Fernandez and Cain appointed to new leadership positions to bolster population health and faculty development

We are pleased to announceMariaE.Fernández，博士，作为人口健康和实施科学副总裁，以及Lisa D. Cain, PhD，作为休斯顿Uthealth的教师事务与发展副总裁。

“These two new leadership positions are essential to advancing the university’s mission of education, research, and clinical service,” said Kevin Morano, PhD, senior vice president of Academic and Faculty Affairs. “Both Drs. Fernández and Cain are leading experts in their fields with a wealth of experience, and we are truly fortunate to add them to our leadership team.”

Fernández, the Lorne Bain Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Medicine, director of the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, and founding co-director of the UTHealth Houston Institute for Implementation Science, will lead the university’s efforts in population health sciences including the integration of innovations and discoveries into real-world settings.

“UTHealth Houston’s schools, institutes, and centers include world-renowned leaders in population health research and practice across disciplines,” Fernández said. “As health issues and inequities become more complex and severe, it is essential to increase collaboration and engagement to address them.

“Despite all the advances in health innovations, there is still a substantial research-to-practice gap across all health science disciplines, from public health to nursing,” Fernández said. “Implementation science, as a field, has the potential to bridge this gap and to improve health, health equity, and quality of life.”

Eric Boerwinkle, PhD, dean of the School of Public Health, said a strategic vision for improving population health that includes the implementation and scale-up of health innovations would also strengthen collaborations within the university and boost UTHealth Houston’s profile as a leader in population health sciences.

“博士费尔南德斯（Fernández）具有独特的资格来应对这一挑战。” Boerwinkle说。“作为改善弱势群体健康的研究拥护者，beplay苹果手机能用吗她整个职业生涯都在整个职业生涯中设计，评估和实施基于证据的干预措施，实践，计划和政策，并建立伙伴关系，以满足服务不足社区的医疗保健需求。”

In 1998, Fernández joined the faculty as an assistant professor of behavioral sciences at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. She currently serves as principal investigator on more than $40 million in active research funding from the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the World Health Organization.

在加入Uthealth Houston教职员工之前，Fernández从马里兰大学获得了多个学位，包括健康教育硕士学位和健康教育和行为流行病学博士学位。她在公共卫生学院完成了预防癌症和控制的博士后研究金。

该隐，兼牙科Uthealth Houston牙科学校专业发展与教职员工副院长，将监督该大学的教职员工招聘，评估，晋升和保留我们的六所以及即将成为七所学校的教职员工。外围beplay她将负责实施创新的教师发展计划，以提高生产力和提高卓越。

该隐说：“我们的目标之一是增加学校教师事务和发展办公室的合作参与，并产生卓越和全球影响，这是在智力和心脏上独特的。”外围beplay跨越30年。“智力始于思想，但智力与内心相结合，真诚地渴望产生积极，巨大的影响。为Uthealth Houston和我们的教职员工提供如此重大影响，这将是我的荣幸和快乐。”

约翰·A·瓦伦萨（John A. Valenza），DDS，迪恩（DEN）和威廉·N·芬尼根三世（William N. Finnegan III）在牙科牙科牙科牙科学院的牙科科学杰出教授中说，该隐最有资格担任这个新角色，这不仅是因为她在内部所做的变革性工作牙科学校，以及她在大学，德克萨斯大学系统，全国和全球扮演的领导角色。

“From chairing groups and conferences for the ADEA and AAMC on the national level to chairing a Commission on Dental Accreditation subcommittee at the school level, Dr. Cain has all the attributes of a visionary leader,” Valenza said. “Her dedication and enthusiasm for faculty development, as well as her advocacy for education, is unmatched.”

自从加入牙科学院的教职administration in 2017 as the associate dean for Professional Development and Faculty Affairs and professor in the Department of Diagnostics and Biomedical Sciences in the School of Dentistry, Cain has been instrumental in the advancement of educational program development, including inclusion and wellness initiatives. She serves as a co-director of the university’s Health Education Fellowship Program, which provides faculty training in education and teaching across the six schools, and she also has served as an educational consultant on a global level.

Prior to joining the School of Dentistry faculty and administration in 2017, Cain served in multiple leadership roles at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB Health). She received her bachelor’s degree in biology at Jackson State University and her PhD in anatomy at the University of Mississippi Medical Center before completing her postdoctoral fellowship in the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The University of Mississippi Medical Center honored her with the Pillars Lifetime Achievement Award and named her a Distinguished Alumnus.