Lauren Battista, MPH, CHES

Lauren Battista joined the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center (GRC) in August 2026 as a Senior Project Manager. She brings more than 12 years of experience in public health, program management, health promotion, and evaluation across academic, health care, and public sector settings. Her expertise includes stakeholder engagement, program development, survey design, health literacy, quality improvement, and translating research and evaluation findings into actionable recommendations.

At GRC, Lauren manages the Oral Health into Primary Care Settings for Children Quality Improvement Project (Oral Health QIP) and the Multimodal Maternal Infant Perinatal Outpatient Delivery System (MOMI PODS), which supports coordinated, dyadic postpartum care for mothers and infants.

Prior to joining GRC, Lauren spent nearly 12 years managing health promotion programs and initiatives at The Ohio State University, the Wexner Medical Center, and the City of Columbus. At Ohio State, she led the evaluation and expansion of a university-wide wellness champion network, growing the membership to more than 700 members across 300+ locations and established a grant program that funded 140 employee-led wellness initiatives. She also advised over 1200 faculty and staff members on fostering positive employee experiences and building a culture of well-being within their departments. At the City of Columbus, she managed well-being initiatives serving more than 10,000 employees. Lauren also teaches undergraduate courses in health policy and health care delivery systems through Ohio State's School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

In addition to her professional roles, Lauren serves as the Central District Representative for the Ohio Society of Public Health Educators, supporting professional development and networking opportunities for public health educators. She is also the Chapter Advisory Chair for Ohio State's Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, where she advises student leaders on chapter operations, leadership development, and relationship building with community organizations.

Lauren holds a Master of Public Health, specializing in Health Behavior and Health Promotion and Health Services Management and Policy, from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Zoology from Miami University. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).

Outside of work, Lauren enjoys traveling nationally and internationally with her husband, and snuggling with her spicy Calico cat, Speedy. She considers herself a board game nerd, hiking enthusiast, novice gardener and skier, and avid concert attendee.

Publication 1: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0890117118804149e

Publication 2: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2165079920952759

Publication 3: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318375752_Workplace_Wellness_Champions_Lessons_Learned_and_Implications_for_Future_Programming
Publication 4: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346762014_Wellness_Champions_A_Critical_Strategy_for_Universities_to_Enhance_Population_Health_and_Wellbeing_during_the_COVID-19_Pandemic