Dr. David N. Harvey was named an Honorary Member of GPHA at the 2022 Annual Meeting and Conference on Jekyll Island. Dr. Harvey demonstrated leadership in the field of public health from his early years in the profession. After attending Georgia Tech, Oglethorpe University, and the Medical College of Georgia, he began his career in public health in 1959 where he worked as an orderly, ambulance driver and attendant at Grady Memorial Hospital. He then served as a volunteer physician in Viet Nam and was a founding member of the Houston Drug Action Council (HoDAC) in 1973.

Recognition as an advocate for the underserved earned him an invitation to join the Houston County Board of Health where he was a member from 1972-2008, serving as Chair for 15 of those years. During that same time, Dr. Harvey worked as a pediatrician serving the community of Warner Robins and later, joined the staff of North Central Health District as the District Health Director in April of 2008.

Dr. Harvey made bold decisions for that time in public health, like deploying a centralized clinical and accounting system district wide, streamlining the billing process, and creating a business model focusing on health department fee-generated revenues to offset current and future federal, state, and local funding cuts. To increase flu vaccination uptake in children, he also developed a school-based flu vaccination program that became a model for districts across the state of Georgia.

Dr. Harvey’s public health service was recognized when the newest building added to the Houston County Health Department campus in 2009 was named in his honor by the Houston County Commissioners. He was also awarded the prestigious Jules S. Terry Memorial Award by GPHA in 2016 before retiring from Public Health in 2017. Since that time, Dr. Harvey has continued to assist District 5-2 whenever called upon, and he continues to be a staunch advocate for public health. We continue to be thankful for his service to us and to others.