About NACCHO

The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is the national organization representing the nation's approximately 2,800 local health departments (including city, county, metro, district, and tribal agencies). These departments work every day on the front lines to protect us and to promote the health of our communities.

NACCHO supports their efforts by calling for strong national policy, developing useful resources and programs, seeking health equity, and supporting effective local public health practice and systems.

Since its inception in 1993, NACCHO's staff has grown from five people to 100, most with MPH or PhD degrees in public health-related fields. A 32-member board of directors, comprising active local public health officials from diverse communities across the nation, governs NACCHO.

Robert M. (Bobby) Pestronk is the Executive Director and immediate past president of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). As the former Health Officer for Genesee County, Michigan, Pestronk enabled Genesee County’s 430,000 citizens to protect, promote, and improve their quality of life in partnership with community resources. As the director of the Genesee County Health Department he administered clinical, regulatory, and other human service programs in the areas of personal, community, behavioral, and environmental health.

Pestronk is a past board member of the Michigan Health Officers Association (of which he is a past president) and currently serves on the Board of the Michigan Association for Local Public Health. He is a Primary Care Policy Fellow through the United States Department of Health and Human Services and trained as a scholar through the Public Health Leadership Institute. He is past president of the Primary Care Fellowship Society and past president of the Public Health Leadership Society Council. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine Public Health Roundtable and of the National Advisory Committee for Turning Point: Collaborating for a New Century of Public Health. He was the first president of the Public Health Law Association. Pestronk received the John H. Romani Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Michigan School of Public Health Department of Public Health Policy and Administration and was presented the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Pestronk’s published work includes articles in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, the Journal of the American Public Health Association, Health Education and Behavior, Public Health Reports, and the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Chapters in books include those published by the American Public Health Association and Oxford University Press.