White House Author

Ira Combs RN serves as Community Liaison Nurse Coordinator at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, working with the Center for Reducing Health Disparities. Mr. Combs’ work emphasizes inspiring young African-Americans to become involved in public health. He created a youth organization, Youth Expressions of Health, which includes an annual Youth Summer Internship Program in partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. It has helped more than 45 young people prepare for and start college with a focus on entering the field of healthcare. Mr. Combs also coordinates health screenings and interventions for minority and underserved populations. He is the founding director of North Omaha Area Health (NOAH), an agency that addresses the needs of the underserved in Omaha, Nebraska. Working with a handful of dedicated community volunteers, he is helping to meet the needs of the community including producing health-oriented materials for kids and sponsoring and maintaining websites and social media networks that link the community with information about healthy living and health screenings.