Episode #439 Reimagining Public Health's Future, With Montrece McNeill Ransom, JD, MPH

Laura Hollabaugh
2 days ago
7 min read

On This Episode Of The Public Health Epidemiology Conversations (PHEC) Podcast

What do you do when the infrastructure you've spent decades building starts crumbling around you? This year has tested public health professionals in ways many never imagined, but Montrece McNeill Ransom, JD, MPH, sees something most of us might have missed. An opportunity.

When Law Meets Public Health

Montrece's journey into public health wasn't planned. She was unfamiliar with public health when she accepted her position at CDC fresh out of law school. As a single mother navigating law school with a full scholarship, she had envisioned courtrooms and legal drama, not epidemiologists and emergency operations centers. Then 9/11 happened, and everything changed. Working in CDC's Emergency Operations Center fielding calls about anthrax threats, Montrece discovered a truth that would shape her entire career. There is no public health without the law. Law isn't just the foundation of governmental public health work, it's one of the most powerful interventions available for creating population-level change.

The Belonging Revolution in Public Health

After two decades at CDC leading groundbreaking public health law training and workforce initiatives, Montrece now directs the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training. Her work extends beyond traditional training into territory that many organizations are afraid to touch right now: belonging. The science is compelling. When people feel they belong, performance increases significantly. In a field facing workforce losses and systematic dismantling, that insight represents more than just interesting research. It represents survival.

Dr. Huntley and Montrece explore why diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts can successfully recruit people to public health but often fail to keep them. The missing piece? Belonging. Montrece explains how lived experiences must be recognized as expertise, how authenticity cannot be optional, and why creating spaces where everyone can show up fully is not just good practice but essential for achieving health equity goals.

Reimagining Public Health Infrastructure

The conversation takes an unexpected turn when discussing the Public Health Infrastructure Grant and the massive changes facing the field in 2025. Rather than dwelling on what's being lost, Montrece challenges listeners to ask a different question: Was our system of public health so good before? The grant existed because improvements were desperately needed. Now, facing unprecedented disruption, public health has a chance to rebuild from the ground up with intention.

Montrece shares insights from her work with health systems change thinking and futurists who are mapping what public health could become. The vision requires substance over form, creative collaboration across disciplines, and an abundance mindset. Most importantly, it demands that seasoned professionals make space for new voices with fresh perspectives who can lead the field into its next era.

The Communication Gap We Can Actually Fix

One of the most actionable insights from this conversation centers on something every public health professional can address immediately: communication. When Dr. Huntley shares her vision for collecting stories that explain public health in plain language, Montrece adds a perspective that shifts the entire frame. We need to go to elementary schools. Just as children taught adults to wear seat belts, young people can become ambassadors for public health in their families and communities. They can spread the message more effectively than we can.

The discussion reveals how public health's invisibility stems partly from our failure to communicate what we do in language that resonates with people's values. Everyone values public health when they understand how it protects them. The challenge is meeting people where they are and talking about the work through the lens of people, not systems or science.

What Students Need to Hear Right Now

For students and emerging professionals wondering if they should abandon their public health aspirations given current uncertainties, Montrece delivers a clear message: Don't major in anything else. The human need will always exist. What's happening now will only spotlight that need more dramatically. While it's painful to acknowledge, deaths and illness will demonstrate why this work matters. Professionals like Montrece and Dr. Huntley are actively working to keep space open for the next generation, ensuring there's a field to enter in five or ten years.

The Intergenerational Imperative

Perhaps the most powerful call to action comes at the end of the conversation. Public health meetings are dominated by people over 50 whose vision was shaped 50 years ago. The field needs vision that looks 50 years forward. Cross-generational work, bringing together long-term insight with innovative thinking, is where transformation happens. Seasoned professionals must do better at passing the baton, moving out of the way, and allowing new leaders to shape public health's future.

This conversation offers both reality check and roadmap. Public health cannot be made to disappear because the human need persists. The path forward requires reimagining systems, prioritizing substance over form, communicating effectively with communities, and ensuring new professionals have space to lead with fresh perspectives.

About Our Guest

Montrece McNeill Ransom, JD, MPH, PCC, BCC

Montrece McNeill Ransom is the founder and CEO of The Empowermenteur Coaching and Consulting Group, a dynamic global keynote speaker, and leadership coach dedicated to unlocking human potential through belonging. As an ICF-certified executive leadership coach and DEI-certified belonging strategist, she leverages over 20 years of expertise in public health, law, training, and workforce development.

Her distinguished career includes two decades at CDC, where she spearheaded groundbreaking public health law training and workforce initiatives. Montrece holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Alabama, a Master of Public Health from Emory University, and an Executive Leadership Coaching Certification from Georgetown University, along with advanced training in diversity, equity, inclusion, and facilitation.

Currently serving as Director of the National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training within the National Network of Public Health Institutes, Montrece also serves as Co-PI on the Public Health Infrastructure Grant. Her numerous accolades include recognition as one of Entrepreneur Mogul's Top 5 Most Influential Coaches of 2021, the ABA Health Law Section's 2019 Champion of Diversity and Inclusion, and the American Public Health Association's 2017 Jennifer Robbins Award for the Practice of Public Health Law.

Montrece is the former President of the American Society for Law, Medicine, and Ethics, serves on multiple boards including Health Career Connections and the National Vaccine Law Association, and has authored or contributed to over 40 journal articles. She is Co-Editor of Public Health Law: Concepts and Case Studies.

Listen To This Episode Of The Public Health Epidemiology Conversations (PHEC) Podcast

Conversation Highlights

Public health is a mindset that's needed everywhere.

As governmental public health faces funding cuts and workforce disruptions, professionals must think creatively about where public health principles can be applied beyond traditional settings. This moment offers an opportunity to infiltrate spaces that haven't previously centered public health thinking.

Belonging increases performance significantly.

When people feel they belong in their work environment, their performance dramatically increases. For a field focused on reducing health disparities and achieving health equity, creating spaces where everyone feels seen, valued, and heard isn't optional, it's essential for reaching those goals.

Law is the foundation of public health work.

There is no public health without law. While not everyone needs a law degree, public health professionals must recognize law as both a social determinant of health and a critical tool in their toolkit. When scientific insight combines with legal might, population-level change becomes possible.

We need to start public health education in elementary schools.

Just as children taught adults to wear seat belts, young people can become powerful ambassadors for public health in their families and communities. Getting into elementary schools to define and characterize public health for children could shift how entire communities understand and value the field.

This is an opportunity to reimagine public health infrastructure.

Rather than simply mourning what's being dismantled, the field has a chance to ask what a rebuilt public health system should actually look like. Working with futurists and health systems change experts, leaders are mapping what public health could become over the next 10 to 20 years.

Intergenerational collaboration is where transformation happens.

Public health meetings are dominated by professionals over 50 whose vision was shaped decades ago. The field needs vision that looks 50 years forward, which requires seasoned professionals to pass the baton and make space for new leaders to shape the future.

Public health cannot be made to disappear.

Regardless of political changes or funding cuts, the human need for public health will persist. When that need becomes more visible through unfortunate consequences, the field must be ready with professionals trained to respond and systems designed to work effectively.

"There is no public health in this country without the law. Law is the foundation of the work that we do, especially in governmental public health. And law is a huge intervention. It's when you couple that scientific insight with legal might that you actually see changes in population health."- Montrece McNeill Ransom

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DrCHHuntley LLC is a public health consulting firm that specializes in epidemiology consulting, supporting large nonprofit organizations in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida that serve Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). We also provide nationwide public health consulting and epidemiology consulting support to BIPOC organizations across the United States.