Iulia Vann

I think my success comes from a combination of personal determination, motivation, and the support system around me. I have always been a very goal-oriented person - once I set my mind on something, I pursue it with persistence and commitment until I achieve it. At the same time, I recognize that individual success is rarely achieved alone. My husband and my family have been an incredible source of encouragement throughout my career. They have supported me through every step, and at times that meant making sacrifices, including moments when my husband prioritized my professional growth over his own opportunities. I truly believe that their support, partnership, and belief in me have played a significant role in helping me become the leader I am today.

The best career advice I've received is to be intentional in the way that you want to take your career path. If that means you might need to step back in a role in order to position yourself in a place where you can be even more marketable for a higher role, maybe that's the way to do it. Maybe you don't need to stay in an organization for 10 years before you move on to something different, so you can grow your portfolio. Just be intentional with your career path. When I finished my MPH and started in the health department, I told myself I wanted to be a public health director in 5 years, and I took very intentional steps which led me to achieve my goal. By 2020, I was named the youngest public health director in North Carolina at age 33.

I've been in so many situations where I had to over-explain myself, I had to be overly prepared, I had to prove myself over and over in rooms that were not designed for me to be in. I'm not only a woman, I'm a young professional, and I'm an immigrant. I would just say that for anybody that finds themselves in this situation, they just need to be relentless. They need to make sure that their voice is never silenced. That's how we make a mark in this world, and that's how we bring the knowledge and the skills that we have, and we get other people to hear us.

The biggest challenge for public health right now is funding, which is always a challenge in public health with the fluctuations in the federal government and administration. Are we going to cut HIV funding today? Are we going to fund maternal health tomorrow? It's always shifting. Also, the workforce is always a challenge. We have a lot of people exiting the public health workforce, so trying to build that pipeline with new professionals coming in and attracting them to government jobs is difficult. Another major challenge is the trust of the people in public health. Right now, it's probably at an all-time low, where everything is questioned, from nutrition to vaccines. But as an opportunity, I would say that COVID brought awareness. People are more aware of what public health is doing and the role of public health. Our approach and our response is woven into the fabric of society, and you can't have a healthy and economically stable society without public health. So we have that opportunity now to be at the forefront.

For my work, I think that as a public health professional, because I have a lot of regulatory work that I'm responsible for, I believe that ethical values are critical. The community depends a lot on our policies and regulations, so implementing those in a very ethical way is very important. I think that empathy is also a huge piece for me. We work with a lot of disenfranchised communities. We work a lot from a health equity perspective. So having that type of empathy and emotional intelligence is important. And then also, just collaboration and partnerships. It's critical for us to be able to lean on other partners for our community.