Master of Public Health Online Faculty

 Glenn Beamer, PhD
Dr. Glenn Beamer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Public Health. Dr. Beamer’s research interests include health policy issues related to children and community health politics. He has written articles for numerous scholarly journals, including the Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law, Policy Studies Journal, State Politics & Policy Quarterly, Labor History, and the Review of Policy Research. His first book, Creative Politics: Taxes and Public Goods in a Federal System, was published by the University of Michigan Press. Prior to coming to University of the Sciences, Dr. Beamer was director of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine, served as assistant professor of public policy at Rutgers University and as an assistant professor in the Departments of Politics and Health Evaluation Sciences at the University of Virginia. He earned a BA from the College of William & Mary and a MA and PhD in political science from the University of Michigan.

Julie Becker, PhD, MPH
Dr. Julie Becker is Assistant Professor of Health Policy & Public Health and Program Director for the MPH Program. She is a specialist in environmental health and has taught in many public health and nursing programs throughout the region. Her research interests include pharmaceuticals in the environment and evaluations of community-based participatory research efforts, with publications in both areas as well as other public health issues including youth violence prevention. Dr. Becker has established three non-profits and is still affiliated with the award winning, Women's Health and Environmental Network, (WHEN) which champions our health through environmental action. Prior to joining USciences, she was the founder of a public health consulting firm, specializing in evaluation and assessment, with the emphasis of “putting research into practice” by using the tenets of community-based participatory research (CBPR). Dr. Becker is spearheading the Philadelphia Partnership for Pharmaceutical Pollution Prevention (P5), a collaborative group of federal, state, and local governments, non-profits, and academics that utilize research to develop better practices in pharmaceutical waste management. She is currently developing international efforts on reducing and mitigating pharmaceutical waste. She completed a fellowship with the CDC Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute.

Michelle Bragg, PhD
Dr. Michelle Bragg is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Public health. She has a wide range of policy-related research experience, as well as experience interfacing with nonprofit, government, academic, corporate, and congressional stakeholders and constituents. Prior to joining University of the Sciences, Dr. Bragg held research appointments at Penn State University and Wellesley College. She also held appointments as a congressional fellow; senior associate for the government of the District of Columbia’s Center for Innovation and Reform; director of the Leadership Institute for Public Service for the Congressional Black Congress Foundation, Inc.; and as a Mirzayan science and technology policy fellow with The National Academies. Her research interests include family and child health and health-related issues central to men and their roles as fathers.  She received a PhD in public policy from George Mason University, an MS in Applied Economics from the University of North Texas, and a BBA from Prairie View A & M University of Texas.

Amalia M. Issa, PhD, MPH
Dr. Amalia M. Issa is the Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Public Health, Professor of Health Policy and Public Health, and the Director of the Program in Personalized Medicine and Targeted Therapeutics. The Program was founded in 2001, by Dr. Issa, as one of the first centers focused on pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine to advance the science and translation of personalized medicine through state-of-the-art research and education. Dr. Issa has developed a unique area of translational research focused on pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine applications, and how they will be translated and integrated into health care delivery and health systems. Her research is positioned at the nexus of epidemiology/health services research and molecular science, and she leads an interdisciplinary team of scientists who are actively engaged in research aimed at the effective translation of the science of pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine from the laboratory bench to the bedside and to the community and policy. Dr. Issa and her team are committed to developing the evidence base for, promoting informed decision making about, and accelerating knowledge translation of personalized medicine applications into meaningful health outcomes. Dr. Issa is nationally and internationally recognized in the field of personalized medicine, and has published numerous papers, many widely cited, in pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine, clinical pharmacology, neuropharmacology and drug safety. She has served or is serving as the principal investigator on a number of funded projects, and is a reviewer for several scientific journals, granting agencies. Dr. Issa serves on editorial boards and in leadership positions in several professional associations, and has received many awards and honors for her work. Prior to joining the University of the Sciences, Dr. Issa was an Associate Professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Houston, where she continues to hold an adjunct appointment. She received her PhD  (in neuropharmacology) from McGill University from the Dept of Neurology and Neurosurgery, her MPH from the UCLA School of Public Health and completed fellowship training at Harvard Medical School. 

Amy B. Jessop, PhD, MPH
Dr. Amy Jessop is Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Public Health. Dr. Jessop's research and publications focus on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. Recent projects include an assessment of infectious disease screening and immunization in perinatal care, barriers to viral hepatitis prevention and treatment in high-risk populations, assessment of hepatitis risk factors in primary care, and influenza and pneumococcal immunization policies and practices in the nursing home setting. Current projects include an examination of barriers to adult hepatitis vaccination, screening for hepatitis C infection in OB/GYN seetings, and prevalence of hepatitis C in incarcerated populations.
Dr. Jessop is a founder of HepTREC (The Delaware Valley Hepatitis Treatment, Research and Education Center) and serves on the Board of Directors of HepTREC, The Philadelphia Immunization Coalition, and Prevention Point Philadelphia. She received her BS from The Pennsylvania State University, the MPH from The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and her PhD from Temple University.

Tamar Klaiman, PhD, MPH
Dr. Tamar Klaiman is Assistant Professor in Health Policy & Public Health and is a public health systems researcher. Her research focuses on using a “positive deviance” methodology in which she learns from high performers in the public health system to improve public health practice. Most of her work has focused on emergency preparedness and response; however, she also does research in communicable infectious disease, mental health, and maternal and child health. Dr. Klaiman’s research has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Pfizer Foundation, California HealthCare Foundation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Stephen Metraux, PhD
Dr. Stephen Metraux is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Public Health. He also holds appointments at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research and the Center for Homelessness Among Veterans at the Department of Veterans Affairs.  His research interests center on urban health, especially in the context of issues such as homelessness and housing, community mental health, veterans health and housing issues, and incarceration and prisoner reentry.  His current research includes examining services use patterns and demographics among veterans at risk for homelessness, using administrative data for evaluation of homeless and related services, and assessing geographic correlates of community integration among persons with mental illness.  He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.
 
