People
Jasjit Singh Ahluwalia:
New Dean of Rutgers University's School of Public Health
TIM DARRAGH
For Jasjit Singh Ahluwalia, coming to New Jersey to oversee the Rutgers
School of Public Health deepens his family’s connection to higher
education in the state.
“In some ways, it’s a sort of a coming home,” said Jasjit Singh, who will
become the Dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health in April.
A nationally recognized researcher in the fields of health disparities
and nicotine addiction among minorities, Jasjit will join his sister,
an Associate Professor at Montclair State University, and his father, a
Senior Administrator and long-time Professor and Chairman of the
Department of Mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, in
higher education in the state.
New Jersey represents a near coming-home for Jasjit, who spent a few
early years in New York City before moving to Pearl River, just across
the border from northern Bergen County.
He now is a Professor of Internal Medicine and Epidemiology at the
University of Minnesota Academic Health Center, where he was recruited
in 2005 to become the founding Executive Director of the Office of
Clinical Research. He recently completed a term as chair of the National
Advisory Council for Minority Health and Health Disparities at the
National Institutes of Health.
He said he’s thinking about “disruptive innovation” and “team science”
at the school of public health to find new potential answers to old
questions.
So to take on the issue of tobacco addiction among minority groups, he
said, solutions could be found by combining public health science with
an economist who can talk about tax policy, an agricultural expert to
infuse farming into the discussion and a retail expert to raise the
implications of business decisions like CVS’ decision to drop cigarette
sales.
Jasjit also said he wants to work closely with the state Department
of Health, because he believes the school’s role goes beyond educating
students, but to serve the state, nation and even the world.
That suits Health Commissioner Mary E. O’Dowd, who was involved in the search for a new Dean.
“As Commissioner of Health, recruiting a leader for the Rutgers School
of Public Health is a critical step in building a strong academic
program,” she said. “A partnership between the department and the school
will enhance the research and practice of public health to develop a
workforce capable of taking on our current and future challenges.”
Brian Strom, Chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, welcomed Jasjit as an experienced leader in his field.
“With Jasjit Singh's exceptional experience, expertise, and energy,
the Rutgers School of Public Health will build on its existing
strengths and develop new areas of study and exploration, while
fostering the growth of junior-level researchers,” he said. “These
future achievements will benefit students, New Jerseyans and the rest of
the country.”
“Rutgers is a very good school of public health,” Jasjit said. “My
goal is to make it an outstanding school of public health.”
Jasjit has received more than $21 million in funding as principal
investigator and more than $80 million as co-investigator and is widely
published. In 2009, he was awarded a $6.2 million
NIH grant establishing the Center for Health Equity at the University of
Minnesota, it said.
His primary research work has focused on nicotine addiction and smoking
cessation in African-Americans. He also has worked on determining the
role of menthol in quitting smoking and chemical and genetic issues
related to smoking.
Jasjit also is engaged in global health work with two active research projects in Mumbai and New Delhi, India.
According to a Rutgers news release, Jasjit received his
undergraduate degree at New York University and a combined Master’s
degree and medical degree from the Tulane University Schools of Medicine
and Public Health.
In addition, he held a two-year fellowship at Harvard, a joint
appointment as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Assistant Professor
of Health Policy at the Emory University Schools of Medicine and Public
Health in Atlanta, and served as Vice Chair and Director of Research for
the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the
University of Kansas Medical Center in 1997 and then department Chair in
2001.
Among other honors, Jasjit received the Society of Behavioral
Medicine’s National Award for excellence in mentoring, the Herbert W.
Nickens Award for national leadership and research in improving minority
health, and the Lifetime Leadership Award from the American Public
Health Association for his work on tobacco.
[Courtesy: NJ.com. Edited for sikhchic.com]
Januaty 26, 2015
Conversation about this article
1: Kaala Singh (Punjab), January 26, 2015, 3:58 PM.
Great achievement indeed. This is the future of Sikhs, but only if they get out of this cesspool that is India!