Megan Folkerth’s love for public health lies in the intersection between supporting local communities while creating lasting, system level change.
She is the Senior Director of Strategy and Programs at Interact for Health, a regional foundation focused on advancing health justice by tackling root causes, as well as the Ohio SOPHE chapter President.
As Folkerth puts it, while it isn’t a traditional public health role she is “very squarely in the public health space. Our focus is on the conditions that surround someone’s health.”
Her love for public policy started with her work on comprehensive tobacco policy efforts, but it did not stop there. She was emboldened to continue her passion for public policy and went on to work on a variety of local policy efforts since her public health career started in 2008. Throughout these experiences, Folkerth came to appreciate just how expansive the field of public health is and the impact it can make on populations.
When asked what was so captivating about this field of work, Folkerth took me back to when she graduated with her masters. Her focus was on health promotion and education, but as she began working in the field, she gained a greater understanding of just how powerful policy work could be. She believes that programs are most effective when paired with policy and systems-level change.
“If we never change the conditions and environments people live in, then we are fighting for behavior change at the individual level,” she said.
Through this work, Folkerth saw the opportunity to create more permanent, long-lasting solutions built on the framework of successful programs. She says she loves how local policy is based in a sense of community: “Your elected officials are your neighbors. It’s personal and you are able to engage with your community to advance these important changes.”
This sense of community lies at the heart of her work, both with Interact for Health, as well as with Ohio SOPHE.
Just as effective public health policy depends on collaboration across communities and disciplines, Folkerth views her work with Ohio SOPHE as another opportunity to bring people together around a common goal. She and the chapter leadership have spent the past two years building the infrastructure to sustain the organization long term and in turn reach more health education professionals.
What she values most are the connections it has given her, a network of professionals who share her commitment to public health and health education but work in entirely different sectors. For Folkerth, this reinforces one of her core beliefs in public health: meaningful progress comes from diverse disciplines coming together to make a change.
After our conversation, I realized that one of the most inspiring aspects of Folkerth’s career is her passion for the work that goes unseen. While a packed courtroom or the creation of new legislation is often celebrated, Folkerth believes that the true value lies in the early work put in that lead to those moments. The larger processes such as building relationships, developing policy, and engaging communities are what lay the groundwork for that change, and that work is a hallmark of Folkerth’s career. This attention to the behind-the-scenes work reflects a larger truth about public health.
“The most important public health successes are invisible,” she said.
Her career serves as a reminder that lasting change is not always measured by what is immediately visible, but by the systems that quietly improve health and create healthier communities for generations to come.
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This blog post was written by Laya Raju, a student at Boston University who is passionate about information accessibility, community advocacy, and health equity within the field of public health.
