September 25, 2023
NEWS RELEASE: Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson names Rachael Banks as Director of Health Department
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson today announced she will bring a resolution to the Board of County Commissioners to appoint Rachael Banks as Director of the Health Department. The confirmation vote is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 5.
The appointment will mark a return to the County for Banks, currently the State Public Health Director for Oregon, to the County, where she started her career and led the County’s COVID-19 response before taking the state’s top public health job in 2020.
Banks emerged from a nationwide field of 43 applicants, distinguished by her experience working in health system leadership roles at both county and state levels. Banks joined the County in 2002 and was appointed in December 2017 as director of the Public Health Division and local public health authority. After three years as the County’s Public Health Director, Banks went on to serve as the State of Oregon’s first Black Public Health Director in 2020.
“We enthusiastically welcome Rachael back to the County to lead our Health Department, the largest safety net provider in Oregon,” said Chair Vega Pederson. “Her new role marks a return home to Multnomah County after serving as the State’s Public Health Director. Rachael’s seasoned leadership – as well as her ability to scale up quickly because of her previous roles with us – is exactly what this department needs.”
Pending consent of the Board of County Commissioners, Banks will oversee the department’s nearly $449 million Fiscal Year 2024 budget and more than 1,595 full-time employees at locations across the County.
Health Department staff lead programs that work across divisional boundaries to address the County’s most urgent health needs, including 24 community health center sites that serve more than 56,000 people annually and the largest public health department in Oregon, with more than 300 full-time employees.
As director, Banks will also oversee the Behavioral Health Division, which works to ensure as many people as possible experiencing mental health and substance use crises can connect to services; Corrections Health, which provides health supports in corrections facilities; and the Health Officer Division, which responds to disease outbreaks, complex community and regional health challenges, and public health emergencies.
“I’m excited to be coming back to Multnomah County to support a phenomenal workforce that has endured enormous challenges,” said Banks. “I have seen first hand the hard work and commitment of Multnomah County staff working at all levels of the Health Department. I look forward to bringing together the range of expertise across the Health Department and the county to implement comprehensive strategies to tackle our most pressing health issues and achieve the health outcomes our beloved communities deserve.”
Deep Multnomah County roots
Born and raised in Portland with deep community ties, Banks began her career as a culturally specific community health worker focused on preventing sexually transmitted infections, HIV and hepatitis. She went on to become a health educator for Healthy Birth Initiative, a program she later led, along with the Healthy Families and Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) programs. She also managed the tobacco policy program while Multnomah County implemented Oregon’s smokefree workplace law in more than 80,000 businesses.
Banks led many of the County’s obesity prevention efforts, including increasing healthy food access for over 60,000 people in a faith-based setting. Under her leadership, the County in 2014 was awarded $7 million in grants for the REACH and National Healthy Start programs to decrease health inequities in the African American community.
As Public Health Director, Banks played a critical role in anticipating, standing up and leading an equitable public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her leadership and values were essential to ensuring the County’s response was grounded, from the start, in equity and data — centering those communities most vulnerable to the virus.
At the Oregon Health Authority, Banks served as the State’s Public Health Director. Banks oversaw the implementation of the public health part of OHA’s plan to achieve its goal of eliminating health inequities by 2030. She also worked to expand other health initiatives such as public health modernization, the State Health Improvement Plan, climate and health, immunizations, opioid prevention, and ensuring clean air and water.
A search firm launched a nationwide recruitment for a new Health Department director in May 2023 by surveying 54 stakeholders — including the Board of County Commissioners, County division leaders and community partners — on the skills needed for the role.
After selecting eight applicants to advance from an initial field of 43, County officials conducted interviews until three finalists emerged. The finalists went through further interviews, with videos of the interviews viewed by 54 stakeholders, including 14 written forms, for feedback.
Banks’ experience as a lifelong health equity champion, along with her deep history with the Health Department, elevated her among the finalists. She has led major efforts to achieve positive health equity outcomes and worked to guide recovery efforts across both the County and State. Banks was also instrumental in decreasing COVID-19 vaccine equity gaps for communities of color in Oregon and developing and implementing the long-range modernization of Oregon’s public health system during her time at the state.
Banks earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Gonzaga University in 2001 and a master’s degree in public administration from Portland State University in 2012. Banks enjoys being a proud mother, hosting her family and friends for gatherings, dancing and sleeping in on the weekends.
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