Dr. Alva O. Ferdinand of Texas A&M joins the Nationwide Advisory Committee on Rural Well being

Dr. Alva O. Ferdinand, director of the Division of Well being Coverage and Administration on the Texas A&M College College of Public Well being, has been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Well being and Human Providers Xavier Becerra to the Well being Sources and Providers Administration’s Nationwide Advisory Committee on Rural Well being. She’s going to serve a four-year time period on the committee, which is comprised of nationally acknowledged consultants in rural well being and can form suggestions on rural well being points.

Since 2019, Ferdinand has served as director of the Southwest Rural Well being Analysis Heart, whose analysis has influenced federal coverage throughout the nation for greater than 20 years. Most just lately, she led the middle’s efforts to finish Wholesome Folks 2030, a companion to the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers’ Wholesome Folks 2030 report. That is the third companion in the middle’s decade-long collection.

Ferdinand’s analysis has influenced lifesaving well being insurance policies, most notably the ban on texting whereas driving in Texas, and has been acknowledged in nationwide media together with t, the and . She has additionally gained quite a few awards for her analysis, together with the Journal of Rural Well being’s 2021 Article of the Yr.

Ferdinand obtained her Physician of Public Well being and her Grasp of Public Well being in Well being Group and Coverage from the College of Alabama at Birmingham in 2013 and 2008, respectively. She obtained her Juris Physician from Michigan State College Faculty of Legislation in 2006.