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Tony Price didn’t set out to become a public health professional. Like many people who eventually find their way into the field, his path was shaped by chance encounters and a willingness to go where opportunity led.
His journey from exercise scientist to national public health leader began with a single volunteer trip during his master’s degree program at Georgia State University. That experience would reshape not just his career trajectory, but his entire understanding of how health happens and who has the power to create it.
Today, Price is a Senior Fellow at the NAACP Center for Health Equity, where he works on national projects that range from an assessment of community health resources and burdens to an exploration of artificial intelligence in health care. He was recently named to the de Beaumont Foundation’s 40 Under 40 in Public Health, a national honor that recognizes leaders whose creativity and innovation strengthen communities.
At the heart of Price’s work—underlying all his projects, positions and accomplishments—is a remarkably straightforward aim. “I want to help people get healthy,” he said. “Whether that is through physical activity programs, health education, health literacy or any other avenue, I want people to live life to the best of their abilities. And I think public health is the way to do that.”
The Turning Point: When Individual Care Meets Population Health
Price began his academic journey at GSU studying exercise science. He completed his bachelor’s degree then continued into a master’s program in exercise physiology, envisioning a career working one-on-one with people to improve their fitness and well-being.
During his master’s program, he participated in several service-oriented alternative spring break trips. A trip to Charleston, South Carolina, that focused on childhood obesity changed everything for him.
“We had the opportunity to do some volunteer work at a local hospital there, and that was really the first time that I had the chance to get exposure to public health,” Price recalled. “I had no idea what public health was prior to that moment.”
What struck him most was the fundamental difference in approach. Exercise science, as he’d been studying it, focused on individuals—one person, one body, one training plan at a time. Public health, he discovered, dealt with groups of people and with systems and structures that shaped health outcomes for entire communities.
The shift in perspective was revelatory. “I wanted the opportunity to affect more change,” Price explained. “So I decided to focus on populations instead of individual people.”
By the time this realization crystallized, Price was nearing completion of his master’s degree in exercise physiology. It was too late to pivot toward a Master of Public Health degree, but the seed had been planted. He made himself a promise: at some point, he would make a career transition into public health. And when he did go back to school, he would go all the way. “I told myself that if I was going to go back to school, I was going to get a doctorate,” Price said.
Choosing the Right Path: The DrPH Difference
Price faced a choice that many aspiring public health professionals encounter: pursue a Ph.D. or a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH).
As opposed to the PhD’s focus on generating new knowledge through research, the DrPH emphasizes public health practice and applied work. It aligned perfectly with Price’s commitment to working closely with communities.
Price was also drawn back to Georgia State and its School of Public Health by a specific person: Dean and Professor Rodney Lyn, who served on Price’s master’s thesis committee and represented a career path he wanted to emulate.
“He started off in the exercise science area and moved to public health,” Price explained. “Him being able to be my DrPH dissertation chair was a very big thing for me because I wanted that level of rigor, and I wanted that level of connection with my dissertation chair to make sure that I got everything out of the program that I needed and wanted.”
Learning by Doing: The Georgia Health Policy Center Experience
One of the distinguishing features of Georgia State’s DrPH program that appealed to Price is the latitude it gives students to pursue learning opportunities that align with their interests and goals. For Price, that meant working at the Georgia Health Policy Center, part of GSU’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.
At the Georgia Health Policy Center, Price served as the technical assistance lead for the care coordination portfolio and co-lead for the outreach portfolio, working with grantees funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy. He conducted site visits to rural communities across the country, observing and supporting programs ranging from diabetes prevention in Oklahoma to school-based health services in Washington state to breast cancer screening initiatives in Pennsylvania.
Each visit offered a window into how public health principles translate into practice, how theory becomes intervention and how research findings shape real programs serving real people. The experience taught him not just what works in public health, but how to work in public health: how to build relationships with community partners, how to provide meaningful technical assistance, how to honor local knowledge while bringing external expertise.
