Health director nominee shaped by Memphis
Dr. Taylor happy to serve community that ‘made all of this possible’
Dr. Michelle Taylor’s appointment as director of the Shelby County Health Department would not be possible without the community that shaped her, she said Wednesday.
“I love this county. I love Memphis. I grew up here. … The community that has nurtured me has made all of this possible,” Taylor said. “I have taken Shelby County and Memphis with me everywhere I’ve gone through my education and professional experience and I’m looking forward to returning to serve the residents of Shelby County and to serve the Shelby County Health Department, which has some of the most dedicated employees and staff that I’ve ever had the pleasure to serve with.”
Taylor appeared for the first time Wednesday before the Shelby County Commission in its general government committee. She is expected to receive approval of the full commission Monday.
She will come to a department that has been led by an interim director since the resignation of Alisa Haushalter in February, amid a state investigation into wasted and stockpiled vaccines.
“I couldn’t be prouder to advance the nomination of Dr. Michelle Taylor as the next director of the Shelby County Health Department,” said Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris. “I believe Dr. Taylor is well qualified for this job and this moment … She was molded here in Memphis and Shelby County and therefore represents the best of our community. She also represents a return of our best back home.”
‘A full-circle moment’
The formative experiences that lead her to a career in medicine and public health occurred while she was a kid living in Memphis, Taylor told The Commercial Appeal.
An aunt and a cousin both passed away from different types of cancer before Taylor graduated high school, and before her own bout with breast cancer.
“It just solidified that I knew that there were whole communities that were dealing with this level of illness, and they weren’t always in-the-know about what that meant,” Taylor said of grappling with significant losses.
Wednesday, Taylor elaborated on her background in public health. While pursuing her doctorate at Johns Hopkins University, she returned to Memphis, where she worked at the Shelby County Health Department.
There, Taylor started out as the maternal and child health and emergency preparedness physician. Eventually, she was promoted to associate medical director and deputy administrator for maternal and child health, where she oversaw childhood infant mortality reduction in the county.
“This really is a full-circle moment for me, because I really enjoyed my work at the Shelby County Health Department before and I’m looking forward to getting back to that and doing even more for the community,” she said.
Before her degrees at Harvard and Johns Hopkins, Taylor held a master of science in epidemiology from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, a doctor of medicine from East Tennessee State University and a bachelor of science in biology.
In her first round with the health department between 2014 and 2016, Taylor was part of a collaborative effort aimed at reducing the county’s infant mortality rate, which was the highest in the nation in 2006
“Do we need to talk to new moms about [securing] transportation to their clinic appointments?” Taylor said. “Who can provide rides if they’re not on a bus route? Do we need to talk to MLGW about their utilities? Who do we need to talk to at the neonatal intensive care unit?”
A health department weathered by the pandemic
The practice of thinking about how facets of everyday life can play a role in public health could come in handy if Taylor is appointed. She will be tasked with overseeing the department’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which appears to have staying power as new variants continue to yield new cases and hospitalizations.
And just as she did in her work on the infant mortality rate, Taylor plans to further the department’s role in providing critical information to the public.
“I believe in leading with data, and I believe in being fully transparent,” Taylor said.
In addition to inheriting the pandemic response, Taylor will likely inherit some level of public distrust leftover from the state’s investigation into instances where COVID-19 vaccines were mishandled.
It’s not lost on Taylor that she is applying for a position during a time where healthcare workers and public health workers, exhausted from being on the receiving end of public backlash against basic infectious disease prevention measures like masks and vaccines, are quitting in droves.
Taylor said she’s not willing to let politicization deter her from the opportunity to lead.
“Coming in,” Taylor said, “one of the things that my leadership style will focus on is building the morale of the employees and staff that are there, assuring them that they are still some of the hardest working folks that I ever had the privilege of working with.”
Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.
Katherine Burgess is a reporter covering religion and county government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com.