Denver – The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) is proud to announce the recipient of the 2018 Walter S. Mangold Award, NEHA’s premier honor, recognizing individuals for outstanding contributions to the advancement of the environmental health professional.

NEHA congratulates, Ohio environmental health professional, Keith L. Krinn, RS, MA, DAAS, CPHA. Krinn has served in the field of environmental health for over 43 years. 

Krinn was first introduced to the field of environmental health at Indiana State University ( ISU) under the leadership of Dr. Herman Koren, Professor Emeritus of Health and Safety. During his junior year as an environmental health major at ISU, Dr. Koren assigned him to an internship in Oakland County, Michigan. Krinn developed a strong passion for the field and invested 28 years at Oakland County in the practice of  environmental health, rising to the position of Chief of Environmental Health Field Activities. 

Dr. Koren has high praise for Krinn: “I cannot help but give Keith my very highest recommendation. I have known him since he was 18 years old and was one of my students. He is not only an outstanding environmental health professional, but also a very fine human being.” 

In 2003, Krinn was offered the position of Administrator of the Environmental Health Division of Columbus Public Health in Ohio. Since taking the helm of the Environmental Health Division of CPH, Krinn has been instrumental in establishing continuous quality improvement initiatives within his agency. Some of his accomplishments include: a major reorganization, the institution of an environmental health internship program, procurement of field inspection hardware for digitizing inspectional operations, the introduction of the innovative public information initiative Columbus Signs, and formation of a city health code and program enforcing fines on tobacco retailers who attempt to sell to youth under 21 years of age. 

Keith has developed the Environmental Health Division of Columbus Public Health into a nationally recognized program of excellence. Under his leadership, Columbus Public Health was selected as the recipient of the 2009 Samuel J. Crumbine  Consumer Protection  Award for Excellence in Food Protection. Additionally, the Environmental Health Division was the recipient of the 2015 Neil Lowry Grant for its recreational water program, and the City of Columbus received the 2015 NEHA Excellence in Sustainability Award. The Environmental Health Division also secured three NACCHO Best Practice Awards. Krinn played a significant role in the Columbus Public Health organizational effort to achieve accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board and chaired the Domain Six deliverables for that process. PHAB Accreditation was bestowed on Columbus Public Health in April  of 2014  and was one of the first Ohio public health departments to be recognized with accreditation. 

Krinn is active in both the Ohio Environmental Health Association, which nominated him for the 2018 Mangold Award, the Michigan Environmental Health Association, in which he served as MEHA President in 1999-2000, and the Ohio Association of Food Protection. Currently, Krinn serves on the advisory council of two National Environmental Health Science & Protection Accreditation Council accredited Ohio environmental health programs: Ohio University, since 2005 and the University of Findlay, since 2012. He served on the Samuel J. Crumbine Award Jury, the NEHA/AAS Scholarship selection committee and is also a peer reviewer for the NEHA Journal of Environmental Health. Keith Krinn has been a NEHA member for 29 years, served on the NEHA Board of Directors from 2007-2012, and as NEHA President in 2010-2011. 

After receiving the news of his selection, Krinn wrote, “I am deeply honored and humbled to receive the 2018 Walter S. Mangold Award. When one looks at the environmental health professionals who have been recognized in years past, and the award’s namesake, it is very sobering to think the Mangold Selection Committee would feel that I am qualified to stand with those giants of our profession.” 

Keith and his wife Peggy live in the Columbus suburb of Westerville and have two grown daughters, Cassie and Ashleigh. 

Keith Krinn will receive the Walter S. Mangold Award at the NEHA 2018 Annual Educational Conference (AEC) & Exhibition and HUD Healthy Homes Conference in Anaheim, CA. The award will be presented by the Ohio Environmental Health Association during the NEHA Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, June 27.

Learn more about Krinn on the NEHA Blog