Dr. Gulzar H. Shah, PhD, MStat, MS, is a Professor and Department Chair, Health Policy and Community Health at the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health (JPHCOPH), Georgia Southern University. He is a prolific researcher who won Georgia Sothern’s 2016 Award for Excellence in Research. His interdisciplinary training and multisector work experience spans over 19 years, with appointments in both academia and public health practice agencies, nationally and internationally. Prior to joining JPHCOPH, he was the Lead Research Scientist at the National Association of County and City Health Departments (NACCHO), and the Director of Research at the National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO) prior to that. He also served at the Utah State Department of Health for six years, contributing significantly to patient safety project, maternal and child health research, informatics projects (such as IBIS-PH, MatCHIIM), and health services and systems research. 

Dr. Shah’s broader research interests include (1) data improvement; (2) practice-based Public Health Services and Systems Research (PHSSR); (3) eHealth and public health informatics; and (4) public health finances. Specific PHSSR areas of publication include (a) accreditation of health departments and PH workforce; (b) public Health finance; (c) evidence-based public health and practice –based research; (d) quality improvement; (d) and child/adolescent health. The areas of grant funding include (a) global HIV/AIDS research and program evaluation; (b) building a rural health network development planning program; (c) Local health departments (LHDs) Health Informatics Capacity and Needs Assessment; (d) public health delivery and costs of sexually transmitted infections (STIs); (e) Local Public Health Agencies’ Meaningful-Use Readiness and Use of Health Information Technology Systems; (f) public health accreditation readiness (g) eliminating preventable Perinatal Injuries and Reduce Malpractice Claims Cost; (h) Predictors of Local Health Department Performance in Evidence-Based Public Health; and (i) Patient Safety Improvement Using State Reporting Systems.

Dr. Shah serves as the Associate Editor of the BMC Public Health, and Helyon, and as the Consulting Editor (biostatistics) for the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

Disciplines: Health Policy and Management

Teaching Interests: Sociological theory, health informatics and decision making