Gurbaksh Esch Named Director of New Leadership in Community and Public Health Program

May 19, 2026

Michigan State University College of Human Medicine alumna Gurbaksh Esch, MD, MPH, FAAP, has been named director of the Leadership in Community and Public Health certificate program. Esch brings a wealth of clinical and advocacy experience to the role, while also serving as assistant professor in the Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health, pediatrician at Hurley Medical Center, and core faculty of the Hurley/MSU Pediatric Residency.

“Dr. Esch has a clear vision for the program that highlights the vital importance of empathetic, community-centered care,” said Jennifer Edwards-Johnson, DO, MPH, associate dean of community academic programs and community assistant dean of the Flint campus. “By leveraging her extensive background—including her inaugural Alice Hamilton Scholarship and her leadership on the board of the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics—she is poised for extraordinary impact.”

For the past two years, Esch served as interim director of the program under its previous name, Leadership in Medicine for the Underserved. During that time, Esch and Laura Carravallah, MD, director of the Medical Partners in Public Health, began integrating the two programs. The newly combined Leadership in Community and Public Health program is a more rombust, community-based experience for medical students to align their interests, expertise and professional goals, while meeting the needs of the Flint community.