In October 2001, Dr. Jean Malecki and the Palm Beach County Health Department in Florida, leapt into the headlines as the first medical team in the county to deal with a biological terror attack. A deadly anthrax powder sent through the mail was first detected in Palm Beach County, eventually killing five people across the country. Dr. Malecki mobilized a team within the Health Department that diagnosed the first puzzling anthrax cases, and then led an investigation with the Emergency Management Response Team that sought to reassure a nervous public and prevent further attacks. For Dr. Malecki it was the ultimate test of her passion for public health.

"I've always wanted to heal people and help the community," she says today. "The anthrax emergency was a tremendous lesson in responding to and helping a large population." Palm Beach County is now a model for public health and emergency response teams nationwide. Dr. Malecki knew from an early age that she wanted to be a doctor and heal people. Directing public health operations gives her that opportunity on a larger scale than a private doctor.

Dr. Malecki became the Director of Palm Beach County Health Department, the largest in the state, in 1991. She has led in efforts to fight West Nile Virus, HIV/AIDS, and a local outbreak of malaria, all with her trademark optimism and energy that has also brought the County Health Department nation-wide recognition for innovation and quality of services.

She is the recipient of the award for Outstanding Woman in Public Health from the University of South Florida in 2000, and in 2002, the J. Howard Beard Award for her work in the first case in the history of the United States of inhalation anthrax bioterrorism. She is board certified in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health and is a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Malecki is widely published and her advice is much sought for on public health. And what is her finest achievement? "Overall, personally, raising a successful, beautiful daughter. But professionally, the creation of the best and most modeled public health department in the country."