"Public Health and Preventive Medicine" with Matthew McKenna, MD

Dr. Matthew T. McKenna is a Professor in Emory School of Medicine, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine where he has been director of the Division of Preventive Medicine for almost two years. He has extensive experience in public health and preventive medicine. From 1989 – 2000, he worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and before joining the Emory faculty he was the Medical Director for the Fulton County (the county where the city of Atlanta is located) Department of Health and Wellness from 2010 to 2015. Dr. McKenna is a graduate of the Emory University School of Medicine, and he completed his residency in Family Medicine and a post-doctoral fellowship in epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh. He was involved in several programs during his career at CDC including Cancer Prevention and Control, Tuberculosis, HIV and his last position at CDC was as the Director of the Office on Smoking and Health. He is Board Certified in Family Medicine and General Preventive Medicine and Public Health. Though most of his prevention work has involved the demographic and social determinants of health, Dr. McKenna continued to practice primary care throughout his career. In his current position he continues to provide medical services to patients in the Emory Family Medicine clinic, and he is committed to engaging a full spectrum of health care providers in the learning and practice of health care prevention, lifestyle change, and population health. He also continues to serve on the editorial and advisory boards for a variety of public health organizations, and publications, and he works hard to use his bicycle as a primary mode of transportation whenever possible. This is a conversation about ways to improve public health in communities and a power of each individual to make an impact. It is also a conversation about making changes in our personal lives - simple steps that, when incorporated in every-day life, make a big difference. This includes behaviors, simple principles around food, exercise and stress management.