Gail C. Christopher, D.N., Immediate Past Chair, TFAH Board of Directors

It is my privilege to welcome you to the 2021 Trust for America’s Health Annual Report. During the year, our nation and the public health system continued to work to protect lives and to overcome the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many lessons continue to be learned as a result of this crisis, including the ways centuries of structural racism put communities of color at heightened risk during a health emergency. It is my distinct hope that these lessons will not only lead to change but to transformation, and TFAH has an important role to play in that process.

One of the important lessons of the pandemic is how destructive misinformation and disinformation can be. In addition, we have witnessed the corrosive, even deadly, effect partisanship can have on the public’s health. But there is also good news. During the pandemic, nutrition access, financial security, and access to healthcare were preserved and, for some families, improved due to policy responses to the crisis. These, as we know, are social factors that determine the opportunity to be healthy and are central to TFAH’s work. Keeping these policy advancements in place is front and center to TFAH’s on-going work.

TFAH, through our outreach to Congress and other policymakers, our reports, special projects and initiatives, work with allied organizations, and response to news media is helping to drive policy change. I’m very proud of this work.

I want to particularly congratulate our President and CEO, Dr. J. Nadine Gracia on her first full year in that role after serving as TFAH’s Executive Vice President and COO for three and a half years. Through her superb leadership, Dr.Gracia is facilitating and managing organizational growth in TFAH’s external communications, government relations, strategic initiatives, and partnerships, and in its internal business management functions. My thanks and kudos go to the entire TFAH staff for their skillful work and their dedication to the mission.

Finally, I want to thank my fellow board members who continue to generously give their time and expertise to the organization. Their input helps guide TFAH in ways that brings us closer to our goal of optimal health for every person and in every community.