Lisa Macon Harrison, MPH local health director in Granville and Vance Counties in North Carolina, has worked at the intersection of public health research and practice in North Carolina since 1995. Ms. Harrison’s areas of expertise and public health leadership and training include:

  • Advocating for the Public Health Workforce and Rural Health
  • Working with partners to establish the NC Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN)
  • Training the public health workforce in Evidence-Based Public Health Approaches
  • Establishing the Quality Improvement training program for the NC Division of Public Health (NCDPH) with a focus on applying QI tools in LEAN and the Model for Improvement
  • Directing the NC Office of Healthy Carolinians and Health Education at NCDPH
  • Leading the North Carolina Public Health Incubator Collaboratives Program
  • Directing the Southeast Public Health Leadership Institute (SEPHLI)

Ms. Harrison previously worked with the NC Center for Public Health Quality, the NC Division of Public Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a Public Health Infrastructure grant for performance improvement.  

Lisa has a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health, a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC Chapel Hill.  She is a co-author on more than 30 peer-reviewed publications in public health. Lisa remains associated with UNC-Chapel Hill as an adjunct research associate in the Public Health Leadership Program, and as a consultant adjunct with the Duke University School of Nursing.  Lisa helped establish the Rural Academic Health Department model for GVPH which receives approximately $1,000,000 per year in grant funds. She served as President of the NC Public Health Association in 2015 and was elected to represent five southern states on the Board of Directors of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) 2018-2021. Lisa was also recently  invited to serve as a member of the NC Institute of Medicine for a five-year term beginning in 2019.