February 10, 2014

Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH, started her tenure as dean today at the Drexel University School of Public Health.  She will oversee the expansion of the school’s research and training portfolio in urban health, health disparities, and policy-relevant public health, while continuing its leadership in experiential education, community engagement, and cultural diversity.

Diez Roux is a physician and epidemiologist known worldwide for seminal research on multilevel determinants of population health. Her work has had a major impact on public health research and practice.

“We’re very excited that the University has filled this critical position with one of the nation’s most accomplished public health researchers and administrators,” said Drexel President John A. Fry when she was named dean in September 2013. “Ana will be charged with continuing to expand our School of Public Health’s vision and culture, strengthening its research programs, building partnerships at Drexel and beyond, raising visibility nationally and internationally and developing and stewarding the school’s resources.”

Diez Roux was previously the chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.  She also directed two distinguished research and training centers focused on health inequalities: the Center for Integrative Approaches to Health Disparities (CIAHD) and the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health (CSEPH).

Her own research is funded at a level of more than $4 million annually. She has led research programs on health disparities and the social determinants of health, the impact of neighborhood environments on health, the role of psychosocial factors in health, environmental health, and urban health issues both nationally and globally.  Her work on neighborhood health effects has had a major impact on policy discussions by highlighting the impact of urban planning and community development policies on health.

Diez Roux is an elected member of the American Epidemiological Society, the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

The School of Public Health recently moved to its own, bright and modern building on the University City Campus of Drexel University.  The school continues to embrace innovative programs including a new bachelor’s degree in public health, which started this fall, and global health field experiences for students.  Its faculty is in the vanguard of research on urban health, violence prevention, child hunger, autism,  HIV/AIDS, health care equality, health disparities, and more.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Diez Roux.