Waters announces additional leaders for School of Public Health

Augusta University School of Public Health Dean Teresa Waters, PhD, has announced two permanent additions to her inaugural leadership team, as well as two new interim positions.

Jie Chen, PhD, has been appointed associate dean for academic and student affairs and Aaron Johnson, PhD, has been appointed associate dean for research and community engagement. Each has served as interim associate deans since August 2023.

“Drs. Johnson and Chen have done outstanding work as interim associate deans. I am so pleased they have agreed to take on these roles on a more permanent basis to support the ongoing success of the School of Public Health,” Waters said.

In addition, Santu Ghosh, PhD, has been named interim chair of the Department of Biostatistics, Data Science, and Epidemiology, and Michael Vitacco, PhD, has been named interim chair of the Department of Community & Behavioral Health Sciences.

“As Drs. Chen and Johnson transition to permanent roles, I am so pleased to appoint Dr. Santu Ghosh as interim chair of the Department of Biostatistics, Data Science, and Epidemiology, and Dr. Michael Vitacco as interim chair of the Department of Community & Behavioral Health Sciences,” Waters said. “I am truly grateful for their dedication to their department faculty, staff and students.”

Gianluca De Leo, PhD, was named the inaugural chair of the Department of Health Management, Economics and Policy in June.

Chen, who served as interim chair of the Department of Biostatistics, Data Science, and Epidemiology during the school’s first year, has overseen the development and management of multiple new academic programs during her time at Augusta University. As the associate dean for academic and student affairs, Chen will oversee all the academic programs and activities related to the educational mission of the school. Her office will assume responsibility for guiding curriculum development and management, educational quality assessment and improvement, and student services. She will directly supervise SPH Program Directors, educational program support staff and staff associated with the assessment and accreditation of all SPH academic programs.

An elected fellow of the American Statistical Association, Chen specializes in statistical change point analysis, which has a wide spectrum of applications in industrial quality management, climatology, economics and finance, medicine, genetics and more. She has done extensive research in this area, including co-authoring a research monograph on change-point analysis published by Birkhäuser/Springer. She also serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Statistics. Chen has rich collaborative research experience in molecular biology and bioinformatics, working with biological and medical researchers on modeling data resulting from various biological experiments.

Chen served as the program director of the Biostatistics Programs from 2015 to 2021 and worked with the program faculty to modernize and enhance biostatistics curriculums. She has supervised seven doctoral students for their successful completion of their dissertations in biostatistics/statistics and served on more than 36 master’s and doctoral students’ thesis/consulting project/dissertation committees of various disciplines in the past two decades.

Johnson, the director of the Institute of Public and Preventive Health, served as interim chair of the Department of Community & Behavioral Health Sciences during the school’s first year. As the associate dean for research and community engagement, Johnson will serve as the senior research and community engagement administrator for the School of Public Health, ensuring that all activities in these areas are conducted in a coordinated, creative, efficient, effective and ethical manner consistent with the rules and regulations of AU and the University System of Georgia. He will work closely and collaboratively with faculty, department chairs, center directors and staff to implement the school’s research and community engagement strategic plans. He will also represent the school with internal and external constituencies.

For over two decades, his research has focused on the adoption and implementation of evidence-based practices, primarily in substance use prevention and treatment. During his 10 years at Augusta University, Johnson has secured over $16 million in funding to train health professionals to identify and address alcohol/drug use, to implement substance use screening and treatment services in a number of different settings (primary care, addiction treatment facilities and criminal justice) and to expand available resources in rural Georgia to directly address the opioid epidemic. Johnson serves on the executive committee of the Georgia Substance Abuse Research Alliance and is a member of the Regional Advisory Committee for Georgia’s Opioid Abatement Fund.

AU’s School of Public Health is currently in a 24-month self-study period as the initial application submission to transition from an accredited Master of Public Health program to a School of Public Health has been accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health.

SPH is currently home to seven educational programs: the Master of Public Health, Master of Science degrees in biostatistics, clinical translational science, data science and epidemiology, and the Doctor of Philosophy degrees in biostatistics and applied health sciences. Last year, SPH received over $6.5 million in extramural funding to support research and community-engaged programs.