Kristina Bell

My career has been rooted in public service from the very beginning. I started at the Department of Social Services in North Carolina, where I worked with benefit programs, taking applications for people to receive cash assistance. From there, I came back to Ohio and worked with the Children's Services Board for 12 years, focusing on at-risk youth and at-risk teens, partnering with school districts to help those children succeed. In 2008, I transitioned into public health, where I have been ever since. In my current role as Executive Director and Health Commissioner, which I began in September 2024, I lead a small agency where I wear many hats - I serve as the HR person, provide guidance for various programs, and work directly with our fiscal officer on budgeting. I oversee our Women, Infants, and Children's program, our adult clinic, child health clinic, and prenatal clinic, as well as our environmental health division that does food inspections and water and septic inspections. My responsibilities include working on policies and procedures, ensuring we meet all Ohio Revised Code requirements, and constantly pursuing grant writing to find funding sources to help us continue our programming. My most notable professional achievement was developing a school health program across 23 various buildings in the county, instilling health programs and health education into daily learning in classrooms, and assisting schools with writing grants that brought in $200,000 in additional funding for health education programming.