2017 Winner of the Judy K. Black Award

Samuel D. Towne Jr., PhD, MPH, CPH

Samuel D. Towne Jr., PhD, MPH, CPH is a faculty member in the Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences and a faculty associate with the Center for Population Health and Aging within the Texas A&M School of Public Health in College Station, Texas. He did his postdoctoral training in Aging and Minority Health Disparities at Texas A&M after graduating with his PhD in Health Services, Policy, and Management from the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health. His major research focus is health disparities among vulnerable populations (e.g., rural, low-income, racial or ethnic minority, older adults) and geographic distributions of health-related measures (e.g., the intersection of health and place).

His work spans studies focused on community-level influences on individual outcomes, national studies in the US and global health settings (e.g., China) related to health disparities. He applies both his behavioral training (BS in psychology, MPH in Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences) and health services, policy, and management training to public health issues facing vulnerable populations.

He is a central member of several cross-disciplinary teams involving urban planning, computer sciences, medicine, geography, and public health seeking to tackle problems from multiple social ecological levels. He is the recipient of numerous national awards and has led or co-authored 26 peer-reviewed scientific articles published in national and international journals and 5 book chapters since joining Texas A&M in 2013. He is a current mentee in the AAHB Research Scholars Mentorship Program and serves as a reviewer for AAHB’s annual scientific meeting.

Quote: “I am honored to be recognized for this award and will continue to work towards efforts to ameliorate health disparities in the US and throughout our global community. I am forever thankful for my mentors and so many others and will work towards paying the mentorship provided to me forward to the next generation of researchers seeking to make a difference.”