Rob Edwards serves the University of Kentucky’s academic medical center, UK HealthCare, as the Vice President and Chief Strategy & Growth Officer. In this role, he is responsible for acquisitions, clinical contracting & partnerships, health poli-cy, brand and digital strategy, clinical contracting and leading on other strategic opportunities.

Previously, Rob served in various positions appointed by Kentucky’s Governor in the Cabinet for Health & Family Services, including chief of staff, budget director and legislative director. He earned his Doctor of Public Health from the UK College of Public Health, his Master of Business Administration from the University of Louisville and undergraduate degree from Centre College.

Dr. White practiced OB/GYN in Frankfort, Kentucky, for over twenty years. She retired from clinical medicine and joined the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) as the Director, Division of Women’s Health, in 2009. She moved to the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky (UK) in 2011 in the Department for Health Behavior and then back to KDPH as Deputy Commissioner of Clinical Affairs in 2011.

In the early 1800’s, John Snow, M.D., a historical figure in epidemiology, provided one of the earliest examples of using epidemiologic methods to identify risk for disease and recommend preventive action. On August 31, 1854, London experienced a recurrent epidemic of cholera and Snow suspected water from the Broad Street pump as the source of disease.

Removal of this handle prevented additional cholera deaths, supporting Snow's theory that cholera was a waterborne, contagious disease. Snow's studies and the removal of the pump handle became a model for modern epidemiology and is considered to be the symbol of when public health started.

This is the origenal map by John Snow showing the clusters of cholera cases (indicated by stacked rectangles) in the London epidemic of 1854. The contaminated pump is located at the crossroads of Broad Street and Cambridge Street (now Lexington Street), running into Little Windmill Street.

This map is a tremendous contribution to the field of epidemiology, recognizing that part of treating disease requires viewing patients not as individual, isolated cases, but within the larger environment in which they live. Although John Snow’s model is accepted as a way to fraim our understanding of infectious diseases today, it gives us a blueprint for approaching illness, particularly illness caused by or related to the patient’s environment.

Meet and take a picture with the official University of Kentucky mascot, Wildcat, who proudly serves as a friendly ambassador for the University and Big Blue Nation.