Jason Moats named USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness director

The Texas A&M University School of Public Health has selected Jason Moats, PhD, to lead the USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness. Moats will join the school August 1 of this year as both director of the USA Center and professor of practice in the Department of Health Policy and Management.

Currently, Moats serves as the director for the TEEX Testing and Innovation Center (TT&IC) at the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX). Moats has been with TEEX since 2002 where he developed and delivered numerous courses to first responders across the United States.

Moats, who is author of Agroterrorism, A Guide for First Responders, has adjunct faculty appointments at Texas A&M University in the School of Public Health, School of Architecture, College of Engineering, and Bush School of Government and Public Service. He is a research fellow for the Bush School’s Institute for Science, Technology, and Public Policy and a faculty fellow with the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center. In 2016, Moats was awarded the Texas A&M University Regents Fellow Service Award, the highest honor for agency professionals in the Texas A&M University System.

Previously, Moats served as an emergency manager for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management where he managed the state’s hazardous materials training program and built partnerships between response agencies throughout the state. He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy where he served as a hospital corpsman aboard land and sea commands and is the recipient of the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. He has been decorated for valor twice while serving as a firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT).

“The USA Center [for Rural Public Health Preparedness] is uniquely positioned to be a pivotal resource for the State of Texas, the nation and the world by producing and translating research into practice, outreach, and community engagement for rural and vulnerable populations,” said Moats. “In a time when mental health challenges and cancer kill more first responders and military members each year, our most important role is to improve the resilience of the critical human infrastructure through improving the mental and physical health of our first responders.”

He received both a master’s degree and doctorate in educational human resource development from Texas A&M and an undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. He also holds a certificate in college teaching and a graduate certificate in homeland security from the Bush School of Public Service and Government.

Moats is replacing USA Center Founding Director Barbara Quiram, PhD, who is retiring at the end of March. Senior Associate Dean of Research Tiffany Radcliff, PhD, will serve as interim director of the USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness until Moats assumes leadership of the center August 1^st.