Six Regents Professors in Six Consecutive Years

Kenneth McLeroy, Ph.D., professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, is one of six faculty members to receive the prestigious Regents Professor Award. In fact, during the past six consecutive years, TAMHSC-School of Public Health faculty have received this distinguished award, including Larry Gamm, Ph.D.; K.C. Donnelly, Ph.D.; Charles Phillips, Ph.D.; Marcia Ory, Ph.D.; and Catherine Hawes, Ph.D.

Established in 1996, the Regents Professor Award is bestowed annually by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents in recognition of awardees’ exemplary contributions to their university or agency and to the people of Texas. Since its adoption, 144 faculty members from universities, agencies and the Texas A&M Health Science Center across the A&M System have been recognized with the award.

Dr. McLeroy’s most recently has been invited to serve a three-year appointment on the Public, Community and Population Health Grants Committee for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The CIHR is the equivalent of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The committee usually meets twice a year (December and May) in Ottawa, Canada. Like its U.S. counterparts, the committee is responsible for reviewing grant applications and making recommendations for funding.

“Public health is a field of practice that requires multidisciplinary teams and systemic interventions,” Dr. McLeroy said. “I have been very fortunate in my career to be associated with a very productive, supportive and thoughtful group of colleagues who helped me see the world in different ways. I want to thank them, the school and the regents for this honor and award.”

Prior to the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Dr. McLeroy served as assistant then associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and professor and department head at the University of Oklahoma School of Public Health. He received a doctorate in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. McLeroy has been chair of the editorial board for the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), editor of the AJPH Department of Framing Health Matters, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Presidential Professor at the University of Oklahoma, Research Laureate for the American Academy of Health Behavior, Outstanding Alumni at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School, co-chair of the Association of Schools of Public Health Behavioral and Social Science workgroup for the Master’s in Public Health core competencies, and a member of numerous peer reviews and federal and state grant review committees.