Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice

at University of South Florida’s College of Public Health

The University of South Florida College of Public Health’s Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice was founded for the purpose of providing training for the Florida Department of Health workforce. In recent years, the focus of that training has been leadership development for rising leaders within the department under the auspices of a program called the Public Health Executive Leadership Program (PHELP).

AREAS OF EXPERTISE
  • Leadership in Public Health Practice
  • Population Health Improvement
  • Systems Thinking
KEY PARTNERS
  • Florida Department of Health
STAFF

 

Marissa J. Levine, MD, MPH, FAAFP

Director
mjlevine@usf.edu

Dr. Marissa Levine is a Professor of Public Health Practice at the University of South Florida (USF) College of Public Health (COPH) and collaborating faculty to the Department of Family Medicine at the USF Morsani College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida. Her primary focus is on sustainable and equitable population health improvement. Dr. Levine directs the USF Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice at COPH where she teaches a positive, strength-based, systems thinking approach to leading in complex contexts.

Dr. Levine completed 16 years of state government service culminating in being appointed as the Virginia State Health Commissioner and agency head for the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) from 2014-2018. Dr. Levine previously held leadership positions at local health departments within VDH from 2002 until 2009 and then VDH deputy commissioner positions from 2009 to 2014. During that time, she was involved in the state’s response to the H1N1 pandemic. As Commissioner, Dr. Levine led the effort to create an action framework for population health improvement called Virginia’s Plan for Well-Being and also led significant public health emergency preparedness and response activities as the state ESF-8 lead. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Levine has been a public health advisor at local, state, and national levels, as well as a frequent media guest expert.

Dr. Levine is a retired family physician with 16 years of medical practice experience who also received a Masters of Public Health (MPH) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her MD from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York, and completed family practice residency training at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

 

Parnia Roghani, MPH, CPH

Program Planner Analyst
proghani@usf.edu
coph-clphp@usf.edu

Parnia graduated with her Masters of Public Health from the University of South Florida in 2020. She currently serves at USF’s College of Public Health as a Program Planner Analyst in the Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice. In this role, Parnia coordinates programs and trainings for the Center, as it has seen remarkable growth in the past few years.

Previously, Parnia served as a Florida Epidemic Intelligence Service Fellow under the Overdose Data to Action grant at the Florida Department of Health. Through this, Parnia worked closely with the Sheriff’s Office, hospitals, schools, and other community partners to share data and solutions on reducing opioid overdoses in the community. She has also implemented campaigns and programs such as Deactivate Opioids for a Safer Community, Use Only As Directed, and #ChangetheLanguage to decrease stigma and increase awareness of the opioid epidemic.

Parnia is Certified in Public Health. She is a member of the Alliance for Substance Addiction Prevention (ASAP), and serves as co-chair for the opioid committee, and sits on the Pasco County Opioid Taskforce. Parnia is also the secretary on the board of the Florida Public Health Association and is a member of The American Public Health Association.