Utah Public Health Association (UPHA)

The Utah Public Health Association (UPHA) was organized and held its first annual meeting May 1916 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The first President of UPHA was a prominent businessman and President of a bank. Members of the Board of Directors included the director of the State Health Department, the bishop of the Salt Lake Diocese of the Catholic Church, three members of the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a state senator, three physicians, and one city mayor. Honorary vice-presidents included the Governor of Utah and a US Senator.

Since its inception, UPHA has always focused on promoting quality public health programming, advocating for sound public health policy, and collaborating with community partners to protect the health of the citizens and the environment. For example, during the first years of the UPHA, business and community activities were spent in a combined effort with the American Red Cross and National Tuberculosis Association fighting the TB epidemic. In July of 1917, the association was prominent in fighting against an epidemic of Typhoid Fever in Salt Lake County.