“The things that we did in those two portfolios of work—connecting with grantees and standing up public health programs in the areas that needed them the most—are literally the exact things that we learned how to do in the DrPH program,” Price said.
Building Bridges: Internships and Fellowships
Beyond his work at the Georgia Health Policy Center, Price actively sought out additional learning experiences that would help him bridge his exercise science background with his public health future.
Price completed his DrPH applied practice experience at the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. Exercise science, as Price views it, is a branch of the public health tree, particularly when it comes to chronic disease prevention. Working at this CDC division allowed him to explore the intersection of physical activity and public health in a federal context.
He also served as a Fellow with the CDC-funded Physical Activity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (PAPREN), which provided another perspective on the same fundamental question: How do we get people moving, and how do policy and environment shape those possibilities?
These experiences weren’t just resume builders—though they certainly served that purpose. They were opportunities to build relationships, to learn from experts and to understand how different organizations approach similar problems.
The Power of Place: Atlanta’s Public Health Ecosystem
Atlanta’s concentration of public health resources—from the CDC headquarters to numerous nonprofits, foundations and health care organizations—creates unparalleled opportunities for students.
Price said that Georgia State’s School of Public Health leverages its Atlanta location strategically. Faculty members maintain active relationships with practitioners. Students are encouraged to pursue internships and fellowships. The boundary between classroom and field is deliberately permeable.
“I really think the networking opportunities, being able to go to the CDC, being able to work with PAPREN, being able to do these different things, is largely a part of the reason why I’m at the NAACP now,” Price said. “And I really have to thank the School of Public Health for those opportunities.”
Health Equity Work with the Nation's Largest and Most Widely Recognized Civil Rights Organization
Price’s current role at the NAACP Center for Health Equity represents both the culmination of his training and a new chapter in his professional development. The position allows him to combine everything he’s learned—about program development, community engagement, research translation, policy analysis—in service of work that finds deeply meaningful.
“The Center for Health Equity with the NAACP is such a dream to work at,” Price said. “When people who have been historically marginalized need this type of work the most, it is incredibly fulfilling to do that with the largest and most widely recognized civil rights organization in the country.”
Two projects in particular highlight the scope and reach of Price’s work. The first is the national survey associated with the ACE Your Health Initiative, which garnered nearly 23,000 responses. The survey asked people about community resources, neighborhood assets that support community health and, alternatively, factors that contribute to poor health. The findings will be shared in a national report that seeks to guide advocacy and policy.
The second major project is a white paper that Price supported, titled “Building a Healthier Future: Designing AI for Health Equity,” which examined the intersection of AI and healthcare. The paper explores how machine learning and AI technologies are being developed for health applications, with a specific focus on equity. Price helped to manage stakeholder engagement of the white paper in industry circles, community practice and health ecosystems. Both projects support the broader goal of advancing health equity, in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health.
“Not everybody starts the race of life at the same starting position,” Price explained. “And it’s important that wherever you are on the starting line of life that you have the opportunity to run the best race possible for you.”
A Triple Panther
Price acknowledges that conventional wisdom says that students should seek academic diversity based on the idea that getting your degrees from the same institution somehow limits your perspective or narrows your professional network. Price respectfully disagrees.
“I think my experience across all three levels at Georgia State has been invaluable,” he said, “and I would not have traded it for the world.”
Staying at Georgia State allowed him to build deep relationships with faculty across multiple programs and to become embedded in the institution’s culture. His personal connection to Georgia State runs even deeper. Price met his wife at Georgia State, along with the best man at his wedding. He met many of his closest adult friends there. He launched his career at Georgia State’s Health Policy Center. He emphasized that Georgia State institution wasn’t just where he earned his degrees—it was where he built his life.
“I’m just really thankful for all of the opportunities and all of the people that I got a chance to meet along the way across all three levels,” Price said. “Thank you to Georgia State University for giving me the opportunity to have this life that I’m not sure I would have ever dreamed for myself.”