School of Nursing’s Cook appointed to Mayor’s health council
Tom Cook, Ph.D., assistant professor of Nursing, has been chosen by Mayor Bill Purcell to join the city’s Healthy Nashville Leadership Council.
The Council, created by Purcell, will assess the health of the entire city and identify resources to make improvements. Purcell said he chose Cook and other members of the Council “to create a vision of Nashville as the healthiest city it can be by the end of the decade.”
Cook says his appointment stems from his Healthy Heart Project in three Metro schools, which works to educate young people about their cardiovascular health and make improvements in their eating habits and physical activity.
“I consider being chosen for membership on the Healthy Nashville Leadership Council to be an honor and a responsibility,” he said. “The major strength I have to offer on the Council will be to assure that the voices of Nashville’s children are consistently included in the group assessment and priority sessions.”
Other Council members from Vanderbilt include Dr. Frank Boehm, professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Ernest Madu, MBBS, assistant professor of Medicine.
Dr. Stephanie Bailey, director of the Metro Health Department, says meeting the goal of a healthy Nashville by 2010 will put the city on the national map of healthy people and places. “Communities around the world can boast success stories that collectively extend lives and reduce suffering. We want to be one of those cities reported as ‘The Healthiest Cities in America.’”