Joy Leuthard announces retirement after nine years with OHA

Posted on: 5/9/18

Joy L. Leuthard, OHA manager of health improvement initiatives, has announced that she will retire from the Association on June 29 after more than nine years of service. During her time at OHA, Leuthard developed two successful health improvement initiatives, funded by the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET). The initiatives include Hospitals Helping Patients Quit, a hospital tobacco cessation system change project resulting in more than 25,000 Oklahoma tobacco users being connected with the Oklahoma Tobacco Quit Line and one step closer to tobacco freedom. She also identified and developed the WorkHealthy Hospitals initiative that assists hospitals in improving the health of their employees by developing a culture of wellness.

Leuthard has more than 40 years of experience in various areas of health improvement through local health and mental health community-based non-profit organizations, the Oklahoma State Health Department, and statewide non-profit trade associations: Oklahoma State Medical Association and Oklahoma Hospital Association. Most significant to her current work, in 2004, she chaired the committee that successfully campaigned to pass the first statewide tobacco tax in many years.  

Leuthard has spent her career working to improve the lives of Oklahomans through public policy and evidence based interventions. She will truly be missed, but is leaving the projects in a healthy position, as OHA has just received a three-year grant from TSET to continue to spread the great work she started.

There will be a reception for Leuthard at 2 p.m., Thursday, June 14, at the Oklahoma Hospital Association.