Stephanie Bailey, MD, MSHSA

Stephanie Bailey, MD, MSHSA, is a native of Denton, Maryland. She received her BS in Psychology from Clark University, Worchester, Massachusetts; her MD from Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee; and performed her residency in Internal Medicine at Grady Memorial/Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She later obtained a Masters of Science in Health Services Administration from the College of St. Francis. During medical school training, she was a National Health Service Corp. recipient and later fulfilled that obligation in rural Dickson County. Dr. Bailey began her career at the Metro Nashville Public Health Department in 1981 as Medical Advisor for the East Nashville Clinic. From this position, she advanced to Medical Director/Director of Health Services Administration in 1988; Acting Director of Health in January 1995; and in May 1995 was appointed Director of Health. Under her management, the department's budget has increased from $27 million to its current level of over $43 million. There are 585 employees. She is known for integrity, being a change agent/systems thinker, initiative, fairness, enthusiasm, flexibility, loyalty and motivation to achieve results, asking the hard questions, ability to productively and cooperatively contribute to team efforts, inclusiveness, leadership abilities, management skills, and vision.

Helping the city of Nashville become one of the best-managed cities in the world, has become one of Dr. Bailey's passions. To that end, she led the Managing for Results Initiative in Nashville - spearheading this management transformation for Metro Government. Dr. Bailey successfully advocated for and received a budget increase from $24,000,000 to $40,000,000 during her tenure as Director of Health.

She sits on the Board of Directors for the Nashville Academy of Medicine, United Way, the Cumberland Valley Girl Scouts, and Character Counts. She is an active member of all of the appropriate organizations of her profession and career e.g., APHA, TPHA, AMA, NAM, R.F. Boyd Medical Society, Southern Health, and TMA. She is a Past President of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). As NACCHO Board member she chaired the workgroup that developed the PACE-EH (Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health) tool. Dr. Bailey has been appointed to three National Committees: the Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET), the Advisory Board to the Director of CDC, and the National Rural Health Committee. In 1999 she was appointed by the Governor of Tennessee to sit on the Environmental Justice Board. In May 1999, Dr. Bailey was selected to serve as co-chair for the CDC Task Force for Public Health Workforce Development and have served as Senior Consultant to the Public Health Practice and Program Office, CDC, for local Public Health practice. She is a Rotarian.

Her professional honors include being the recipient of the 1989 Middle Tennessee Outstanding Leaders and Achievers Award, the 1996 National Urban League Whitney M. Young Jr. Medical Award, 1998 inductee into the YWCA Academy of Women of Achievement, 1998 Recipient Citizenship Award from Northwest Civitan and ATHENA nominee in 2002. She is also a graduate of Leadership Nashville, a nominee to the International Who's Who Among Professionals, and a year 6 graduate of the National Public Health Leadership Institute. Dr. Bailey is a published author and has spoken nationally, regionally, and locally on many subjects, including testimony before a Senate Subcommittee. She is featured in the book Journey to Leadership: Profiles of Women Leaders in Public Health by Carol Woltring and Carole Barlas. On September 29, 1999, The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials honored Dr. Bailey with the "Excellence in Public Health Award" for local Leadership.

Dr. Bailey is married and has three children-two daughters and one son, and a host of hobbies.