Angela R. Russell, MS
Associate Researcher

Angela Russell is the Community Engagement Lead on the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps project. As the Community Engagement Lead Ms. Russell will be leading communications and community engagement activities focused on the County Health Rankings, providing training and technical assistance to local communities throughout the nation about how to use the Rankings to improve community health, and assisting with research regarding community health improvement.

Angela comes to the Population Health Institute with 10 years of professional experience involving external affairs and outreach, communications, and research and evaluation. Most recently, she worked in the Administration of former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle including Division Administrator for the Division of Early Care and Education and Director of External Affairs and Government Relations in the Department of Children and Families and Policy Advisor to the Governor.

As Administrator of the Division of Early Care and Education, a $365 million division with over 120 full-time staff, she launched the state’s first child care quality rating and improvement system (YoungStar), oversaw the regulation of Wisconsin child care, and continued to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse in the state’s child care subsidy program (Wisconsin Shares).

In 2008, she was appointed by the Governor to help lead the newly created Department of Children and Families (DCF) as the Director of External Affairs and Government Relations (Executive Assistant). In this role, Ms. Russell created and directed all outreach and external affairs functions and strategies for the department including communications, government relations, external relations, and community partnerships.

Before joining the Department of Children and Families, Ms. Russell served as Policy Advisor for the Governor for three years and worked on public policy issues related to health care, workforce development, veterans, corrections, technical colleges, higher education financial aid, and community and faith based partnerships.

From 2001-2004, Angela was an epidemiologist with the Wisconsin AIDS/HIV and Hepatitis C Program at the Department of Health Services where she oversaw the management and operation of the hepatitis B and hepatitis C Wisconsin surveillance system.

Ms. Russell holds a Master’s of Science in Population Health with a focus on epidemiology and health policy from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and a Bachelor’s of Science with a major in Biochemistry and a minor in Health Care Studies from Beloit College. In addition to working, Ms. Russell enjoys spending time with her family and friends, doing yoga, reading, running, and knitting.

Contact Information

Angela R. Russell
UW Population Health Institute
610 Walnut Street, 522 WARF
Madison, WI 53726

Phone: (608) 263-9310
Fax: (608) 262-6404
Email: arrussell@wisc.edu