Rachel Hare Bork, PhD, is the Director, Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS), the country’s only nationally representative survey of state and local government public health employees focusing on recruitment, retention, and workforce transformation. 

Rachel’s work focuses on public health workforce trends, employee experience, workforce retention, and student debt, including the intersection of workforce policy and organizational capacity. Her research and commentary have informed national conversations about the sustainability of the public health workforce and the challenges facing public service careers. Under her guidance and supervision, PH WINS launched its first-ever Islands Pilot in the U.S. Territories and Freely Associated States in 2025. 

Prior to joining the Foundation, Rachel was a research and evaluation officer at The Wallace Foundation, where she designed and managed multimillion-dollar research initiatives focused on education leadership, arts learning, and audience engagement in the arts. Her work incorporated a range of social science and market research methodologies to assess program effectiveness and inform strategic investments. 

Her research has been published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Health Affairs, Journal of Public Health Management & Practice, American Journal of Public Health, Teachers College Record, the Journal of College Reading and Learning, and Inside Higher Ed. She has also edited several journal supplements in the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice and the American Journal of Public Health. 

Rachel holds a PhD in politics and education from Teachers College, Columbia University, an MSc in comparative politics from London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA with honors in political science from Johns Hopkins University.