Tim Lawther is the deputy director of the Detroit Health Department, where he oversees city-level strategies related to community engagement, health improvement planning, human services integration, chronic disease prevention, equity, and the social determinants of health.
Lawther joined the Health Department in 2016 as the director of Healthier Communities and was promoted to his current role in 2017. As deputy director, Lawther ensures that the organization takes seriously its role as public health strategist and convener to collaboratively implement interventions, both program and policy, that are data-driven and community-led. He is also responsible for the organization’s budget and operations, working to ensure that public health interventions are supported and sustainable.
Lawther spent over a decade in Jacksonville, Florida as the associate director of the Duval County Health Department. He then spent time in Flint, Michigan as the founding CEO of a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) dedicated to serving residents of public housing and the homeless population.
Lawther received his master’s in public health from the University of Michigan and his master’s in sociology of health and illness from Brandeis University.