Public health impacts daily life in ways most people rarely notice. It guides disease prevention, supports mental health and creates environments where communities can thrive.
At the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, Missouri State University alumni Katie Towns and Lauren Stockam play key roles in leading public health efforts and communicating them across the community.
While their roles are different, their purpose is shared: helping people live healthier lives.
Leading with responsibility and care
Born in Maine and raised mostly in St. Louis, Missouri, Towns came to Springfield for college. She never expected to one day lead the local health department.
Towns earned her undergraduate degree in sports medicine and athletic training from Missouri State in 2000. She loved working with athletes and helping them recover after injury. But as she gained experience, her focus widened.
“I started realizing I was just as interested in populations as I was in athletes,” Towns said. “I wanted to understand how culture, behavior and social norms shape quality of life.”
That shift led her back to Missouri State, where she earned her Master of Public Health in 2006. During her graduate studies, she worked on tobacco control at the American Cancer Society and spoke in coalitions where her voice was valued. She also built a professional connection with Kevin Gipson, who was then director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department. That connection steered her toward public health leadership.
In July 2021, she became director of the department, leading about 110 employees and managing a $13 million budget. Her team works to prevent communicable diseases, address chronic conditions and respond to growing concerns such as mental health.
“At a broader level, it’s about how our community, state and nation can prioritize prevention more,” Towns said. “Those changes are often slow and incremental, but being part of that change is extremely valuable to me as a professional.”
Leading a team has influenced how she approaches decision-making and team management. She has been learning to trust her intuition more about when to apply pressure and when to let go. She notes it is not easy to understand the difference, especially early in a career. But making mistakes, rebuilding and moving forward is part of the process; experience teaches what school alone cannot.
Giving back to impact the next generation
Towns, who believes in staying involved as an alumna, began serving on the McQueary College of Health and Human Services (MCHHS) Advisory Board around 2015, when the college was preparing for accreditation. She serves in an advisory capacity, attending meetings to share community feedback on projects, program direction and partnerships.
“As a local municipal governmental entity, there are things we do daily that are oriented toward basic service provision,” Towns said. “Serving on the advisory board gives me perspective on what’s happening in the community on a collective level. It helps us as a department be better positioned to serve the community in ways that are more relevant.”
For Towns, the connection is both personal and professional as a proud alumna. Missouri State helped prepare her for leadership, so she wants students who care about service and public health to feel that same sense of readiness.
She encourages students to plug into community projects that interest them and focus on building relationships along the way. She also advises them to pay attention to a group’s tone and invest time where people are supportive and committed to their growth.
“Advanced education was such a pivotal foundation for my career growth,” Towns said. “For me, staying connected means giving back to that part of my career that helped propel me.”
Finding purpose through communication
Growing up with a mother and grandmother who work in health care, Stockam developed a lifelong interest in health and medicine. However, she did not initially plan to pursue a public health career.
Her path changed later during her time as a graduate assistant for MCHHS through Missouri State’s strategic communication office, where her writing skills connected to real-world public health work. Through communication and storytelling, she discovered her own way to help people, especially in moments where many health conversations often overlook human stories.
In her GA role from June 2020 to November 2021, she had the opportunity to write an alumni profile highlighting Towns and her impact in the field.
“Interviewing Katie opened the door to my career in public health communication,” Stockam said. “It led me to a job and career in which I feel a deep passion and purpose.”
Now, as a public health program representative in the Health Department’s office of communications and outreach, she coordinates program communication needs, writes copy and assists with developing communication strategy. Her goal is to make preventive health information clear, authentic and easy for the public to understand, while giving complex health topics a more human voice.
“What I love about my job is the wide variety of topics I get to communicate about,” said Stockam, who earned her Bachelor of Science in Public Relations with a minor in creative writing in 2020. She later earned a Master of Professional Studies with an individualized studies certificate in 2021.
Turning stories into connection
She leads the Mental Health 417 Stories Project, which launched in September 2025 during Suicide Prevention Month. It is open to everyone and free to participate.
The project is an anonymous online storytelling platform where people can share their mental health experiences. Its purpose is to help break down mental health stigma, encourage positive mental health behaviors and build stronger social connections to combat loneliness.
“Storytelling is a basic instinct for humans, but it’s our most powerful tool,” Stockam said. “I feel so hopeful and connected to my fellow humans when I learn of how they overcome their hard days, what they wish they could go back and tell their younger selves and when they share their lived experiences with bravery.”
