Alumni and Friends

Mr. Michael A. Isaacson

M.P.H.'00, C99, Nutrition

2017 Rising Star

Michael A. Isaacson 

Michael Isaacson is a two-time graduate of Benedictine University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition in 1999 and a Master of Public Health in 2000. He currently serves as the assistant director of Community Health at the Kane County Health Department. He started at the health department immediately after graduating from Benedictine University and has been there for 16 years. During that time, he has had the opportunity to manage multiple health programs that address a variety of topics including behavioral health, chronic disease prevention, early childhood issues and emergency preparedness. He has served on the executive leadership team of the health department for the past 10 years, playing a key role in conducting community assessments, establishing annual budgets, participating in strategic planning and implementing new programs.

Isaacson has served on the executive council of the Illinois Public Health Association, and currently co-chairs the Nutrition in Community and Institutional Settings work group for the Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity and the Chronic Disease and Health Committee of the Northern Illinois Public Health Consortium. He has been appointed to serve on both the Illinois Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Task Force and the Illinois Enhanced Physical Education Task Force. He has been a grant reviewer for the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, and helped to direct health department activities in the Chicago area that lead to the region becoming among the first to be recognized as Project Public Health Ready by the National Association of County and City Health Officials. In 2015, his team was recognized with a National Model Practice Award for its work to implement quality improvement projects with medical providers that would increase smoking cessation among low-income patients. 

Isaacson stays engaged with Benedictine University through participation in the Nutrition Program Advisory Board and the Master of Public Health Professional Advisory Panel. He likes to spend his time away from work with his wife, Margaret; his three children, Graham, Emily and Ethan; his daughter-in-law, Jessica; and his granddaughter, Kate.