Episode #478 One Year Leading Baltimore Health, With Michelle Taylor, MD, MPH
On This Episode Of The Public Health Epidemiology Conversations (PHEC) Podcast
A One Year Anniversary Update from Baltimore's Health Commissioner
What happens when three different people tell you that you're meant for a job you never considered applying for? For Dr. Michelle Taylor, Commissioner of Health for the Baltimore City Health Department, that's exactly how her current role found her. In this catch up conversation, Dr. Huntley welcomes Dr. Taylor back to the podcast to mark her first year leading one of the country's most storied local health departments.
A Pediatrician's Path Into Public Health Leadership
Dr. Taylor's journey started in Memphis, Tennessee, where a mentor introduced her to community health long before she knew the term "public health." She trained as a pediatrician, built a career in Shelby County, Tennessee, and thought she had her next few decades mapped out. Then a mentorship conversation with a former Baltimore health commissioner turned into a phone call from a search firm, a late night application, and a job offer that changed everything.
Wins Worth Celebrating in Baltimore City Health
Dr. Taylor shares real progress from her first year on the job. That includes reviving community immunization outreach, expanding a decades old harm reduction program that helped drive down HIV rates, and growing Be More for Healthy Babies, an infant mortality initiative now narrowing the gap in outcomes between Black and white babies in Baltimore. She also discusses the city's coordinated response to a mass overdose event that saved every life involved, and how that response is now shaping citywide emergency planning.
Leadership Advice for Every Career Stage
Dr. Taylor closes with practical guidance for listeners at any point in their public health career. She talks about preparing your team for work that hasn't arrived yet, investing in the people you lead, and why she believes public health professionals have a moral obligation to avoid burnout. It's a conversation about persistence, mentorship, and what's possible when the right people push you toward an opportunity you didn't know you wanted.
About Our Guest
Dr. Michelle Taylor, MD, MPH
Dr. Michelle Taylor is the Commissioner of Health for the Baltimore City Health Department, a position she has held for one year. Before Baltimore, she served for four years as the Director and Health Officer for the Shelby County Health Department in Memphis, Tennessee, leading the department through the COVID-19 pandemic and into its recovery period.
Dr. Taylor is a pediatrician by training. She completed her undergraduate studies at Howard University, attended medical school at East Tennessee State University, and completed her pediatric residency between East Tennessee and the University of Tennessee in Memphis. She practiced full-time pediatrics before pursuing a master's degree in epidemiology through a program designed to train primary care physicians as community-based researchers, a path that took her to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
A native of Memphis, Dr. Taylor credits her mentor, Dr. William Terrell Jr., with introducing her to community health during her undergraduate years. She is also a graduate of the Emerging Leaders program through the Milbank Memorial Fund, where her mentor was Josh Sharfstein, a former Commissioner of Health for Baltimore City. Dr. Taylor is a mother and has spoken openly about balancing her medical career with raising her family.
Listen To This Episode Of The Public Health Epidemiology Conversations (PHEC) Podcast
Conversation Highlights
A mentor's early influence can shape an entire career.
Dr. Taylor credits Dr. William Terrell Jr., who she worked alongside during her undergraduate summers in Memphis, with teaching her about community health before she even knew the term "public health" existed.
Sometimes the right opportunity requires stepping out on faith.
Dr. Taylor's pivot from full-time pediatrics to public health began with a spontaneous question to a colleague, followed by an unplanned application to a research training program that covered her tuition and salary while she earned her master's in epidemiology.
Opportunities can find you through the people who believe in you.
Two friends and a new mentor, Josh Sharfstein, independently encouraged Dr. Taylor to apply for the Baltimore commissioner role before she believed it was possible for her, showing the value of a strong professional network.
Reviving basic community outreach rebuilds trust.
Bringing back coordinated immunization events and increasing the health department's visible presence in neighborhoods reminded both staff and residents of the department's ongoing value.
Long-running public health initiatives can still deliver new wins.
The city's 17-year-old Be More for Healthy Babies program has reduced infant mortality and narrowed the disparity between Black and white infant death rates, results significant enough that a private foundation is now funding national technical assistance based on the model.
Coordinated emergency response saves lives.
After a mass overdose event affected approximately 27 people with zero fatalities, Baltimore used the lessons learned to build a citywide mass overdose response plan now included in the city's overall emergency planning.
Investing in your team pays off long term.
Dr. Taylor emphasizes preparing staff for future responsibilities and supporting their professional development, including sending health department employees back to school for advanced degrees at Johns Hopkins.
"Every step along the way, somebody saw something in me and said, okay, you've done this, you've gone this far, take a few more steps." - Dr. Michelle Taylor
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Public Health Consulting
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.
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