Bernard J. (Barney) Turnock MD, MPH is currently Clinical Professor of Community Health Sciences and Director of the Center for Public Health Practice and Illinois Public Health Preparedness Center at the School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago. Since he joined UIC School of Public Health in 1990, he has also served as Acting Dean, Associate Dean for Public Health Practice, and Director of the Division of Community Health Sciences. His major areas of interest involve performance measurement, capacity building, and workforce development within the public health system. He is board certified in Preventive Medicine and Public Health and has extensive practice experience having served as Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health from 1985 through 1990, Deputy Commissioner and Acting Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Health, and state program director for Maternal and Child Health and Emergency Medical Services during his distinguished career. He has played major roles in a wide variety of public policy and public health issues in Illinois since 1978. He frequently consults on a variety of public health and health care issues, and has served as a member of the Illinois State Board of Health and as President of the Illinois Public Health Association. He is the author of a widely read text on public health practice, Public Health: What It Is and How It Works, now in its third edition, and a newly published work titled Public Health: Career Choices That Make a Difference. He has received two prestigious awards from the American Public Health Association: one for Excellence in Health Planning and Practice and another for Excellence in Health Administration. He is also a recipient of the School of Public Health's "Golden Apple" award for excellence in teaching, and he was the developer and instructor for UIC's first completely online course: Public Health Concepts and Practice (CHSC 400), and the nation's first online "Public Health 101" course for front-line public health workers.