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Please click on the faculty member's name for more information
Lisa Klesges, Ph.D., Director, School of Public Health
Marian Levy Dr.P.H, R.D., Director, Master of Public Health
LaDon Jones, Ph.D., Director, Master of Health Administration
STAFF
Christi Barger – Admin Associate
Mary Read – Project Coordinator, CCH
Pam Murray – Office Assistant, CCH
Faye Wright – Business Officer
Jo Schilling - Receptionist
Dr. Lisa M. Klesges, Director, School of Public Health
lmklesges@memphis.edu
Lisa M. Klesges Ph.D., is currently a Professor of Public Health, and the Director
of the School of Public Health at the University of Memphis with adjunct appointments
in Preventive Medicine and in Pediatrics at University of Tennessee Health Science
Center. Dr. Klesges is a behavioral epidemiologist and her past research includes
childhood obesity prevention, evaluation of community interventions to improve women's
and children's health, and design and evaluation methods to enhance the translation
of behavior change research into practice. Dr. Klesges has served as a principal investigator,
co-investigator, or evaluator on over 40 funded projects supported by NIH, national
philanthropic and local agencies. Her recent funding involves a community-based family-focused
obesity prevention intervention for African American girls, interventions to improve
adherence to preventive screening among children with chronic illness, and translational
research methods to improve reporting of behavior change research. She has participated
in national advisory and planning groups including workshops and consortia for NIH
and Institute of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson initiatives, American Association of
Cancer Research, and CDC based on her work in childhood obesity prevention, health
promotion, and translational research methods. Dr. Klesges has served on various review
panels for NIH and CDC and is a past charter member of the NIH Community Influences
on Health Behavior Study Section. She has served as a guest editor for supplement
issues in Journal of Nutrition and Preventive Medicine related to behavioral intervention
research, is a past editorial board member of Health Psychology and Associate Editor
for the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
She was previously appointed as an Associate Member in the Department of Epidemiology
and Cancer Control at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis; Associate
Professor of Epidemiology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine; and as Director of the
Masters in Epidemiology program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Dr. Klesges earned her B.A. at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, an M.S. in
psychology from the University of Memphis, and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the School
of Public Health, University of Minnesota.
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Camille K. Barsukiewicz Ph.D.
cbrskwcz@memphis.edu
BS in Business Administration from Cedar Crest College, Allentown PA in 1989
MS in Health Services from St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia PA in 1994
PhD in Health Policy and Administration from Penn State University in 1998
Professional History:
Worked in various health care settings prior to getting a PhD at The Pennsylvania
State University ( Penn State). Graduated in 1998 and taught at the State University
of New York College at Cortland for one year then joined the faculty of the University
of Memphis in the graduate program in Health Administration.
Teaching areas: management, health care regulations & policy; health care ethics;
and diversity issues in health care delivery.
Current Research: the role of faith in healthy lifestyle changes (evaluator for the
Memphis Theological Seminary’s Eli Lilly grant; patient rights and decision making,
and other community-based studies. Currently writing the 6 th edition of The U.S.
Healthcare System: Origins and Functions” for Thompson Delmar Publishers.
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David Burchfield, Ph.D., CHFP
dbrchfld@memphis.edu
Dr. Burchfield is a native Memphian and a former US Marine who concentrated on healthcare
economics during both his undergraduate and master's education. He received his PhD
in health economics from Cornell University and taught in Cornell’s renowned Sloan
Program in Health Administration before returning to The University of Memphis. He
has been a faculty member at The University of Memphis since August 1999.
His teaching and research interest centers on the financing and delivery of health
services, and the provision of employer-sponsored health insurance. Dr. Burchfield
earned designation as a Fellow from the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
He is a past President of the Mid-South Health Care Executives, a Chapter of the American
College of Healthcare Executives, and currently serves as Treasurer and member of
The Board of Directors of the Tennessee Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management
Association.
He brings over 20 years experience in business administration to the classroom, and
his research has been published in Healthcare Financial Management, Revenue Cycle
Strategist, Employee Benefit Plan Review, Compensation and Benefits Management, Journal
of Healthcare Management, The Physician Executive, Business & Health, and Advancing
the Consumer Interests.
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Brenita Crawford - Assistant Professor
bcrwford@memphis.edu
Brenita Crawford is a native Mid-Southerner who joined the MHA program in 2007. She
received her Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration from the University
of Alabama at Birmingham and is completing her doctoral degree in Health Administration
and Health Policy at Medical University of South Carolina at Charleston. Her areas
of interest and research are community health, operations improvement, hospital governance
and managed care.
Ms. Crawford has 30 years of in health care experience in integrated delivery health
systems and public hospitals. Prior to joining the MHA program, she was president
of Amara Management Resource, a small consulting firm. She is a fellow in the American
College of Health Care Executives and is active on regional and national boards of
health care organizations.
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La Don Jones, Ph.D.
Lljones4@memphis.edu
Dr. La Don Jones is the Interim Director of the Health Administration Program. He
has served as Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs at the University of Tennessee
Health Sciences Center and prior to that as Vice President of Technology and Instructional
Resources at Baptist College of Health Sciences in Memphis, TN. He was a fellow in
the American Council on Education fellows program in 2001-2002, serving at the University
of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, Colorado. He also served on the faculty
at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa where he taught students in health administration
and coordinated the healthcare management internship program. Dr. Jones has held a
number of administrative positions in health administration at Baptist Memorial Healthcare,
Memphis, and he is also a licensed registered nurse.
