Doug Taren, PhD, professor at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health and director of the Family and Child Health Concentration at the College, has been appointed Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to help our College build a stronger academic program,” Dr. Taren said. “The job itself is to help create a bigger vision in our teaching within the College, and I’m honored and humbled by the idea that I would be someone who could help with that vision.”

That vision includes strengthening the capacity in which students work closely with not just faculty, but community members, in which teaching occurs in the classroom and on the field. Dr. Taren also envisions a growth in the College’s academic programs by encouraging professionals in the field of public health to pursue an advanced degree. By doing so, he would like to use technology that would allow for distance learning if students are not able to attend classes on the Tucson campus. Dr. Taren also plans on looking into diverse sources of funding, which includes appropriate foundations, industries and private individuals, in addition to helping faculty members secure training grants and other funding for their projects.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Dr. Taren to the leadership team at our College,” said G. Marie Swanson, PhD, MPH, Founding Dean and Mel and Enid Zuckerman Endowed Chair in Public Health.  “His extensive experience as Director of the MPH program and as Chair of our Promotion and Tenure Committee will be valuable to this office and our future.  Doug defined an energetic and challenging vision for our academic programs.”

For the past 20 years, Dr. Taren has conducted research on domestic and international hunger, including vitamin A deficiency, women's health, the prevention of premature births, the development of educational programs, the improvement of dietary assessment methods, and child nutrition. His research and teaching has included projects in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Venezuela, Mexico, China, Nepal, Kenya, and Zambia. These areas of interest have been supported by national and international agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Agency for International Development, the United States Department of Agriculture, the United Nations and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Dr. Taren is the author of textbooks, numerous book chapters and scientific papers.

Dr. Taren started his career in public health as a nutritionist for the Navajo Nation Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), where he was the nutritionist from 1979 to 1982.  This cross-cultural experience set the stage for the rest of his career in public health. He was an original member of the Rocky Mountain Public Health Education Consortium and directs its Maternal and Child Health Certificate Program and a Health Resources and Services Administration-funded MCH training program. Dr. Taren received his doctoral degree in nutritional sciences from Cornell University in 1986. He served on the faculty at the University of South Florida College of Public Health from 1987 to 1992 and joined the University of Arizona College of Medicine in 1993.