Distinguished Humanitarian Award

Bill Hulterstrom has worked with countless public servants in 36 years as executive director for United Way of Utah County. But he’s only known one public servant like Joseph Miner.

“Joe is an amazing combination of innovative leader and caring country doctor,” Hulterstrom said. “He was instrumental in helping establish some of our community’s most effective public health programs. At the same time, Joe was always happy to jump in when we needed physician volunteers for a clinic. He’s the kind of person who would do anything for anybody. I even remember a few meetings where he’d offer to ‘take a look’ when someone complained of a sore throat or earache.”

Miner’s unique leadership attributes, heart for service, and love for preventive medicine and public health were hallmarks of his 43-year career, which began in the US Air Force and ended in 2021 when he retired as executive director of the Utah Department of Health.

Miner is the 2020-’21 recipient of the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine Distinguished Humanitarian Award.

“I decided to pursue a career in medicine because I enjoyed sciences and had compassion for people who struggle with physical and emotional health problems,” Miner said. “I eventually chose a career in preventive medicine and public health because that seemed like the best way to help as many people as possible receive the care they needed.”

Miner grew up on a dairy farm in Sandy, the seventh of eight children. After graduating from Brigham Young University, he attended the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine with help from an Air Force scholarship. He did an internship in internal medicine at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., and additional training in flight medicine. His active-duty service included working for two years as a flight surgeon, public health officer, and director of occupational medicine at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

The job at Whiteman encompassed many aspects of preventive medicine, and Miner was hooked. He returned to the medical school in 1977 for a preventive medicine and public health residency, which he describes as being foundational to the rest of his career. He later returned to the U to earn his master’s in public health in 1981.

After a brief stint in the private sector, Miner was ready for new challenges. In 1983, he was named executive director of the Utah County Health Department, a position he would hold for the next 32-plus years.

Opening new public health clinics became a hallmark of Miner’s work for Utah County. One of his first initiatives was to establish a clinic for uninsured, indigent residents in Provo. This clinic later became part of the Health Clinics of Utah. For the next 38 years, Miner served as the clinic’s medical director and volunteered in the clinic setting.

“This clinic filled an important niche in health care, in that many of the patients suffered from severe and persistent mental illness and had difficulty accessing care elsewhere,” Miner said.

A few years after Miner began as executive director, the Utah County Health Department partnered with the United Way of Utah County, Utah County Commission, and Intermountain Healthcare to open Mountainlands Community Health Center in Provo. Miner served as the center’s only physician for the first nine months until a full-time family physician joined the staff.

“That’s just how Joe is—he sees a gap, and he fills it,” Hulterstrom said.

“Joe is an amazing combination of innovative leader and caring country doctor.”

Over the years, Miner developed a reputation for never passing up opportunities to expand medical services for people in need. He recalls that some employees seeking approval on a new idea would approach their immediate supervisor and caution them: “If you tell me ‘no,’ I will ask Dr. Miner.” And Miner almost always said yes.

In 2015, Governor Gary Herbert appointed Miner as executive director of the Utah Department of Health. The job caused Miner to pull back from his clinical activities and lean into his administrative strengths. He and his team worked with coalitions and organizations statewide to tackle significant issues from opiate addiction and suicide to mental health and Medicaid expansion.

Just six months before Miner’s planned retirement in January 2021, he faced the greatest public health crisis of his career: Covid-19.

“We always planned for pandemics but never dealt with anything like Covid,” he said. “From the beginning, it was challenging to convince the public that this was something serious. People fought us on social distancing and masking guidelines, calling them a threat to liberty and freedom. But as I sometimes say, nothing threatens the liberty and freedom of people more—and more permanently—than premature death, long-term disability, or the tragic sense of loss that surviving loved ones suffer.”

Even in the midst of heated controversies, Miner maintained his good humor and passion for public health. “You just try to do your best in light of such interesting behavior,” he said with a smile. “Sometimes you can convince residents and legislators to see things your way, and sometimes you just can’t.”

Now retired, Miner is enjoying a different pace of life. He and his wife, Gwen, recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and are training a new Pompapoo puppy, Ginger. The couple enjoys traveling to national parks (Yellowstone is a favorite) and spending time with their four children and 11 grandchildren. Miner, a lifelong outdoor enthusiast, has honed his talent for landscape gardening.

Six years have passed since Miner worked for Utah County, but Hulterstrom still smiles when he thinks about him. “Joe has amazing skills and expertise, and he’s also the kind of person you’d want as your next-door neighbor,” Hulterstrom said. “I feel honored to call him a friend and colleague.”

• Leigh Wilkins

A shorter version of this article appears in the print edition of UtahMed.