Greg Bell

Greg Bell is the outgoing Get Healthy Utah Board Chair. Greg previously served as president of the Utah Hospitals Association and lieutenant governor for Utah.

In 2014, a group of us created Get Healthy Utah. Our first executive director, Sarah Hodson, along with an all-star board helped establish Get Healthy Utah’s excellent reputation as a leading advocate for healthy eating and active living among Utahns. 

Modern life is drowning society in highly processed, high-calorie food. Poor diet choices combined with diminishing physical activity levels lead to increasing rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers—even among teenagers and children. These conditions have sidelined too many of us from living active, healthy lives.

While Utahns are blessed with world-class healthcare, much of the disease and disability—such as some heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and some cancers—we suffer from could be avoided by eating a healthier diet and living more actively. The best medicine of all is healthy living! That’s why Get Healthy Utah has focused singularly on influencing the “upstream” determinants of health.

Without the constant generosity and support of the Utah Hospital Association, Get Healthy Utah would not be “alive and kicking” today. UHA’s financial, staff and political support has been life-sustaining—and has advanced our hospitals’ missions of supporting Utahns as they seek and maintain wellness in their personal lives. 

I express my warmest thanks to our many other partners who helped us along the way.

I will retire from my role as president of the Utah Hospital Association in December, and I will also step down as Chair of Get Healthy Utah. Chet Loftis, Managing Director of PEHP Health and Benefits, who recently joined our board, has agreed to become the next Chair. I will remain on the GHU board. Chet and I go way back, having practiced law together in the 1990s. Besides being a friend to everyone he knows, Chet’s genius for innovation and his enthusiasm for improving health and healthcare have put him at the center of healthcare and wellness policy work in Utah. Elisa Soulier will continue in her new role as Vice-Chair. Elisa is Director of Health and Well-Being at Castell, an affiliate of Intermountain Health. Thanks to Chet and Elisa for their willingness to serve. They’ll bring new vision and enthusiasm to our work.

Finally, my sincerest thanks to our current executive director Alysia Ducuara and Sarah Hodson, our first executive director and our incredible staff. They have been phenomenal at their jobs. What a privilege for me to work closely with them and see their intense commitment to our work.

All my best, Greg Bell