Department Chair of Health Behavior

School of Public Health

Department Chair - Health Behavior

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health (SOPH) is conducting a national search for an innovative and accomplished leader for the position of Department Chair of Health Behavior. We offer unparalleled opportunities for research, teaching, scholarship, and service, having transformed Birmingham into a nexus of medicine, business, research, and development. The UAB School of Public Health is one of six health science schools at UAB. In 2021, the School received $37 million in research grants and contracts and ranked 19th in NIH funding among all schools of public health.

The Department of Health Behavior offers the Master of Public Health (online and in class) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree (in class), both with an emphasis on Health Behavior. There are 11 full-time faculty members and approximately 85 masters students and 30 doctoral students. Research areas of the department include nutrition, physical activity, and obesity; addiction and substance abuse with a focus on vulnerable populations; reduction of risk behaviors in disadvantaged adolescents and young adults; family interventions to promote youth health; adolescent and adult sexual health; mental health promotion; disability health promotion; and homelessness, particularly among veterans. Faculty from the department are affiliated with UAB’s Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC), which is an NIH-funded research center established to foster a multidisciplinary approach to basic, clinical, and translational research and research training with an emphasis on understanding the causal factors underlying nutrition and obesity-related health problems and the generation and evaluation of evidence on their consequences, prevention, and alleviation. Faculty are also affiliated with SOPH’s Center for the Study of Community Health, which is one of 24 CDC Prevention Research Centers in the U.S. and the longest continually funded PRC within the CDC. Recently SOPH established the Magic City LGBTQ Health Studies Endowed Professorship to address the dramatic health disparities impacting the LGBTQ population both in Alabama and across the nation.

We are recruiting a Chair with a vision to guide departmental growth. The Chair will strengthen the department through strategic faculty hires to increase the research productivity and use creative approaches to enhance the master’s and PhD academic programs. The Chair will also provide direction and oversight of all aspects of departmental functions, including practice and service, finances, human resources, and governance structures. Finally, the Chair will work with the Dean and the faculty to assure an infrastructure and culture that promote academic career development and will participate with other chairs in guidance and policy infrastructures of the School of Public Health.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a record of academic accomplishments in health behavior or related areas, including recent first and senior authorships of manuscripts in high-impact journals, scholarly recognition, recent research support as a contact PI on grants from the NIH, CDC or similar agencies and foundations along with administrative responsibilities such as being a chair, graduate director, or center director to warrant appointment at the level of a tenured or tenure-earning Professor. The successful candidate should also have a commitment to teaching excellence and to mentoring and supporting faculty and students. Experience in community based participatory research is also desired but not required. Education at the doctoral level is required to apply for the position. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Please submit cover letter and CV at https://uab.peopleadmin.com/postings/16352.

For questions regarding this position, contact Dr. Jeff Walker at jeffw@uab.edu

Founded in 1978, the UAB SOPH has grown to more than 75 full-time faculty and 1100 undergraduate and graduate students across five departments: Biostatistics, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology, Health Behavior, and Health Policy and Organization. Diversity is one of the SOPH’s values and strengths, with 45% of students identifying as a member of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group and 16% identifying as a first-generation college student. In 2020, the UAB SOPH received the Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

UAB is a Carnegie classification 1 research university and academic health center that discovers, teaches, and applies knowledge for the intellectual, cultural, social, and economic benefit of Birmingham, the state, and beyond. UAB is internationally renowned for its intensely collaborative culture that has — for more than five decades — produced breakthroughs in education, health care, research, and service. UAB research grants and awards exceeded $602 million in FY19, with the university ranking 8th in NIH funding among all public universities. Spanning more than 100 city blocks, UAB is the state of Alabama’s largest single employer with some 25,000 employees and has an annual, state-wide economic impact exceeding $7.15 billion. In 2021, UAB was named America’s No. 1 Best Large Employer by Forbes, topping the list of more than 500 public and private corporations, hospitals, universities, Fortune 500 companies and more. Located in the heart of Birmingham, UAB has transformed the city into a nexus of medicine, business, research, and development with a thriving arts and cultural scene and a vibrant campus that channels all the energies and opportunities of its metropolitan home.

UAB is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to fostering a diverse, equitable and family-friendly environment in which all faculty and staff can excel and achieve work/life balance irrespective of, race, national origin, age, genetic or family medical history, gender, faith, gender identity and expression as well as sexual orientation. UAB also encourages applications from individuals with disabilities and veterans.

A pre-employment background investigation is performed on candidates selected for employment.