Bolin, Zhao, Rene, Carrillo-Zuniga, Benden, Shipp and McLeroy promoted

Jane Bolin, Ph.D., J.D., B.S.N. and Hongwei Zhao, Sc.D. have been promoted to professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, effective Sept. 1, 2013. Antonio Rene, Ph.D., M.S., has been promoted to Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Genny Carrillo-Zuniga, M.D., Sc.D, M.S.P.H, M.P.H., Mark Benden, Ph.D., C.P.E., and Eva Shipp, Ph.D. have been promoted to associate professors and were awarded tenure by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Also, Regents and Distinguished Professor Kenneth McLeroy, Ph.D., M.S., has been named Interim Department Head of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences.

Dr. Bolin’s research interests include chronic disease management, rural and minority disparities, health law and ethics issues. She received her Ph.D. in Health Services Research from Pennsylvania State University, her Doctor of Jurisprudence Law from the University of Oregon, and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Oregon Health and Sciences University.

Dr. Zhao’s research interests include study design and statistical inference, longitudinal and multilevel data analysis, survival data analysis, and semi parametric inference. She received her Sc.D. and M.S. in Biostatistics from Harvard University, and a B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from Beijing University, China.

Dr. Rene’s research interests include occupational/environmental epidemiology and chronic disease epidemiology. He received a Ph.D. in Epidemiology and a M.P.H. in Disease Control from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health.

Dr. Carrillo-Zuniga’s research interests include environmental and border health and children’s environmental health. Dr. Carrillo received a M.D. from the University of Merida Yucatan, Mexico, a Sc.D. in Environmental Health Science, a M.P.H. in Health Systems Management, and a M.S.P.H. in Environmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Benden’s research interests are office worker obesity, classroom ergonomics and childhood obesity, medical device development and testing, and rehabilitation engineering. He received a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Engineering, M.S. in Industrial Engineering, and B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Dr. Shipp’s research interests include injury prevention, occupational and environmental health of agricultural workers and vulnerable populations, health disparities, and epidemiologic field methods. Dr. Shipp received both a Ph.D. and M.S. in Epidemiology from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health and a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. McLeroy’s research interests include community capacity, community-based approaches to health promotion/disease prevention, program evaluation, individual and community assets and resources, relationship between theory and practice, social ecology, and the history of public health. Dr. McLeroy received his Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M.S. in Social Psychology from the University of Oklahoma, and a B.S. in Psychology/Sociology from the University of Houston.