Gen Meredith, DrPH, MPH, OTR is a Professor of Practice at Cornell University, Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, Associate Director of Cornell’s Master of Public Health Program, Co-Associate Director for Education with Cornell’s Center for Health Equity, and lead for Cornell’s External Public Health Education work. In these roles, Gen braids her experiences as a public health researcher and practitioner at local, clinical, state, and international levels to develop, evaluate, and improve public health systems, and to build the public health leaders of our future through teaching, capacity building, and practice-based mentoring. Gen’s areas of applied research focus on engaged pedagogical practices for workforce development; optimized public health systems utilization, with a focus on data use for decision making; community capacity building for collective impact; and access solutions to unlock the upstream health benefits of nature engagement. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gen served as a Public Health Lead with Cornell University’s response team, leading university-wide initiatives, and liaising with county and state public health officials for systems optimization.