Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) Administrator Julie Pryde is retiring after more than 30 years of dedicated service to the district.

Pryde’s journey with CUPHD began long before her appointment as administrator. She joined CUPHD as a volunteer in 1988 then completed an internship with the organization in 1990. Pryde joined the CUPHD staff in June 1995 as a Program Consultant in the Division of Social Services and as Project Director for the IL Region 6 HIV Prevention Implementation Group.

In 2001, she became Director of the Division of HIV/STD/TB Prevention and Management. When the division expanded in 2005 to include communicable diseases and adult immunizations, Pryde was named Director of the newly formed Division of Infectious Disease Prevention and Management.

In May 2007, the CUPHD Board of Health appointed her as Acting Public Health Administrator, and in November 2008, she made history as the first female Public Health Administrator in CUPHD’s 71-year history.

Throughout her tenure, Pryde established herself as an accomplished grant writer, researcher, and speaker. Her work has been published in numerous professional journals including the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Journal of Infectious Disease, The Journal of Adolescence, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

She has presented at major national conferences including the American Public Health Association, National Association of City and County Health Officials, and the US Conference on AIDS. Her expertise earned her recognition through awards from the Illinois Department of Public Health, the University of Illinois School of Social Work, the Greater Community AIDS Project, and numerous other organizations.​

Pryde’s educational credentials reflect her deep commitment to the field. She holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Springfield, a Master of Social Work (Medical Social Work-Policy & Administration) and Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is a Certified Public Health Administrator.

Beyond her work at CUPHD, Pryde has served on numerous boards and committees, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Institutional Biosafety Committee, the Midwest Alliance for Applied Genomic Epidemiology, and as Co-chair for the 21st Century Initiative for Illinois Public Health. She has also served on the Illinois State Board of Health and the National Association of County and City Health Official’s Zika Advisory Council.​

Her impact on public health extends throughout Illinois and beyond, with her recent recognition as the 2025 University of Illinois Alumni Humanitarian Award recipient highlighting her contributions to the field.

The CUPHD board appointed Dr. Mamadou Tounkara as the district’s next administrator Tuesday night.

Dr. Tounkara brings a combination of medical and public health expertise to the role, holding a Medical Doctor (MD) degree, Master of Public Health (MPH), and Master of Social Work (MSW). Originally from Mali, he has practiced medicine in the United States for 12 years.

Before joining CUPHD as Deputy Administrator on June 2, 2025, Dr. Tounkara served as Director of Population Health and Data Analytics for the Tooele County Health Department in Utah. In that role, he led efforts to improve community health outcomes through data-driven strategies and health equity initiatives.​

His Utah experience included serving as:

• Senior epidemiologist
• COVID-19 epidemiologist for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services
• Research fellow and global surgery scholar at the University of Utah
• Adjunct professor at Westminster University​

During his tenure at Tooele County Health Department, Dr. Tounkara played a key role in developing the county’s Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) and led the Population Health Division, which included epidemiology and health equity sections.