The Public Health Program director for the Center for Cyber, Health, and Hazard Strategies is selected IPACE Community Award winner.
Trudy Henson, JD, MA, Public Health Program director for the Center for Cyber, Health, and Hazard Strategies (CHHS), was selected for the Interprofessional Program for Academic Community Engagement (IPACE) Community Award in Outstanding Achievement in Academic Community Engagement by a Faculty Member for her work at the CHHS. With more than 17 years of experience in emergency management and public health preparedness, she has consistently integrated civic engagement across her teaching, research, and service.
As a lecturer at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Henson teaches courses including the Law & Policy of Public Health Emergency Response (JD and MSL) and the Law & Policy of the Opioid Epidemic, which equip students to understand the legal and real-world implications of emergency response and the impact on local communities. Across all facets of her role, she merges legal expertise with on-the-ground public health operations to produce scholarship and practice that meaningfully improve community readiness.
A hallmark of Henson’s work is her commitment to reciprocal, sustained partnerships that generate measurable benefits to communities. Since 2023, Henson has led CHHS’ statewide long-term care facility preparedness initiative, engaging facilities in planning, training, and half-day community-based tabletop exercises that address evacuation, infection control, emergency communications, and response coordination.
Henson's collaboration with the Baltimore City Health Department on the 2025 Measles Tabletop Exercise stands out as a model of co-created, community-driven public health planning — from scenario design to data collection to the development of an evidence-based After-Action Report.
Through mentorship, curriculum development, and cross-sector collaboration, Henson expands UMB’s capacity to serve Maryland communities and models the kind of scholar practitioner leadership this award is designed to honor.