Graham Briggs leaving position as director of Olmsted County Public Health Services
After serving as the director of Olmsted County Public Health Services (OCPHS) for the past three years, Graham Briggs has decided to leave his position in Olmsted County to pursue other opportunities.
Briggs joined Olmsted County in June 2018 with more than 20 years of experience in Public Health. During his tenure, Briggs oversaw the passage of the county’s ordinance changing the age for tobacco use to 21 years, a move subsequently adopted by the state of Minnesota. He was recognized with the “Emerging Public Health Leader of the Year” award in 2019 by Minnesota’s Local Public Health Association, comprised of all local public health directors statewide. His focus on building community relationships and data-driven decision-making was critical while the county began the largest mobilization in its history as COVID-19 emerged. He has spent the last 22 months overseeing the county’s response to the pandemic and one of the most challenging periods of its existence.
“Graham remains a trusted leader for our entire community,” said Olmsted County Administrator Heidi Welsch. “Not only did he lead our county’s COVID response efforts, but he also oversaw other essential public health activities that continued throughout the pandemic.”
Welsch expressed gratitude to Briggs for his service overall but especially for keeping the community well-informed about COVID-19.
“Graham led the department, county, local businesses, and community through a generational pandemic. His expertise and leadership were a fixture for our residents,” said Welsch.
Briggs is thankful for the experience of leading OCPHS and excited about what the future holds.
“I am so proud of Olmsted County’s public health team and our response in the pandemic. It’s taken a community-wide effort to navigate through the last couple of years and our efforts have saved lives,” said Briggs. “Olmsted County is in a position to emerge from the pandemic more quickly with a rebounding economy and stronger ties between all of our residents. I look forward to my next step while Olmsted County takes its next as well.”
Olmsted County will soon be seeking a new director of OCPHS. In the interim, Associate Directors of OCPHS Denise Daniels and Michael Melius will be sharing OCPHS director duties for the organization.
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Media Contact: Gretchen Williamson, Communications Manager, 507-328-6024