Girmay Berhie is the new dean of the School of Public Health at Jackson State University in Mississippi. The institution is the only accredited public health school in the state.
Dr. Berhie was a tenured professor and the former chair of the department of health informatics at Marshall Univerity in Huntington, West Virginia. Dr. Berhie’s research interests include quality improvement in the health care system, eHealth technology applications, health information systems interoperability, and health information exchange. He is the co-author of the book, The Multi-Dimensional Developmental Evaluation Model: A Conceptual Schema for Evaluating Developmental Programs.
In discussing his plans for the School of Public Health, Dean Berhie said that “the greatest challenges are economic and social issues and health care. The school will create partnerships with community stakeholders in finding common grounds for research, dialogue, and reflection on important public and health policy matters. The school will assist in attracting federal, state, local and private funds that will aid public and health policies, teaching and community awareness.”
Dean Berhie is a native of Ethiopia. He earned a master of social work degree and a doctorate in public policy analysis and evaluation from Saint Louis University. Dr. Berhie also holds a master’s degree in information systems from Marshall University and studied biostatistics and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
This institution is so very lucky to have acquired Dr. Berhie for this position. I have worked with him for years at Marshall and seen the major differences he can make in the healthcare field. Not only is he such a tremendous educator but he also has the ability to bring great success to all involved with him. He is always thinking of ways to make this world a better place and goes to the greatest extent to help students succeed and obtain rewarding employment. We miss him greatly here at MU!
Is this the best JSU School of Public Health can do? Over the past 20 years, the University has hired and fired or lost approximately 6 deans, none of whom were successful. Meanwhile, students continue to be exposed to inferior lazy tenured faculty who simply teach theories. Well, you may as well get an online degree.