photo by: Mackenzie Clark

Sonia Jordan, director of informatics at the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, speaks during the Douglas County Behavioral Health Prevention Summit on June 25, 2019.

Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health Director of Informatics Sonia Jordan has been recognized as one of the “40 Under 40 in Public Health.”

The de Beaumont Foundation announced its 2021 list this week after reviewing applications from hundreds of public health leaders, according to a news release from the health department. A panel of public health professionals made the selections based on applicants’ leadership and impact on their community’s health. The list is meant to honor rising leaders in the public health field who are under age 40.

“At a time when health professionals are being required to adapt and take on monumental challenges, we are incredibly proud of these leaders,” de Beaumont Foundation CEO Brian C. Castrucci said in the release.

Jordan has more than 10 years of experience in the field of public health, including five years at Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, where she has been involved in public health informatics, health equity, infectious disease and public health preparedness. As director of informatics, she played a leading role in developing and disseminating the Douglas County Health Equity Report and has been involved in building a data-sharing collaborative that aimed to support behavioral health in the community through a lens of equity.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jordan’s department was responsible for all disease investigation, contact tracing, isolation/quarantine and outbreak management, and ultimately coordinating vaccine distribution.

photo by: Contributed

Dr. Ed Rosales and his daughter, Sonia Jordan, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health informatics director, volunteer at the March 17 COVID vaccine clinic at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

Jordan said in the release that the past year-and-a-half has been hard for many people in public health, but those challenges have also presented opportunities.

“Opportunities to build trust in public health, to create momentum in other areas of community health, and to become a trusted leader in the field of health – these are all opportunities that should be seized,” Jordan said.