Public Health Faculty

Dr. Alemagno joined Kent State University after having spent the past 10 years at the University of Akron. Her most recent roles at the University of Akron were as director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy and chair of the Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies.

Dr. Heather Beaird is an assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics, Environmental Health Sciences, and Epidemiology. She teaches courses in introductory epidemiology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She received her B.S. in Biology from Kent State University in 1998 and her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from Case Western Reserve University in 2005. In addition to teaching, Dr. Beaird spent nearly 10 years serving in local public health as the Epidemiology Chief for Summit County Public Health and the Portage County Health Department. The majority of her work in local public health has involved the management of local surveillance systems, community health assessment, program evaluation, and the development of methodologies for effective public health data utilization. Her passion lies in the application of large administrative data for the investigation of health disparities, particularly as they apply to local populations in need of targeted public health services.

Sasikumar Benzigar is a faculty practitioner and Director of Instructional Technology and Online Learning at the College of Public Health. Dr. Benzigar earned his Ed.D. (Instructional Technology) from the University of Cincinnati. He previously taught graduate level Instructional Technology courses at the University of Cincinnati, College of Education. He has over 20 years of experience in Instructional Technology and Online Learning.

Dr. Bhargava is a Kent native, and after eight years in California and six in Pittsburgh, PA, she is glad to be back in Kent and at the College of Public Health at Kent State University.

Dr. Bhatta has almost 20 years of administrative, teaching, training and research experience in the field of public health, especially in infectious disease epidemiology and global health. He has taught for the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (health without borders; infectious disease surveillance and control; global perspectives in disease control and prevention) and served as the program director of the UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health. Dr. Bhatta currently also serves as a consultant epidemiologist for the Carroll County and Tuscarawas County General Health Districts in Northeast Ohio as part of their Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program. As such, he is an integral part of the emergency preparedness response for those two counties and advises the health departments on all the epidemiologic aspects of emergency response and action. Dr. Bhatta currently teaches courses in global health at the undergraduate level and epidemiologic methods at the graduate level. Dr. Bhatta has published about a dozen articles, book chapters and abstracts on topics in public health.

Dr. Thomas Brewer is an Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health. Dr. Brewer began his career at Kent State in 2002 in the Department of Justice Studies, College of Arts and Sciences. His teaching and research focused on criminal law, criminal procedure, and the law of capital punishment. He served as Research Fellow and Associate Director of the Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence.

Dr. Chatfield joined the social and behavioral sciences faculty at Kent State University in 2015. She previously held faculty positions at the University of South Alabama and the University of Southern Mississippi.

EducationPh.D., Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OhioM.S., Statistics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OklahomaPGD-MISCA, Osmania University, Hyderabad, IndiaMSc, Statistics (Econometrics concentration), Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India

Dr. Abbey Eng is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics, Environmental Health, and Epidemiology.

Tianyuan Guan did her Ph.D. work in Biostatistics under the umbrella of the Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. Her basic background is in Clinical Medicine.

College of Public HealthMaster of Public Health

John Hoornbeek joined the faculty of the College of Public Health in 2011, after serving as a Center Director and faculty member in Kent State University’s Political Science Department since 2006. He has worked on environmental, water, and public health issues at the federal, state, and local levels of government for more than a quarter century.

Dr. Jefferis is one of the founding faculty of the College of Public Health. Currently he is an associate professor, the graduate program coordinator and the vice chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Deric R. Kenne, PhD has over 15 years of experience as a researcher and practitioner in the field of substance abuse in both academic and nonprofit settings. He has helped secure over $7.6 million in state and federally-funded research and service grants and has authored or co-authored numerous articles on the topic of substance abuse.

Dr. King's work in public health has involved community nutrition policy, systems, and environmental intervention development and evaluation. Her current research focuses on exploring basic needs (i.e. food insecurity) challenges that affect quality of life among college students, particularly stigma associated with resource use. She is passionate to deepen the courage to dismantle the stigmas of vulnerability.

Rob Kollin is a Lecturer in the College of Public Health, primarily teaching Essentials of Health Insurance, Leadership, and Finance courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Before accepting the Lecturer position, he served as a College of Public Health Adjunct Faculty member from August of 2017 to May of 2022.

Bethany Lanese, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Dr. Lanese is the coordinator for the Online MPH Program, as well as teaches courses in the MPH and BSPH programs.

Dr. Phillips is a cancer and genetic epidemiologist with expertise in breast, colon and cervical cancer research. She has worked on large cancer studies including the Carolina Breast Cancer Study and the Colon Neoplasia Sibling Study.

Dr. Smith joined the faculty of Kent State University College of Public Health in August 2013. An Ohio native, she previously spent nine years in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Iowa College of Public Health, where she directed the College’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and attained the rank of Associate Professor with tenure.

Dr. Step received her undergraduate and graduate training in communication studies and has taught public speaking, interpersonal communication, nonverbal communication, persuasion and media effects.

Laurel Tomi has over 25 years’ experience in the post-acute care sector. As a former Administrator/ Executive Director in skilled nursing and rehabilitation, demential care, independent and assisted living, home health and business development for an international private medical transport company, Laurel brings real world practice and professional experience to the classroom and course work. Her MPH in Health Policy and Management with a concentration in Leadership, allows her to bridge the gap between prevention and curative models used in healthcare today.

Dr. Jonathan VanGeest is Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management in the College of Public Health at Kent State University. Prior to his arrival at Kent State, Dr. VanGeest served as a Department Chair in the School of Community Health and Policy at Morgan State University, where he also directed the university’s Center for Health Informatics, Planning and Policy.

Christopher J. Woolverton, Ph.D., is a professor of epidemiology in the College of Public Health at Kent State University. Woolverton is a recipient of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine's Jefferson Science Fellowship (2020-2021). He is a member of the graduate faculty of the Kent State University College of Public Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences and the Northeastern Ohio Medical University. Woolverton serves on the faculty of the National Biosafety and Biosecurity Training Program of the NIH and is the manager of the NIH Designated Training Facility (BSL-3 Training Laboratory) at Kent State. He is also a member of the Cooperative Medical Technology Program of Akron (Ohio) faculty. Woolverton received his graduate training in medical microbiology from West Virginia University School of Medicine. He spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow studying cellular immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Woolverton has received additional training in Biological Safety, Security and Policy Analysis from MIT, ABSA International (formerly American Biological Safety Association), and Emory University; and training in coronavirus contact tracing from Johns Hopkins University. He has been at Kent State since 1995.Woolverton’s research is focused on the detection and control of bacterial pathogens, and biological safety and security issues. He is co-inventor of the liquid crystal biosensor and co-inventor of the fibrin sealant antimicrobial drug delivery system. His teaching scholarship is centered on adult learning. He has presented and published internationally his biosensor, antimicrobial drug delivery, biosafety and pedagogical research.Woolverton previously served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, the pedagogical journal of the American Society for Microbiology. He is a member of several societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Microbiology, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, ABSA International, and the Ohio Public Health Association. He is co-author of the undergraduate textbook Prescott’s Microbiology (7th-10th editions). He is an international lecturer on biosafety and biosecurity, as well as liquid crystal biosensors. Woolverton also serves on the City of Kent Board of Health and the Portage County (Ohio) Medical Reserve Corp.EducationPh.D., Medical Microbiology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, 1986M.S., Medical Microbiology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, 1984M.S., Biology (Psychology minor), Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 1982Postdoctoral training, Cellular Immunology, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1986-1988

Associate Professor - EpidemiologyCollege of Public HealthMS in Clinical Epidemiology