Biography

Dorothy Holland Mann was the first woman and first African-American to head Region X of the US PHS (which includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska) when she was appointed to the position in 1979. During her tenure, Region X led the nation on a number of public health initiatives, including research on Chlamydia diagnosis and treatment, improvement of national Pap Smear guidelines and research on SE Asian women immigrants health care needs and migrant health services. She established the first Office on Women’s Health in a federal regional office in the United States. She was also the lead federal official in the Region for the Surgeon General’s interpersonal violence prevention initiative. Upon retirement from federal employment, Dr. Mann co-chaired Mayor Rice’s Violence Prevention Project, publishing two documents, Building Blocks for Peace: Violence Prevention For You and Your Community and Building Blocks for Peace: A Demonstration in Community Partnership. At the UW Institute for Public Policy and Management (now the Evans School) she conducted the first study for the State Department of Labor and Industries on the incidence and prevalence of violence in the workplace. The study results were used by the Department to determine the need to offer assistance to employers in development of violence prevention policies and procedures. Dr. Mann has contributed to the community through her service as a four term Chair of the Board of Trustees of Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound during her nine year tenure. In addition she served seven years on the Board of Directors of the Kaiser Permanente Hospital and Health Plan. She is an independent member of the Board of Directors of Virginia Mason Medical Center where she serves on the Quality of Care and Governance Committees. She is an adjunct professor in the UW School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Dr. Mann currently consults by referral with women in professional transition and on nonprofit governance structures, roles and responsibilities. In addition to her work in her expert area of health services administration and policy, Dr. Mann is a community and arts activist. She was a founding member of the Washington Women’s Foundation. She is a member and past Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission and member and past chair of the Seattle Art Museum’s Development Authority Council. On the national level she is a member of the Board of Directors of the HSC Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing services to children and families with special needs. At the end of 2009 she published her memoir, Guide My Feet. In January 2012 she received the 2012 Distinguished Service Award from the UW Health Sciences Center and the UW Medical Center in tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.