Health Commissioner Dr. Swannie Jett is pleased to announce Roland Lankah has been hired as the Assistant Health Director for the Brookline Department of Public Health.
Lankah started in his new role on Monday, March 01, 2021. In addition to assisting in the management of the overall, day-to-day operations and personnel of the Health department, he will oversee the Environmental Health Department, which consists of licensing, permitting, public health inspections and code enforcement activities.
“Roland brings years of experience and a wealth of knowledge regarding public and environmental health to this role,” Dr. Jett said. “He will play an important part in protecting the health and safety of our community, and we are thrilled to welcome him aboard and to work alongside him as he starts in this new role.”
Lankah is a registered environmental health specialist and licensed environmental health practitioner with more than eight years of public health experience. He has extensive leadership experience in establishing environmental health programs, including planning and developing policies and procedures related to environmental health compliance, such as sanitation, infection control, pest control, food safety, water, public health inspections, and disease surveillance and investigation.
Prior to joining the Brookline Department of Public Health, he worked as the Chief Environmental Health Specialist for the Cook County Sheriff’s Department in Illinois, where he helped plan and execute the policies and procedures related to the U.S. Department of Justice’s consent decree orders and the achievement of substantial compliance for the Cook County Department of Corrections. During the CoViD-19 pandemic, he led the the Infection Control and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) response, collaborating with public health agencies, such as the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Cermark Health and Hospital System, to develop and implement policies and guidelines that mitigated the spread of CoViD-19 infection within the detainee population. Lankah also worked as an Environmental Health Sanitarian for the DuPage County Health Department.
He holds a master’s degree in public health from Walden University and a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Southern Illinois University. He is currently a doctoral candidate in public health with an epidemiology emphasis at Walden University. His research uses cross-sectional study design, which focuses on the association between gestational weight gain, pre-pregnancy-BMI, maternal birth country, and infant mortality outcome within the U.S. Sub-Saharan African immigrant population.
“I am thrilled to serve in this role and to help support the great work done by all who work for the Town’s Department of Public Health,” Lankah said. “I look forward getting to know many of the community members in town and collaborating with my coworkers to help ensure residents receive the best possible service.”
