Darlene Lynch
Darlene Lynch joined the South Carolina Office of Rural Health in 2017 as the director of the Community Health Transformation team, and was promoted to senior director in 2022. In this role, Darlene provides technical assistance and supports local partner coordination for the Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas program funded by The Duke Endowment. She also provides leadership in the office for other rural population health based efforts, including a focus on health equity and health disparities.
Darlene brings more than 30 years of technical assistance, coalition development, leadership development and collective impact experience to communities across South Carolina. She uses this extensive experience to help communities achieve even greater community-level results.
Prior to joining SCORH, Darlene worked for the American Heart Association as their senior manager of volunteer management. In this position, Darlene managed 59 volunteer executive committees and subcommittees and an estimated 1,500 volunteers across the Eastern United States to influence the quality and growth of the Emergency Cardiovascular Care Training Network. She also worked with government officials to develop chain-of-survival programs and initiatives that increased training and improved survivor outcomes.
Darlene serves on the board of directors for the Alliance for a Healthier South Carolina, the South Carolina Fitness Gram Advisory Council and the Healthy Palmetto Leadership Council. She is also a member of the American Public Health Association (APHA) Community Health Planning and Policy Development (CHPPD) and Public Health Education and Health Promotion (PHEHP) Sections and the South Carolina Public Health Association.
Darlene earned her Results-Based Accountability professional certification, a framework that incorporates population and performance accountability to improve the effectiveness of programs and create measurable change, Clear Impact Academy in 2021.