Elaine Johannes, PhD
Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Professor in Community Health
State Extension Specialist, and President, Kansas Community Health Worker Coalition (KCHWC)
Dept. of Applied Human Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences, Kansas State University
Elaine Johannes is the Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Professor in Community Health for K-State Research and Extension and is a state Extension Specialist in the Department of Applied Human Sciences, College of Health and Human Sciences at Kansas State University. Dr. Johannes has degrees from Kansas State University in Psychology, masters in Adult and Community Counseling, a graduate certificate in Gerontology, and a doctorate in Lifespan Human Development.
She has extensive experience in working with communities to address health disparities, unequal access to health care, and the social drivers and conditions that impact people’s health and well-being. Johannes’ Extension programming and applied scholarship build the capacity for resilience and well-being among youth, families, networks, and communities. As an Extension youth development specialist, Johannes has taught graduate level courses in the Great Plains-IDEA Youth Development master’s degree program beginning in 2004, and has served on the National ECOP/APLU (Extension Committee on Planning) Healthy People Initiative - Positive Youth Development Action team (2015-2018).
Elaine is a member of the Kansas Maternal and Child Health Council executive committee for the Bureau of Family Health in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, is an executive committee member for the Kansas Suicide Prevention Coalition and is a Governor’s appointee to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections Kansas Advisory Group (KAG) for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. She also serves on the Kansas Interagency Committee, led by the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, on Youth Suicide Prevention. In 2023, she was the recipient of the Samuel J. Crumbine Medal from the Kansas Public Health Association, selected by the National Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Board of Health and Human Sciences for the National Outstanding Engagement Award, and received the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA USDA), Cooperative Extension and APLU North Central Region Excellence in Extension Award.
Extending her community engagement, Johannes is President of the Kansas Community Health Worker Coalition (KCHWC). She teaches in the Kansas Community Health Worker certification course, facilitates applied placement experiences for K-State MPH students, supervises graduate student practicums in her department, and teaches graduate courses in Grant Development and Writing which culminate in a proposal to improve community services and infrastructures.
