Tara Mertz, BA
Tara Mertz is the Communications Specialist for the Center for Rural Health (CRH) at the University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Grand Forks.
In this position, Mertz combines her passion for the fields of communication and medicine by promoting the activities of the CRH through media relations, social media, feature writing, editing, policy briefs, exhibiting and special events. She is responsible for the communications and planning efforts associated with the American Indian Health Research Conference and Dakota Conference on Rural and Public Health. She is also involved with a number of grant projects that have a concentrated focus on building communication and information dissemination capacity.
Before joining the CRH full-time, Mertz worked as a student employee at the CRH, served as Executive Public Relations Coordinator for UND Student Government for one term and worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant and Assistant to the Director of Nursing at Prince of Peace Care Center in Ellendale, ND, over the course of three summers. She has been and continues to be actively involved in community service activities and numerous campus, local and state organizations. She also teaches Reformer Pilates classes at the UND Wellness Center and enjoys traveling and showing horses.
A native North Dakotan, Mertz grew up in the rural community of Ellendale. She received a bachelor’s degree in communication and a minor in biology from UND, where she graduated summa cum laude and was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Mertz hopes to pursue a career as a physician in the future.
Established in 1980, the Center for Rural Health is one of the nation's most experienced rural health organizations. It has developed a full complement of programs to assist researchers, educators, policymakers, health care providers and, most importantly, rural residents to address changing rural environments by identifying and researching rural health issues, analyzing health policy, strengthening local capabilities, developing community-based alternatives, and advocating for rural concerns.
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