KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON - At its meeting on Friday, January 24, the King County Board of Health appointed three new health professional members. According to Board of Health rules, three health professionals serve as citizen public health experts. They assist the Board with complex, often technical, public health issues.

The new board members are Frankie T. Manning, George W. Counts, and Ray M. "Bud" Nicola. "I am delighted by the selection of these new members," said Carolyn Edmonds, Board Chair. "They bring a wealth of expertise in the areas of public health policy and health delivery, and are valuable additions to the Board. As we welcome these new members, I would like to thank outgoing members Joseph Pizzorno, Alvin Thompson and Karen Van Dusen for their outstanding service to the Board."

The new members have diverse health experiences:

Frankie T. Manning, RN, M.A.
Ms. Manning is the Associate Director of Nursing Service for the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, and is also a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Army Nurse Corp. Her professional accomplishments include developing the first on-site health clinic for older adults in Wichita Kansas; leading a missionary health team to Haiti; and, as Chief Nurse for the 50th General Hospital, she successfully deployed over 300 reserve personnel to Bellingham during an outbreak of Hepatitis B. Ms. Manning has considerable experience in the development of health policy and delivery of acute care and population based services.

George W. Counts, M.D.
Dr. Counts is the Senior Advisor for Special Populations for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He has over 30 years of experience as a professor of medicine, microbiology and public health. Throughout his career in hospital epidemiology he devised strategies to address hospital and outpatient health risks for the public. In recent years, he led a national program on sexually transmitted diseases at the CDC. Dr. Counts' significant experience in public health policy at the international, national and local level includes serving as a representative to the National Institutes of Health.

Ray M. "Bud" Nicola, M.D., MHSA, FACPM
Dr. Nicola works at the CDC on a Robert Wood Johnson funded project entitled the "Turning Point Initiative," based at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Dr. Nicola is board certified in preventive medicine. He has experience in local and federal public health agencies, having served as Health Officer in Seattle and Tacoma in the 1980's and 1990's. Dr. Nicola has extensive experience in environmental health. He worked on the impacts to groundwater of Superfund sites in Puget Sound and also developed and administered local on-site sewage regulations.

The Board is mandated to set county-wide public health policy, enact and enforce local public health regulations, and carry out other duties of local boards of health specified in state law. The Board is comprised of 14 members. Eleven of its 13 voting members are elected officials from the King County Council, the Seattle City Council and the Suburban Cities of King County. Three health professionals are also members of the board; two may vote on Board action items.