4 May
2020
4 May
'20
2:39 p.m.
It is with a heavy heart that I received this from some of our friends
at CDC. With the loss Chris not only have many of us lost a dear friend
but he was also a national leader in bringing health and transportation
closer together. You will be missed my friend.
============================
From: Hacker, Karen (CDC/DDNID/NCCDPHP/OD)
Sent: Monday, May 4, 2020 12:48 PM
Subject: a sad announcement
With profound sadness I share that Chris Kochtitzky passed away on
Sunday, May 3rd. Chris was a Senior Advisor in the Division of
Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity (DNPAO) where he served as an
expert on the development of evidence-based guidelines and
recommendations to increase physical activity across the country. He
provided technical and subject matter expertise to state and community
programs in the areas of policy, systems, and environmental
interventions designed to promote active living. In his role with DNPAO
and his collaboration across CDC, Chris supported program evaluation,
strategic planning, and partner/stakeholder engagement in the areas of
active living and related health promotion.
He authored several publications including a 2006 MMWR on urban planning
and public health and a 2011 article on ensuring mobility-supporting
environments in aging populations in the Journal of Aging Research, as
well as book chapters on environmental health law and the impact of the
built environment on human development. He presented at numerous
conferences and meetings throughout the United States, served as a
panelist for the CDC Public Health Grand Rounds on Healthy Places in May
2007, and was recently recognized as a Public Health Agent of Change by
CDC’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity.
Chris was also one of the founders of the field of built environment and
health at CDC. He published an influential MMWR on the subject in 2006,
helped organize CDC’s Built Environment and Health Group in 2008, and
was a key contributor to the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Promote
Walking and Walkable Communities in 2015. Most recently, he was a
driving force in organizing the Transportation Research Board (TRB),
Conference on Active Transportation and Health. His work in this area
supported TRB’s decision to create a Committee on Transportation and
Health in February, a seminal moment in the field.
Chris befriended and maintained relationships with so many inside and
outside our agency. He served as a mentor to the Presidential Management
Fellows (PMF) program, as well as to participants in multiple other
internships and fellowships across CDC. He was always willing to offer
advice and found creative and practical solutions to wide ranges of
public health problems, particularly those requiring an
interdisciplinary approach. He was a tenacious public health
professional pursuing his work with vigor, charm, wisdom and
intelligence. His death is a major loss for his friends, his field and
for the agency’s work.
Chris started at CDC as a Presidential Management Intern in 1992 and
worked for several years as a policy analyst in ATSDR. In 1997, he moved
to the NCEH Office of Policy, Evaluation, and Legislation where he
served as its Deputy Director. In 2003, after serving for two years as
the Associate Director of Policy for the Division of Emergency and
Environmental Health Services, and a year as the Branch Chief of the
Disability and Health Branch in NCBDDD, he became the Deputy Director of
the Division of Human Development and Disability. The CDC Director at
the time, Dr. Gerberding, recognized his service in 2006 when she hired
him as the Healthy Community Goal Team Leader where he served until
2009. From 2009 to 2017, he served as the Associate Director for Program
Development for the NCEH Division of Emergency and Environmental Health
Services before joining the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and
Obesity as a Senior Advisor for the Physical Activity Branch.
As one of the initial urban planners hired at CDC, he worked tirelessly
as a bridge between the fields of planning and public health. In 2010,
he began serving as an Adjunct Professor at Emory University and taught
a course on Public Health and the Built Environment, with joint
enrollment from Emory public health students and Georgia Tech urban
planning, architecture, and engineering students. Through all of his
work, Chris was known for the strength of the partnerships he developed
and maintained. His networks allowed for the spread and scale of science
and implementation of programs across federal, state and local agencies
as well as the private and non-profit sectors.
--
Ed Christopher
Transportation Planning Consultant
708-269-5237