TreNation

Marlene McNeese CBE
File:Marlene McNeese Official Portrait 2021.jpg McNeese at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Marlene McNeese
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	University of Houston – Clear Lake
Occupation	Public Health Official
Children	2

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Marlene McNeese is an American leader in public health, who currently serves as the Assistant Director of the Disease Prevention and Control Division of the Houston Health Department. Since January 2020, Marlene has led an instrumental public health response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, plaguing the Houston area along with many other areas around the world. -->

Early Life and Education

McNeese attended University of Houston – Clear Lake, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Health in 2000. While obtaining her degree, she became a licensed chemical dependency counselor. Later, McNeese pursued a master’s degree in public health.

Career

In 1995, McNeese began her career in the behavioral health industry as the Unit Director of Correctional Medical Services in Dayton, Texas. She supervised clinical counseling staff who served adult female women convicted of offenses involving illegal substances. McNeese recognized a need for programs designed to help transition these women back into society, so she led the development of a drug and alcohol relapse prevention program.

Three years later, McNeese decided to charter her behavioral health skills in the public health arena. As a project director at the New Directions Club Incorporated in Houston, Texas, McNeese fostered an instrumental collaboration between three local community-based organizations, targeting African Americans who were formally incarcerated. This collaboration lead to an expansion of substance abuse treatment services to racial/ethnic minorities at risk for HIV/AIDS in Houston. At this point in McNeese’s career, she recognized the crosscutting intersection between HIV/AIDS and substance abuse, especially among members if the African American community as well as formally incarcerated populations. This cultivated McNeese’s engrained passion for public health and HIV/AIDS prevention.

In 2004, McNeese accepted a position at the Houston Health Department, formally known as the Houston Department of Health and Human Services. As an Administration Manager in the Bureau of HIV, STD and Viral Hepatitis Prevention, McNeese aimed to provide broader reach of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services throughout Houston, Texas and surrounding areas. She managed daily activities of the HIV program, such as HIV counseling and testing, health education, community planning, and prevention case management, capacity building, and evaluation. She also led many of the innovative prevention projects that bore major successes and national recognition. Under her direct leadership, the Houston Health Department implemented routine, opt-out HIV screening within Houston Level I trauma centers. This resulted in an instrumental increase in the number of people in the Houston area being screened for HIV. McNeese also played a major role in ensuring local grassroots community-based organizations received much needed funding to provide high-impact prevention services in high-risk areas.

After only a year in that role, McNeese was promoted to Bureau Chief and oversaw all HIV, STD and Viral Hepatitis Treatment and Prevention activities for the Houston Health Department. She expanded the annual operating budget and provided even more HIV and STD prevention services to Houstonians. McNeese also developed the Scientific Advisory Council along with Baylor/UTSPH Center for AIDS Research academicians, which provides scientific guidance for HIV/STD prevention activities for Houston and surrounding areas.

In 2018, McNeese ascended into what is now her current role, Assistant Director of the Disease Prevention and Control Division at the Houston Health Department. She oversees surveillance and epidemiology of infectious and communicable diseases, City of Houston laboratory services, tuberculosis control, public health preparedness, and HIV, STD and Viral Hepatitis Prevention. McNeese’s extensive leadership experience and knowledge of behavioral and public health has made her a valuable asset to public health at locally and nationally. She has provided consultation to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National AIDS Council, the U.S. Health and Human Services Offices of Minority Health and HIV/AIDS Policy and other national agencies on HIV and STD program implementation. McNeese has also served as an advisor to the White House National AIDS Policy on the development of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States. Locally, McNeese has served as Chairperson for the Houston Area Ryan White Title I Planning Council, Vice-Chairperson of the National Alcoholism and Addictions Council.

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, McNeese has led many of the Houston Health Departments’ response activities, including but not limited to providing COVID-19 testing free of charge to the community, surveillance and contact tracing initiatives.

Personal Life

McNeese is the loving mother of two children.

Memberships

National Black Alcoholism and Addiction Counsel 2000 – Present National Forum for Black Public Administrators 2006 – Present American Public Health Association 2005 – Present

Awards and Honors

2013 Mary McLeod Bethune Impact Service Award National Council of Negro Women 2013 Community Leadership Certificate City of Houston Mayor Annise Parker 2009 Directors Award Houston Department of Health and Human Services 2007 Community Service Award of Excellence Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. 2006 Outstanding Leadership Award Houston HIV/AIDS Coordinating Committee

Publications

• Ume L Abbas, Camden J Hallmark, Marlene McNeese, Vagish Hemmige, Joseph Gathe, Victoria Williams, Brandon Wolf, Maria C Rodriguez-Barradas, Human Immunodeficiency Virus in the State of Texas of the United States: Past Reflections, Present Shortcomings, and Future Needs of the Public Health Response, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Volume 7, Issue 10, October 2020, ofaa348, https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofaa348
• Yang B, Hallmark CJ, Huang JS, Wolverton ML, McNeese-Ward M, Arafat RR. Characteristics and risk of syphilis diagnosis among HIV-infected male cohort: a population-based study in Houston, Texas. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. 2013 Dec; 40 (12):957-63. doi: 10.1097/OLQ.0000000000000056.
• Giordano TP, Hallmark CJ, Davila JA, Arya M, Chen GJ, Shaw C, Williams-Ellis L, Darko T, and McNeese-Ward M. Assessing HIV testing and linkage to care activities and providing academic support to public health authorities in Houston, TX. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 2013 Nov; 64 Suppl 1:S7-S13. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0b013e3182a90183.
• Hallmark CJ, Skillicorn J, Giordano TP, Davila JA, McNeese M, Rocha N, Smith A, Cooper S, Castel AD. HIV Testing Implementation in Two Urban Cities: Practice, Policy, and Perceived Barriers. PLoS One. 2014 Oct 13;9(10):e110010. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110010. PMID: 25310462
• Flash CA, Pasalar S, Hemmige V, Davila JA, Hallmark CJ, McNeese M, Giordano TP, et al. (2015). Benefits of a routine opt-out HIV testing and linkage to care program for previously diagnosed patients in publicly funded emergency departments in Houston, TX. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 69, S8-S15.
• Grimes RM, Hallmark CJ, Watkins KL, Agarwal S, McNeese M. Re-engagement in HIV Care: A Clinical and Public Health Priority. Journal of AIDS and Clinical Research. 2016 Feb; 7(2): 543. doi 10.4172/2155-6113.1000543.