Claudia Parvanta, PhD
Dr. Claudia Parvanta is the Chair of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences Her research examines effective communication in public health and health care settings. Before joining U Sciences in 2005, she led the Division of Health Communication at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She won the HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service in 2002 for her role in coordinating CDC’s communication response for bioterrorism. Besides emergency communication, Claudia’s area of expertise is in culturally appropriate health communication Dr. Parvanta has developed or evaluated health and nutrition social marketing programs in more than 20 countries. She received her BA and PhD in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania.

David Perlman, PhD 
Dr. David Perlman is currently a Visiting Professor and Fellow in the Mayes College of Health Care Business and Policy’s Department of Public Health and Health Policy. At University of the Sciences, Dr. Perlman teaches courses in public health law, ethics, and policy as well as business ethics and is the assistant director of the new online MPH program. Dr. Perlman’s research projects center on legal, ethical, and policy elements of public health departments and their functions as well as research on topics related to education in ethics. Both interests stem from Dr. Perlman’s work in these areas as a former executive at a state department of health, an education advisor at GlaxoSmithKline, and consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Dr. Perlman also has academic appointments at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) – as Senior Lecturer at Penn’s School of Nursing and an Associate Fellow, Penn Center for Bioethics. At Penn, Dr. Perlman teaches courses in ethics for medical and nursing students and conducts research on the integration of technology and pedagogy. His interests in this area have earned him several teaching awards and grants, including being the inaugural recipient of the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award from the Student Nurse Association at Penn in 2008 and receiving an innovation award and named as a Distinguished Educator for TurningTechnologies, LLC. Dr. Perlman also operates a small ethics education business (www.e-four.org) to develop and license a platform technology to deliver innovative educational programs. Dr. Perlman received his Ph.D. in philosophy with specialization in medical ethics from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN), his MA in philosophy from Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA), and his BS in Biology and Philosophy/Classics from Emory University (Atlanta, GA).

Andrew Peterson, Pharm D, PhD
Dr. Andrew Peterson is the Dean of Mayes College of Healthcare Business and Policy.  He formerly served as the Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice/Pharmacy Administration at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, where he continues as an Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy. Dr. Peterson teaches management, managed care pharmacy practice, and research design and statistics to pharmacy students.

Dr. Peterson earned his PhD in Health Policy from the University of the Sciences.  The title of his dissertation was "Development of a Methodology to Use the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Concurrently: The Case of Initial Medication Compliance."  He earned his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Rutgers University, College of Pharmacy in 1986. After graduating from Rutgers, Dr. Peterson completed a 1-year residency in Hospital Pharmacy Practice at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center in Chicago, IL. He then went on to complete a 2-year post-baccalaureate Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from the Medical College of Virginia, in Richmond Virginia. Dr. Peterson enhanced his education and training by completing an Advanced Residency in Hospital Pharmacy Administration at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.   Before Dr. Peterson came to University of the Sciences in Philadelphia in 1996, he was an assistant director of pharmacy/clinical services at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Prior to that, he was an associate director of pharmacy, drug information and clinical services at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

He has concentrated his years of research in pharmacy management, managed care pharmacy, pharmaceutical care and medication compliance. Some of his more recent scholarly publications include “Pharmacoeconomic Impact of Non-Compliance with Statins” and “A meta-analysis of interventions to improve medication adherence.” He is editor for the book “Managing Pharmacy Practice: Principles, Systems and Strategies.” He also co-authored the book “Advanced Pharmacotherapeutics: A Practical Approach” – a text used for mid-level practitioners.
Dr. Peterson is a member of several pharmacy organizations including the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the Pennsylvania Society of Hospital Pharmacists. Dr. Peterson has earned the Homiller Award for Excellence in Teaching (2003) and the Patricia Leahy Award for Learning Innovation (2005).

Ruth Schemm, Ed.D.
Dr. Schemm is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Public Health. She was the founding Chair of two Occupational Therapy departments that included graduate and first professional degree programs.  In 1998 she became Assistant Dean of the College of Health Sciences and was appointed Dean and served in that capacity until 2007.  She was the USP Liaison for the Bridging the Gaps internship program from 2000-2011.

Dr. Schemm’s scholarship is focused on how meaningful activities promote health in the community, including early examples during the Progressive Era.  Her collaborative research projects examined the resilience and quality of life of community living elders and individuals with spinal cord injuries.  She co-edited books on management and prevention, authored or co-authored 78 publications in peer reviewed journals, books and training videos. 

Her service activities included national leadership roles in the American Occupational Therapy Association, the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Board of Licensure and Chair of Board of Trustees of a Therapeutic Riding Program in Bucks County.  Recently she is on the Board of a developing therapeutic riding program, organized and leads a new rider program for urban youth and continues membership on the Warrington Township Park and Recreation Board and Vice Chair of the Task Force on Open Space.  She has served on the editorial boards of 3 journals, was the co-editor of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy policy section and presently serves as an editor for the Journal of Allied Health Professions and Occupational Therapy in Health Care.  

Her international work included consultation in England, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and the People's Republic of China. Ruth L Schemm holds a BS in Occupational Therapy, a M.Ed., and an Ed.D., all from Temple University.

Find out more about the faculty members teaching in the online MPH program at University of the Sciences. Call us at 855-275-1094, or request more information today.