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Dean Finalists Announced

The College of Population Health Announces Dean Candidate Finalists

Thomas Becker, MD PhD

Professor, Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University

Curriculum Vitae | Visit Dates December 3-4 - Townhall December 3rd at Noon

Tom is a PhD graduate of The University of New Mexico's Anthropology Department, and also holds a degree in Medicine from Case Western Reserve University. He was an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer during his fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tom began his career at UNM, and served the Health Sciences Center as a clinician, researcher, and as a teacher of medicine and public health. Dr. Becker’s most unique accomplishments have centered on Hispanic and American Indian health. Working with minority communities and minority-serving clinics, he and his research teams conducted studies of cancer etiology, cancer prevention, cancer data linkages, behavioral risk factor studies, and interventions related to vision and hearing loss among tribal peoples. As PI of the CDC Prevention Research Center at OHSU, Tom is expanding the prevention research thrust among Northwest populations. His prevention research program has helped foster population health collaborations among university-based researchers and public health practitioners from the key public health agencies in Oregon. He has been recognized nationally and internationally for his NIH- and CDC-funded research, and for mentoring programs that include junior faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. Furthermore, Tom has been honored for public-health teaching and curriculum development, as well as for service to North American tribal communities. He served for many years as Chairman of the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at OHSU, where he greatly increased the size of the department and its funding. He is currently a Professor of Epidemiology at the new OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, and a Medical Epidemiologist with the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board.


Maria Julia Brunette, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts Lowell

Curriculum Vitae | Visit Dates December 6-7 - Townhall December 6th at Noon

Dr. Maria Julia Brunette, born and raised in Perú, has substantial expertise in addressing health disparities among migrant working communities in the Americas where she has continuously explored how to best adapt community-based research methodologies to engage underserved communities in addressing their health and social problems.

Dr. Brunette has published numerous articles, secured external funding and conducted research across a broad spectrum of topics, including quality of work life, occupational health disparities, health systems, mobile Health (mHealth), and community-engaged research. Drawing on her skills as a scientist, health systems thinker, and advocate, Dr. Brunette is fully engaged and committed to reduce social inequalities by working collaboratively to improve population health in the context of resource-limited settings. She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Public Health at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Dr. Brunette received her degrees in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Lima, Peru (B.Sc), the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez (M.Sc.), and the University of Wisconsin Madison (Ph.D.).


Scott C. Carvajal, PhD, MPH

Professor of Health Promotion Sciences at the University of Arizona

Curriculum Vitae | Visit Dates November 26-27 - Townhall November 26th at Noon

Scott C. Carvajal, PhD, MPH, is a Professor of Health Promotion Sciences at the University of Arizona and has been Director of the Arizona Prevention Research Center for the past eight years. He also serves as the Director of Health Behavior and Health Promotion Programs at the UA’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. He is committed to promoting population health through leadership in research, education and service. His research, addressing a range of health behaviors that convey risk or protection in adolescents through adults, has been conducted with partnerships of diverse types of community-based organizations and funded by multiple federal agencies. Dr. Carvajal remains committed to an interdisciplinary science approach to population health, reflected in over 15 years of participation in centers of excellence tasked with reducing diabetes, cancer, substance abuse and mental health inequities in Arizona Latinos and American Indians. His contributions and expertise in health promotion theory, Latino/cultural responsive methods, intervention design and evaluation methods has led to invitations to national and international scientific review groups and mentorship programs.


Tracie Collins, MD, MPH, MHCDS

Chair & Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine & Public Health at the KU School of Medicine-Wichita

Curriculum Vitae | Visit Dates November 29-30 - Townhall November 29th at Noon
2nd Visit - January 14 - Discussions at noon (Dominici North 3740) and 1pm (Dominici West 3110)

Dr. Collins completed an internal medicine residency at the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, followed by a fellowship in general internal medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Master of Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health.

Since 2011, Dr. Collins has served as Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, and Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Professor. From 2010 to 2012, she was chair for the Disparities Task Force, Society of General Internal Medicine. From 2013 to 2016, she served as president-elect, president, and immediate past-president for the Association of Chiefs and Leaders of General Internal Medicine. She completed a five-year NIH funded trial to determine the role of counseling to promote walking in African Americans with PAD, and a three-month trial to assess the efficacy of text messaging to promote physical activity among Latino adults. She recently received additional NIH funding to launch an additional feasibility trial to assess the efficacy of e-health to improve walking distance and weight loss in overweight/obese adults with PAD. Having maintained board certification in general internal medicine and vascular medicine, she is a practicing physician at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas. To have a greater impact on health care delivery, in February 2018, she completed a Master of Health Care Delivery Science degree at Dartmouth College.

 

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