Ed Kalas, R.E.H.S., MPH

Shawnee County Health Agency

Topeka  KS  66618

Biography

Ed serves as the Environmental/Consumer Protection Division Manager of the Shawnee County Health Agency, Topeka, Kansas. He has been involved in environmental health for the last 15 years and currently supervises staff in water/wastewater, air quality, child care licensing, lead poisoning prevention, and food safety education. He has served on the board of the Kanasas Public Health Association for the last 6 years and is currently past-president and environmental health section chair. Recently, he was accepted as a member of the MAPP (Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships) workgroup at the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) and will be working on how to best integrate MAPP with other national public health initiatives.

Ed has a BA in English from Old Dominion University and and MPH from the University of Oklahoma.

Leadership Development Opportunities

The personality assessments and systems thinking assignments were, for me, what made the Institute the most worthwhile. Knowing more about who I apparently am and how others may view me was very enlightening. And, even though, I’ve always considered myself a “big picture” thinker, learning how to label processes and having a logical progression of how to think about a problem are amazingly helpful.

Of course, a common experience like this institute brings people together in a way that doesn’t happen very often. Knowing that professionals like this year’s group of scholars think about public health, especially environmental health, the same way I do is comforting and motivating.