News
April 4, 2017Colleen McLaughlin Hired as Chair of Department of Population Health Sciences
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has hired public health professional Colleen McLaughlin, PhD, to be the founding Chair of its Department of Population Health Sciences.
The department was organized in 2016 following the launch of the College’s bachelor’s program in Public Health. In addition to the Public Health program, the Department of Population Health Sciences is home to the College’s master’s program in Health Outcomes and Informatics, a strategic coupling that links two programs with natural synergies.
Dr. McLaughlin brings to the position a wealth of experience that will serve both the department and its programs well. Prior to joining the College, she was employed as a public health professional for more than 25 years at the New York State Department of Health (DOH).
During her time with DOH, she worked in multiple bureaus of the department including the Bureau of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention and Epidemiology, the Office of Primary Care and Health Systems Management, the Bureau of Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance, and the Bureau of Cancer Epidemiology.
Dr. McLaughlin was also a member of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University at Albany School of Public Health for seven years, where she taught epidemiology. She has served as a mentor for a number of student projects including internships, master’s theses, and Ph.D. dissertations.
She has been an active researcher throughout her career, having published more than two dozen articles in peer reviewed journals, including publications such as Cancer and the International Journal of Epidemiology. Dr. McLaughlin has also co-edited four book chapters, delivered nearly 40 presentations, and helped write more than 75 monographs and reports.
“As the College looks to the future, our focus will be to develop and enhance our offerings in the basic sciences, clinical sciences, and population health sciences,” said ACPHS President Greg Dewey, Ph.D. “Colleen has the perfect background to grow our Population Health Sciences capabilities and integrate them with the research and programmatic offerings in the other two areas. We are excited to welcome her to ACPHS.”
“There were many things that attracted me to this position, but I was especially interested in the opportunity to work with the faculty here to build a new department and align it with the long term vision of the College,” said Dr. McLaughlin. “I am also looking forward to teaching and mentoring the students of the College and using my experiences to help prepare them for their own careers.”
Dr. McLaughlin earned her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University at Albany School of Public Health where she did her dissertation on perinatal risk factors for childhood cancer, earning a distinguished doctoral award in the process. She received her Master of Public Health from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health and her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Boston College.
