Whitney Garney named Center for Community Health and Aging Director

The Texas A&M University School of Public Health has selected Whitney Garney, PhD, to lead the Center for Community Health and Aging. Currently, Garney is an associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior at the School of Public Health and the research director for the Texas A&M Telehealth Institute.

Since 2015, Garney has secured approximately $28 million in research funding investigating systems approaches to public health prevention and evaluation with a focus on increasing access to health care resources and services for underserved populations. She was named a fellow in 2020 by the American Heart Association Council on Epidemiology and Prevention, and in 2023, was awarded the Policy and Systems Efforts for Advancing Health Education and Promotion Award by the Foundation for the Advancement of Health Education.

“The School of Public Health is delighted to have Dr. Garney leading the Center for Community Health and Aging. I was particularly impressed with the meticulous approach she took to the vision she laid out for the center. I have no doubt that she will be able to accomplish the goals for the center, and I am eager to see how the center evolves in the coming years,” said School of Public Health Dean Shawn Gibbs, PhD, MBA.

“I am excited for the opportunity to lead the center and continue its impressive legacy,” Garney said. “I look forward to fostering faculty engagement and research that promotes community health and aging across the lifespan.”

Garney received three degrees from Texas A&M including a doctorate in health education in 2015, a Master of Public Health degree in 2012 from the School of Public Health, and an undergraduate degree in 2010 in health.