MEZCOPH Originals in black and red robes, bottom row, left to right: Chris Tisch, Duane Sherill, Iman Hakim, Jill Guernsey de Zapien, Douglas Taren, 2009.
We would like to introduce you to the MEZCOPH Originals! As the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health celebrates its 20th Anniversary, we celebrate the staff and faculty who have been with the College since the very beginning (the Originals)!
We have come a long way in the past two decades! The first programs at the University of Arizona in public health date back to 1991, when the College of Medicine began awarding master and doctoral degrees in epidemiology. A Master of Public Health (MPH) program launched in 1993 when the Arizona Board of Regents approved the establishment of the Arizona Graduate Program in Public Health, housed in the medical school. In the mid 1990’s, staff in the health sciences began working towards the creation of the College of Public Health, which was officially founded in the year 2000! Take a trip down memory lane with us as we celebrate our “Originals!”
Read the UArizona Health Sciences story about the MEZCOPH Originals.
Kim Bourn
Start year: 1998
Current Position: Executive Director of Corporate Relations
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by the diversity of our faculty, staff, students and donors, and their collaborative devotion to health promotion and disease prevention programs that protect and improve public health around the globe. My work in public health has strengthened my belief that, indeed, each of us makes a difference and can make lasting change.”
Jeff Burgess, MD, MS, MPH
Start year: 1998
Current Position: Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Community, Environment & Policy Department
Looking back, what has the College accomplished that makes you most proud?
“Our current response assisting the state, county and university to address COVID-19.“
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by our collective ability to effectively work with communities to address public health challenges.”
Zhao Chen, PhD, MPH
Start year: 1996
Current Position: Distinguished Professor and Department Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by the shared passion of our public health faculty, staff and students to meet the ever-changing public health challenges that the world faces, to train public health researchers and workers, and to conduct high quality research that benefits the health and wellbeing of all.”
Jill Guernsey de Zapien
Start year: 2000
Current Position: Retired but still working part-time supporting Border Health Initiatives with the Arizona Center for Rural Health
Learn more about Jill's work at the college here: https://crh.arizona.edu/faculty-staff/dezapien
Dean Iman Hakim, MD, PhD, MPH
Start year: 1995
Current Positions: Dean, Mel & Enid Zuckerman Endowed Chair, Founding Director of the Global Health Institute
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“We lead with both cutting-edge science and deep community commitments. Our faculty, alumni and students are finding new approaches to chronic disease prevention, community public health preparedness, family wellness and advocacy for public health policy.”
Robin Harris, PhD, MPH
Start year: 1994
Current Position: Professor of Epidemiology & Co-Director of the University of Arizona Cancer Center
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by my fellow faculty members; those bright students who want to learn and are excited by it all; and the community partners who are working hard to make a difference in their community by recognizing that research can help their communities change. It is extremely exciting to think about research ideas that have the potential to make a difference within a population. Then there is nothing like the student who comes in as a ‘newby’ uncertain what they can do, who then delivers an amazing doctoral dissertation defense that ‘wows’ the audience and their next employer...and then, turn around...is next your colleague or the head of a department in another major university.”
Htay Hla, BSBA
Start year: 2000
Current Position: Director, Information Technology (Retiring in November 2020!)
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by the commitment of the people that work for the College, especially those working with the community, in general, and their impact!”
Looking back, what has the College accomplished that makes you most proud?
“I would say the planning, construction and bringing together of the greater part of the MEZCOPH community into Drachman Hall. Though it’s been 14 years since then, it seems like just yesterday.”
Mary P. Koss, PhD
Start year: 2000
Current Positions: Regents’ Professor of Public Health, jointly appointed as Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, & Family and Community Medicine
If you already retired, when did you retire?
“I plan on being the RBG of MEZCOPH.”
What has surprised your time with the college?
“How fast it went.”
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am most inspired by my students, my colleagues and national colleagues.”
Sheila Hill Parker, MS, MPH, DrPH
Start year: 1995
Current Position: Retired in 2006 as Associate Professor in the Health Promotion Sciences Department. Returned to teach 2010 – present
How have you seen the college grow?
“I have observed the growth of the college expand with the great faculty that we now have, the diverse body of students and graduates, and its mission in serving the public health needs of our Arizona citizens and beyond our borders. I have even witnessed the rise of one of our best and distinguished graduates become the Dean of MEZCOPH and all of the fine work that she has accomplished.”
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by the students as they become knowledgeable about public health and how they will use their newfound knowledge and skills to improve the lives of individuals and families who are struggling in our communities.”
Denise Roe, DrPH
Start year: 2000
Current Positions: Professor, Biostatistics and Director of Biometry in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Looking back, what has the College accomplished that makes you most proud?
“Our graduates. They have gone on to have a marked influence on public health throughout Arizona, the US, and abroad.”
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“The role of MEZCOPH in addressing health disparities in minority and underserved populations.”
Mary Kay O’Rourke, PhD
Start year: 1995
Position before retirement: Professor and Section Chair, Environmental and Occupational Health, Environmental Health Sciences
When did you retire?
“I retired in 2018 and continue to mentor students and work on the Hopi Environmental Health Project.”
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by the ongoing kindness of my students and colleagues. Everyone I meet wants to improve the world, and just do good! What a wonderful outlook.”
Duane Sherill, PhD
Start year: 2000
Position before retirement in 2011: Professor Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Associate Dean of Research.
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by the fact that so many wonderful students choose public health because they want to make a difference in the world and communities when they could make a lot more money in other fields.”
Douglas Taren, PhD
Start year: 1994
Current Positions: Professor, Health Promotions Sciences Department and Director of the Western Region Public Health Training Center
Looking back, what has the College accomplished that makes you most proud?
“We have several nationally recognized centers of excellence that include training programs in environmental health, a prevention research center, and the rural health office.”
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by our students and knowing that the future of public health will be in good hands.”
Chris Tisch
Start year: 1994
Current Position: Assistant Dean, Student and Alumni Affairs
When did you start working at the College of Public Health?
“I started working with the MPH Program at the end of 1994, five and a half years before the College was established. I call that the gestation period.”
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by the College’s amazing students, who transform into awe-inspiring alumni. Their devotion to the public health mission and to making this crazy world better in so many ways makes my heart sing. Other schools may claim greatness based on different metrics, but the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health has absolutely the very best students and alumni!”
Linda Tumellie
Start year: 1994
Position before retirement: Assistant Dean, Finance in 2018 and worked part-time with the College until March 2019
What has the College accomplished that makes you most proud?
“The College’s contributions to the Covid-19 epidemic. The current health crisis has shown the world what our public health experts can do in providing sound, scientific based information to the public, health care personnel, and state leaders.”
What has inspired you during your time with the College?
“I am inspired by our success in research and community service outreach in Arizona, on the border and in the Southwest.”
Thank you to our presenting sponsor Arizona Complete Health!
