Dr. Mamadou D. Tounkara joined the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) in June 2025 as Deputy Administrator. In 2026, he was appointed Public Health Administrator for CUPHD.
Before joining CUPHD, Dr. Tounkara served for several years with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, where he held multiple epidemiology roles, including Epidemiologist for Hospital-Acquired Infections, Epidemiologist for Disease Prevention and Control, Epidemiologist for Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases, and Analytic COVID-19 Epidemiologist. He achieved measurable success across each of these statewide programs.
Following his tenure at the state level, Dr. Tounkara transitioned to local public health, joining the Tooele County Health Department as Lead Epidemiologist. He was later promoted to Director of Population Health. During his leadership, he played a pivotal role in completing the Community Health Assessment (CHA), developing the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), and guiding the department through a successful Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) submission.
Dr. Tounkara is an accomplished researcher and speaker. His work has been published in several respected professional journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Journal of the American Heart Association, publications of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the American Society of Clinical Oncology Journal.
He currently serves as the Public Health Administrator for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) and is an Affiliate of the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He co-chairs the Homelessness Outreach & Committee Workgroup and also-chairs the Community Advisory Board (CAB) within the Family Resiliency Center (FRC) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
In addition to his administrative and advisory roles, he is an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology, Population Health, Medical Ethics, and Advanced Theories at Westminster University in Salt Lake City, Utah. He also serves as a Research Fellow with the Center for Global Surgery at the University of Utah.
Scientific Publications
- Schoenhals, Sarah, Meghan E. Mali, Edward K. Sutherland, Justin Sorenson, Florence Dedey, Jonathan Nellermoe, Angel Flores-Huidobro Martinez, Mamadou D. Tounkara, Raymond R. Price, and Kirstyn E. Brownson. "Geospatial availability of breast cancer treatment modalities and hypothetical access improvement in Ghana: A nationwide survey." Plos one 18, no. 9 (2023): e0291454
- Alexander, Chelsi C., Shilpa Shrestha, Mamadou D. Tounkara, Shelly Cooper, Leiema Hunt, Taylor H. Hoj, Kirk Dearden et al. "Media access is associated with knowledge of optimal water, sanitation and hygiene practices in Tanzania." International journal of environmental research and public health 16, no. 11 (2019): 1963.
- Tounkara, Mamadou D., Kristine MaWhinney, Kirsten Evans, Emily Startup, Alexa Ehlert, Emarie Covey, Jordan Westra et al. "Abstract P002: Seven-Year Changes in Cardiovascular Health in Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study." Circulation 139, no. Suppl_1 (2019): AP002-AP002.
- MaWhinney, Kristine, Mamadou D. Tounkara, Kirsten Evans, Emily Startup, Alexa Ehlert, Emarie Covey, Jordan Westra et al. "Cardiovascular Health and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study." Circulation 139, no. Suppl_1 (2019): A029-A029.
- Alexander, Chelsi C., Egenia Dorsan, and BS Mamadou D. Tounkara. "Legalizing Medical Marijuana through the Utah Medical Cannabis Act: A Health Impact Assessment." (2017).
- Price, Matthew D., Anne F. Rositch, Florence Dedey, Meghan E. Mali, Kirstyn E. Brownson, Josephine Nsaful, Mamadou Tounkara, Raymond R. Price, and Edward Kofi Sutherland. "Availability and geographic access to hospital-based breast cancer diagnostic services in Ghana."JCO Global Oncology 10 (2024): e2300231.
