Public Health Experts Joining New UAMS College
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LITTLE ROCK — Several public health experts are new members of the faculty of the College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
Dean James. M. Raczynski, Ph.D., announced the appointments of a psychologist, a biostatistician, an epidemiologist, and a behavioral scientist in the college, which the state has partially funded with some of Arkansas’s proceeds from the nationwide tobacco settlement.
The new faculty members are Katharine Elaine Stewart, Ph.D., M.P.H., James E. Bost, Ph.D., Marsha L. Eigenbrodt, M.D., M.P.H., and LeaVonne Pulley, Ph.D.
“With these initial appointments, we are creating a backbone of intellectual strength in the UAMS College of Public Health that will allow us to help find preventive solutions to the health problems that undermine the quality of Arkansans’ lives,” Dean Raczynski said. The dean has noted that public health, as an interdisciplinary field, involves collaboration and innovation among public health practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and health care providers. Infectious and chronic diseases are the most serious public health problems that colleges like the UAMS College of Public Health help reduce and prevent.
Dr. Stewart is a psychologist and acting chief of the Behavioral Medicine Unit in the Division of Preventive Medicine of the Department of Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). In addition to a Ph.D. in clinical health psychology, she holds an M.P.H. in health policy. Her research has been largely on issues related to coping of persons who are HIV-infected, although she has interests in coping with other chronic diseases, as well. In addition to developing her research interests in the College of Public Health, Dr. Stewart will serve as associate dean for student and academic affairs. She will join the faculty in January.
Dr. Bost is a biostatistician and assistant vice president for research and analysis for the National Committee for Quality Assurance in Washington, D.C. He specializes in analyzing the quality of health care in different settings. He earned a doctorate in research methodology at the University of Pittsburgh. He will join the faculty in February as an associate professor, devoting substantial effort in the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement examining factors that affect health outcomes.
Dr. Eigenbrodt is a physician and the cardiovascular disease epidemiologist at the Arkansas Department of Health. She earned her medical degree at Louisiana State University and the master’s of public health at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She joined the college in September 2001 as a part-time faculty member and becomes a full-time member in January.
Dr. Pulley is an associate professor and director of the Survey Research Unit in the Center for Health Promotion at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She earned a master’s degree in education and an interdisciplinary doctoral degree in communications and health behavior at the University of Texas – Austin. Although her recent research has focused largely on survey methods and creation of survey instruments, she has extensive experience in health communication and community-based intervention, particularly among ethnic minority groups. Dr. Pulley will join the faculty in June.
In addition to these four new full-time faculty members, more than 180 part-time instructors have served in the new college during its first three semesters. Many have primary appointments in other UAMS colleges or at public health agencies in the state.