Rex Archer, MD, MPH

Professor and Director of Population and Public Health

Kansas City University

Rex D. Archer, MD, MPH, is the Director of Population and Public Health and Professor for Curriculum and Integrated Learning at the College of Osteopathic Medicine, Kansas City University.                             

Retired from KCMO after 23 years as Director of Health for the City of Kansas City, Missouri. He was responsible for safeguarding the public health of nearly half a million residents and a daytime population of almost one million. He presently serves as Chair of the international Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) and as a member of the Past President Council of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).

Dr. Archer has served on numerous national committees involved with public health including most recently the Council of Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice, Public Health Foundation.

Under Dr. Archer’s leadership, the Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department is, to date, the only health department in the country to win NACCHO’s Local Health Department of the Year award more than once! They are also one of a handful to have earned both PHAB national reaccreditation, and to have led their community to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health Prize. 

Dr. Archer completed his medical degree at the University of Kansas and his General Preventive Medicine Public Health Residency and Master’s in Public Health degree at the University of Michigan. He is recognized as a Public Health Leadership Institute Scholar by UCLA/CDC. He has served as Physician in Charge of Employee Health Programs for the Ford Motor Company and has held local and state public health positions in Maryland.

Dr. Archer was the recipient of the 2013 Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize for Creative Local Public Health Work. The award is the top honor given annually to a local health director by the more than 25,000 members of the American Public Health Association.

In July of 2018, Dr. Archer received NACCHO’s Maurice “Mo” Mullet Lifetime of Service Award for noteworthy service to NACCHO that has reflected the commitment, vigor, and leadership exemplified by Mo Mullet’s distinguished career.

Rex D. Archer, MD, MPH, has no relevant financial relationships with any organization producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients relative to the content of this presentation.

Dr. Archer can be reached at rarcher@kansascity.edu.