The Future of Public Health Teaching

Chris Louis, PhD, MHA is Clinical Professor of Health Law, Policy, and Management at the Boston University School of Public Health. He is also the Director of the Health Care Management Program and the Director of BUSPH Dual Degree Programs (JD/MPH, MD/MPH, MS/MPH, MSW/MPH, GC/MPH, MBA/MPH). His primary research interests reside in health care organization and delivery, Medicaid innovation programs, cancer care, children with medical complexity, and large-scale program evaluation. He is currently a Principal Investigator on multiple state, federal, and private program evaluations and research grants. These projects include an American Cancer Society grant focused on understanding breast cancer screening practices in the Appalachian region, an evaluation of the current Arkansas Section 1115 Medicaid waiver, and an evaluation of a HRSA-funded grant seeking to improve care for children with medical complexity. He has published recently on breast cancer care delivery, Medicaid reform, and accountable care in journals such as the Journal of Health Policy, Politics, and Law, Health Care Management Review, and the American Journal of Accountable Care. Dr. Louis has nearly a decade of health care industry experience in strategy, operations, and project management. Dr. Louis’ past experience includes serving as a consultant and hospital administrator in CT, FL and NJ. Dr. Louis earned his PhD from Penn State University in Health Policy & Administration. He also holds a Master of Health Administration (MHA) from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Sacred Heart University.

Dr. Elahe Nezami is a Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences and Medical Education at the Miller School of Medicine of the University of Miami. She is the Program Director of Online Master of Public Health and the Program Director of the Global Medical Sciences at the Miller School of Medicine.

Elahe Nezami has created undergraduate degrees in public health and global health and directed them for over 25 years. In 2008, she developed and launched the Master of Science in Global Medicine program. In addition to these three programs, she created eight affiliated minor programs. Elahe Nezami serves as Vice President of the Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium of Public Health and as a member of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. With a keen interest in improving education and training at all levels of education in the public health and global health disciplines, Dr. Nezami has built partnerships for study and research with collaborators in many parts of the world and is dedicated to innovative education programs that will grow the general population’s knowledge of public health and global health issues. She has served as faculty at the Harvard Macy Institute’s Program for Educators in Health Professions numerous times and remains dedicated to innovation in teaching and learning.

Dr. Nezami’s ongoing research examines global health education; effective integration of technology into pedagogy; spaced learning and its utility in improving learning outcomes; determinants of behavioral risk factors for chronic diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases; and the examination of personality characteristics in relation to cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Nezami received her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Houston and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California.

Linda Niccolai is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Yale School of Public Health and Professor in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. She is an internationally recognized scholar in infectious disease epidemiology with specific interests in vaccine-preventable diseases and sexually transmitted infections. Her vaccinology research focuses on understanding uptake, impact, and effectiveness of HPV and other adolescent vaccines with an emphasis on addressing health disparities. Her STI research focuses on social and behavioral aspects of transmission dynamics and prevention. Funded by a diverse grant portfolio (NIH, CDC, and private foundations), her work is interdisciplinary by design and includes behavioral and clinical epidemiology, surveillance, and qualitative approaches.

As Director of the CT Emerging Infections at Yale, she oversees a large program of public health surveillance and applied epidemiology research focused on respiratory viruses (including SARS-CoV-2), foodborne illness, healthcare associated infections at the community interface, and HPV vaccine impact.

Dr. Niccolai is currently on the editorial board for Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and she has served as an adviser and reviewer for National Institutes of Health (including serving as chair of Health Promotion in Communities study section) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conferences and grant programs. She participated as a Fellow in the 2023-2024 Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM) Program, a prestigious leadership program committed to advancing women for leadership positions in academic medicine.

Dr. Niccolai received her Sc.M. at Harvard School of Public Health and her Ph.D. at Tulane University. She has been teaching epidemiology methods courses to MPH, MS, and PhD students for over 20 years.

Robert M. “Bob” Weiler is a public health scholar and academic leader whose interest in public health grew from his upbringing in a West Virginia community shaped by coal mining and related industries. He holds degrees from Marshall University, the University of Tennessee, and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, with training in health and safety education, community health education, and school health education. He has held faculty and leadership roles at George Mason University and the University of Florida, serving in positions such as department chair, director of graduate programs, and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. He currently serves as Professor in the Department of Global and Community Health and Senior Associate Dean in the College of Public Health at George Mason University, having joined the college’s leadership team as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 2019 before being promoted to Senior Associate Dean in 2021.

His research focuses on program evaluation, school health policies and programs, adolescent health risk behaviors, problem drinking and injuries among college students, and substance abuse prevention among adolescents and young adults. He has authored and co-authored numerous scholarly publications, presented widely at scientific conferences, and contributed to many externally funded research and evaluation projects. He is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Health Behavior and the American School Health Association and has held leadership roles in several major public health organizations, including service on the board of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.