Bill Potts-Datema
Bill Potts-Datema has worked in education and public health for 24 years, including service from local to national levels. He currently serves as chief of the Program Development and Services Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health (CDC-DASH). He recently moved to the CDC-DASH from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, where he served as director of Partnerships for Children's Health and co-investigator and project manager for the Harvard Prevention Research Center from 2001-05. In these roles and his prior service, Potts-Datema has worked with federal agencies, national non-governmental organizations and state governments nationwide to improve health and educational outcomes for children and youth.
Potts-Datema has held several national leadership positions including chair of the National Board of Action for Healthy Kids and as an expert consultant to the National Coordinating Committee on School Health and Safety. He is a former member of the national boards of the American School Health Association (ASHA) and National Parent-Teacher Association (PTA). He received the Director’s Leadership Award from the CDC-DASH and the ASHA’s Distinguished Service Award among other honors.
As a vigorous advocate for adolescent and school health programs, Potts-Datema has served in several roles, including founding coordinator of the Friends of School Health coalition of more than 60 national organizations. He has testified before Congressional committees and panels of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Potts-Datema holds a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in education degrees from Missouri State University, and he has completed other graduate coursework at the Harvard School of Public Health and Kennedy School of Government. He has presented in 48 states and six other nations, and he has authored and contributed to a number of publications. Bill and his wife, Susan, have four children. Aside from his family, he lives for baseball season.