Dr. Tabia Henry Akintobi Appointed Chair of the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medici
Dear Morehouse School of Medicine Community~
It is my pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr. Tabia Henry Akintobi, PhD, MPH, as the Chair of the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine (CHPM). Effective January 1, 2022. Dr. Henry Akintobi will lead the department following Dr. Beverly Deaderick Taylor’s retirement after more than 37 years of extraordinary leadership and service as both Vice Chair and Chair of CHPM at the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Dr. Henry Akintobi, currently a Professor of Community Health at Morehouse School of Medicine, is a graduate of the University of South Florida College of Public Health where she earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health in the Department of Community and Family Health. Since joining Morehouse School of Medicine in 2002, she has actively led and contributed to advancing community health and engagement, and related research and evaluation approaches. Dr. Henry Akintobi has served as Principal Investigator (PI) and Director of the Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center, the first institutionally designated center advancing community-based participatory research following the leadership and legacy of Founding PI, Dr. Blumenthal.
As Associate Dean for Community Engagement, Dr. Henry Akintobi has led collaborations with leaders, across the institution to demonstrate Morehouse School of Medicine’s preeminence in community health and related engagement strategies through successful acquisition of the Carnegie Designation for the Advancement of Teaching in Community Engagement, and the Josiah Macy Inaugural Award for Excellence in Social Mission. She also represents Morehouse School of Medicine as its lead for the Georgia Center for Diabetes Translation Research, the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance Community Engagement Program, and Georgia RADx-Underserved Populations-Promoting Engagement and COVID-19 Testing for Health (Project PEACH), among others. Dr. Henry Akintobi also leads the Georgia Community Engaged Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities.
Nominated by national peers, Dr. Henry Akintobi previously held posts as Chair of the National CDC Prevention Research Center Steering and Evaluation Committees, and the NIH National Center for Advancing Clinical and Translational Science’s Collaboration and Engagement Lead Team. She currently represents the Morehouse School of Medicine as a voting member of the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Committee and is an Associate Editor of the Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action Journal (Johns Hopkins University Press). Recent awards demonstrating Dr. Henry Akintobi’s service and dedication to advancing community-centered public health training, research and practice include the Inaugural University of South Florida College of Public Health Outstanding Public Health Alumni Award in 2015, the Robert D. Russell Visiting Scholar Award from the Southern Illinois University Department of Public Health in 2019, and the American Public Health Association Community-based Public Health Caucus Thomas Bruce Award in 2018.
Dr. Beverly Deaderick Taylor has served in leadership roles at Morehouse School of Medicine since 1984, the first year of the institution’s expansion to a four-year curriculum. She developed the clinical clerkship in what was then the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. Since them, Dr. Taylor was instrumental in leading the undergraduate and graduate medical educational programs in the department of CHPM, as well as the development and expansion of public health education at Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Taylor, among her many contributions to Morehouse School of Medicine, increased the department’s clinical footprint, and through the great work of faculty and staff, fostered the expansion of research and community involvement of the department and the institution.
Dr. Taylor will assist with the leadership transition of the CHPM department through June 2022. Join me in thanking Dr. Beverly Taylor for almost four decades of dedicated service and welcoming Dr. Tabia Henry Akintobi to the role of CHPM Departmental Chair.