Texas A&M professor named to Committee on Rural Health by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

Dr. Alva O. Ferdinand, head of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, has been named to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s National Advisory Committee on Rural Health by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. She will serve a four-year term on the committee, which is comprised of nationally recognized rural health experts tasked with providing recommendations on rural health issues.

Since 2019, Ferdinand has served as director of the Southwest Rural Health Research Center, whose research has impacted federal policies nationwide for more than two decades. Most recently, she led the center’s efforts in completing Rural Healthy People 2030, a companion piece to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Healthy People 2030. This is the third companion piece in this decadal series for the center.

Ferdinand’s research has influenced life-saving health policies, particularly Texas’ texting while driving ban, and has been recognized in national media outlets, including CNN, US News and World Report, the Associated Press and The Washington Post. She has also won numerous awards for her research including the Journal of Rural Health Article of the Year in 2021.

Ferdinand received both her Doctor of Public Health and Master of Public Health in health care organization and policy from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2013 and 2008, respectively. She received her Juris Doctor from the Michigan State University College of Law in 2006.

By Rae Lynn Mitchell, Texas A&M University School of Public Health

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