News Release

New appointments at UM SPH: Grazier as Chair of Health Management & Policy, Robins as Director of Global Public Health

August 30, 2011, University of Michigan School of Public Health release

Grazier Now Chair of Health Management & Policy

Effective July 1, Professor Kyle Grazier, Ph.D., was named Chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy for a 3-year term. Professor Rich Hirth will serve as Associate Chair.

Dr. Grazier joined the University of Michigan in 1997 as associate professor of health management and policy, with tenure, and was promoted to professor in 2003. In 2006 she was appointed as a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical School. She also serves as associate director of the University’s NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award Program, MICHR, where she is responsible for the Evaluation Core.

One major area of Dr. Grazier's research is in health care finance, with special emphasis on the effect of managed care arrangements and risk adjustment methods on mental health and substance abuse services, costs, and quality of care. Under sponsorship from the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation, she is studying the impact of changes in the federal behavioral health parity law, and conducting a meta-analysis of depression and primary care. Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, she identified models of integrated services for vulnerable populations. She has just completed a study of health plan choice behavior, funded by AHRQ and BCBS-M Foundation. With support from the NIMH and NIAAA, she has studied the effects of a mental health carve-out on use and cost of mental health and medical services among an employed population, and the long term consequences of alcoholism in a community-based sample. Through support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the BCBS-M Foundation, she has examined the reintegration of medical and mental health services in employed and Medicaid populations. These sponsors have also supported study of the variation in risk adjustment methods used in provider profiling.

“The Department of Health Management and Policy at UM SPH has a 50-year legacy of innovation, leadership, and excellence,” says Grazier. “That history and the ongoing co-creation of value by students, staff, alumni, and faculty means that we will continue to improve the health of populations, the management and design of health delivery systems, and the development of the best possible health policy. HMP’s partnerships across campus accelerate the culture of innovation for which the University of Michigan is known. It is an honor to be selected as chair of the premier health management and policy program in the U.S.”

Robins Named Director of Global Public Health

Effective September 1, 2011, Professor Thomas G. Robins, M.D., M.P.H., is the Director of Global Public Health at SPH. This new position reflects the importance of UM SPH's further contributing to the solution of global public health challenges that affect the well-being of a substantial fraction of the world’s population.

A member of the faculty of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences since 1984, Dr. Robins has led a number of large-scale field epidemiology studies both in Africa and domestically. His major area of research interest is environmentally and occupationally related respiratory diseases. During the past 20 years Dr. Robins has worked extensively on strengthening human capacity in health in sub-Saharan Africa (South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe). He is the principal investigator on three current global health research training grants funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and was one of two co-PIs on a recently completed grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which focused on strengthening human resources for health in Ghana. Dr. Robins’ approach to global public health work emphasizes the building of strong institutional ties with both academic and governmental partners on the basis of long-term, open, co-equal relationships.

As the school’s new Director of Global Public Health, Dr. Robins will oversee efforts to improve both curricula and student programs relating to global public health and to increase research funding in this critical area. He will also spearhead further efforts aimed at building a collaborative intellectual environment in global public health within SPH and the University of Michigan at large, and he will work to increase the visibility of the school’s multifaceted activities in global public health.

"I am delighted and honored to serve as the Director of Global Public Health in the School," Robins said. "The school and the University of Michigan are well-positioned to substantially increase their already very strong contributions in this area. The school has nearly 50 full-time faculty engaged in global health research, development, and training. Interest in global public health is very high among our talented student body. Dean Philbert has committed substantial new resources toward further improving global public health curricula and other educational opportunities, enhancing faculty research and other funding opportunities, and strengthening training and research ties with collaborators among our key partners in Asia, Africa and Latin America. I have every confidence that we shall be able to make huge strides in global public health over the next few years."

More on global health programs and initiatives at UM SPH.

Contact: Mary Beth Lewis or Terri Mellow, UM SPH Office of Communications
Phone: (734) 615-2279
E-mail: sph.communications@umich.edu