UAMS Appoints Zaller to Direct Office of Global Health
| Feb. 8, 2016 | Nickolas D. Zaller, Ph.D., an internationally known addiction researcher at UAMS and a Fulbright Scholar fluent in Chinese, has been appointed director of the UAMS Office of Global Health.
Nick Zaller
Created in 2012, the office coordinates global health activities at UAMS, supporting faculty, staff and students across the university. The office also serves as the face of UAMS for the international community, acting as facilitator for distinguished international visitors and organizations seeking to collaborate with UAMS or visit the university.
Zaller, an associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education of the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, joined the UAMS faculty in 2014. His research focus has been on the overlap between behavioral health disorders, including addiction and mental illness, infectious diseases and incarceration both in the United States and internationally.
“Dr. Zaller has the enthusiasm and experience to ensure our Office of Global Health continues as resource for those seeking to improve health in Arkansas and around the world,” said Stephanie Gardner, Pharm.D., Ed.D., UAMS provost and chief academic officer. “His experience as a Fulbright Scholar in China and his research in areas related to international health and infectious disease epidemiology make him an ideal choice for the position.”
He succeeds the first director of the office, Donald Simpson, Ph.D., M.P.H., who was named dean for the College of Health Professions at Upstate Medical University in New York earlier this year.
Zaller earned his bachelor’s degree in microbiology and East Asian Studies from Kansas University in 1999. After graduation, he lived in China for a year as a Fulbright Scholar before completing a doctorate in public health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2004.
He completed a National Institutes of Drug Abuse postdoctoral fellowship in substance use, HIV and related infections at The Miriam Hospital, a teaching hospital of the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island.
Following his postdoctoral training, Zaller was appointed to the faculty at the Center for AIDS Research at Brown University, where he served until he came to UAMS.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.###