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Satish Kedia, Ph.D.
skkedia@memphis.edu
Dr. Satish Kedia is Associate Professor of Medical Anthropology and Director of the
Institute for Substance Abuse Treatment Evaluation (I-SATE) at The University of Memphis.
He received a Ph.D. in Anthropology with a concentration in Applied Medical Anthropology
in 1997 from the University of Kentucky where he also earned a Certificate in Medical
Behavioral Science from the medical college.
Dr. Kedia’s research focuses on alcohol and drug abuse treatment, caregiving and adherence
to treatment protocols, program evaluation, and health impact assessment. As director
of I-SATE, he currently administers several evaluation projects in collaboration with
the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services at the Tennessee Department of Health
and serves on the Bureau’s Evaluation Advisory Committee. Over the last five years,
Dr. Kedia has received approximately $4 million in research grants. Currently, he
is the principal investigator for four statewide projects: Tennessee Outcomes for
Alcohol and Drug Services (TOADS), Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment-Driving Under
the Influence (ADAT-DUI), Gambling Addiction Treatment Evaluation (GATE), and Tennessee-Access
to Recovery (TN-ATR).
Dr. Kedia was honored with the 2005 Summit Award by the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Services at the 28th Annual Summit of the Tennessee Advanced School on Addictions.
In 2003, he was the recipient of the University of Memphis’ College of Arts & Sciences
Early Career Research Award. Dr. Kedia’s teaching interests include program evaluation,
anthropology of health care, complementary and alternative medicine, and psychological
anthropology.
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Marian Levy, Dr.P.H., R.D., Director, Master's of Public Health Program
mlevy@memphis.edu
Marian Levy, Dr.P.H., R.D., is Associate Professor and Director of the Master's of
Public Health program at the University of Memphis. Dr. Levy received her doctorate
in public health from UCLA. A registered dietitian, she has conducted several research
initiatives to reduce pediatric obesity, increase access to care, and reduce health
disparities. As a consultant to the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department,
her responsibilities included developing the Pandemic Influenza Response Plan for
Memphis and Shelby County. Her research interests include school-based health promotion,
cultural competence, Latino health, and community-based participatory research. She
is also on faculty at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in the College
of Allied Health Sciences and the College of Dentistry.
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Wasim Maziak, Ph.D.
wmaziak@memphis.edu
Dr. Maziak is a Associate Professor at the Department of Health and Sports Sciences
and the Center for Community Health. He has an MD from the University of Aleppo (Syria)
and a PhD in Allergy-Immunology from the University of Kiev (Ukraine). He worked for
the past four years with Dr. Ward (U of M) and Eissenberg (VCU) on a joint project
to establish the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies. He continues to direct the Center,
which has become an internationally acclaimed research and capacity building institution
based in developing countries.
His research interests are smoking epidemiology, asthma, and health in developing
countries.
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Fawaz Mzayek, Ph.D.
fmzayek@memphis.edu
Dr. Mzayek is Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health. He also serves as
an Adjunct Assistant Professor of epidemiology at Tulane University’s School of Public
Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. Dr. Mzayek was trained as a MD in general
surgery from the University of Aleppo, Syria. He also has a MPH in international health
and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Tulane University.
Dr. Mzayek's research focuses on chronic disease epidemiology, especially cardiovascular
disease and diabetes. He is also involved in research of smoking and tobacco control
in developing countries. Dr. Mzayek has an extensive experience in research methodology,
study design and clinical trials conduct. Other research interests include malaria
control and treatment. Dr. Mzayek has won several international and national fellowships
and awards and was principal investigator and co-investigator of several grants from
American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health and Federal Drug Administration.
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George Relyea, M.S.
grelyea@memphis.edu
George Relyea is an Assistant Research Professor at the Center for Community Health
with 25 years experience as a statistician, programmer, and research consultant at
the University of Memphis. Prior to joining the CCH, he served the university as Manager
of Statistical Services and Manager of Academic Systems in Information Technology.
Mr. Relyea has extensive experience in managing people and technologies in support
of research, grants, and community projects.
He has given many lectures and has taught courses on computer applications and research
methodologies at U of M, and has trained many university faculty/staff as well as
center support staff on statistical analyses, programming applications, and data management.
He has consulted with students and researchers from various academic disciplines including
statistics, psychology, business, nursing, and education. Mr. Relyea has contributed
to over 200 doctorate dissertations and master's theses and has contributed to many
research projects at the university. His current interests involve data mining, recurrent
events, and spatial statistics in public health.
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Ken Ward, Ph.D.
kdward@memphis.edu
Dr. Ward is Associate Professor in the School of Public Health and Director of the
Center for Community Health. He also serves as a Adjunct Associate Professor of Preventive
Medicine at University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Dr. Ward received his Ph.D.
in clinical psychology with a specialty in behavioral medicine from the University
of Memphis and was a clinical psychology resident at the University of Mississippi
Medical Center.
Dr. Ward's research focuses on health behavior change, particularly tobacco use prevention
and cessation. He is involved in international tobacco control efforts, and serves
as Intervention Director of the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies. Other research
interests include bone health and osteoporosis prevention, and psychosocial aspects
of heart disease. He has been the Principal Investigator of more than a dozen grants
from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, American Legacy
Foundation and The Urban Child Institute.
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