functions and Ten Essential Services Review
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
• Project Management
• Systems Thinking

In addition, cohort members are required to present an individual project that addresses one or more of the Health Department's Ten Essential Services as well as a PowerPoint presentation at graduation. Projects are created with the intention that they will evolve over time and do not end with graduation.

Why MEPHLI?

The institute was developed to strengthen the country’s environmental public health system by enhancing the leadership capabilities of state and local environmental public health specialists. Emphasis is placed on:

• Enhancing strategic visioning and direction-setting skills through critical thinking and analysis (systems thinking), political effectiveness, and organizational and team development;
• Using the core functions of public health as a foundation for achieving environmental public health goals;
• Creating proactive environmental public health leaders who can mobilize resources in response to the changing public health environment (core competencies);
• Enhancing the performance outcomes of the essential services of environmental public health; and
• Promoting and improving the delivery of environmental public health services to communities.

NACCHO 2019 Model Practices Webinar

PDF Presentation

MEPHLI Cohorts & their Projects

Cohort One: I

Cohort Two: II

Cohort Three: III

Cohort Four: IV

Cohort Five: V (In Progress)

See Presentations from our 2017 Graduation