MPHA Member Spotlight: Ed Molleo

February 12, 2025

How long have you been an MPHA Member, and what do you find most valuable about your MPHA membership? 

Since April 2021. Networking with my peers across Maine, and the cross-pollination of ideas — and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the camaraderie and feeling of solidarity that comes with seeing “my people” from time to time!

Can you share a bit about your current role(s)? 

I serve as the Director of Communications for HealthReach Community Health Centers, a Federally Qualified Health Center with 12 clinics across Central and Western Maine. We are a nonprofit healthcare provider, and like all FQHCs we continually reduce barriers to accessing care and identify emergent community needs that we might address. For just one current example, with the closure of many Maine pharmacy locations – both independent, family-owned and chain stores — HealthReach has been working to establish an in-house pharmacy to better serve our rural communities where folks otherwise may have to drive 75-90 minutes to the nearest pharmacy! Imagine doing that for a weekly controlled substance prescription. We’re working hard to solve that problem for our 12 communities.

Tell me a little bit about your path to public health? 

My path was a winding one! My major was in Environmental Studies, and I learned a lot about human health impacts resulting from practices that do not take into consideration that the environment we live in is deeply interconnected to all human activity. I also worked at a busy summer camp in Maine through high school and college, on the waterfront (a boating area and two swimming areas), where I trained others on first aid, CPR, and lifesaving skills — this is also where I got my first taste of emergency planning. Later, I worked in Corporate Security at a large Maine retailer, and was involved in another aspect of emergency planning. Through this work, I learned about Maine’s Public Health Volunteer systems, and ended up volunteering as a unit leader for a year. When an opening at Maine CDC via AdCare came up that involved managing Maine’s Public Health Volunteer systems, I enthusiastically applied. During my 4 years at Maine CDC, I led the volunteer response to the first asylee surge at the Portland Expo; co-led the Disaster Behavioral Health volunteer response to the Farmington LEAP building explosion; and managed the long-running, multifaceted volunteer response throughout the pre-vaccine era of the COVID-19 response.

Who or what inspires you in your work? 

I’m inspired by my colleagues in Public Health. When I was at ME-CDC, and now that I’m serving with HealthReach and embedded in the Community Health Centers of Maine, I see so many good people in Maine who are driven by a mission to serve others! There are so many pathways into Public Health work, and I am an example of not needing a Master’s/PhD degree or detailed clinical knowledge to enter this field and make a big difference in peoples’ lives (and fairly quickly after first entering the field, too!). I hope that others that seek real meaning and fulfillment in their professional lives will give opportunities in Public Health a close look!