Athens, Ga. – Dr. Phaedra Corso, professor of health policy and management in the University of Georgia College of Public Health, has been named the inaugural UGA Foundation Professor of Human Health. The professorship was approved by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia at its September 2013 meeting and became effective Jan. 1.
Corso is the director of the Economic Evaluation Research Group and founding head of the college’s department of health policy and management. She also serves as associate director for policy at the Emory Center for Injury Control and adjunct faculty member at the UGA School of Public and International Affairs.
“Phaedra is a pre-eminent scholar widely recognized by peers and colleagues in her field,” said Dr. Phillip Williams, dean of the College of Public Health. “This professorship not only recognizes her many accomplishments in health policy research, but her essential role in the growth and prominence of the college’s department of health policy and management.”
Corso is known both nationally and internationally for her research in economic evaluation and economic impact assessment, primarily in the areas of child maltreatment and substance use prevention. Her recent activities include serving on a National Academies’ Institute of Medicine committee to assess the current field of research in child maltreatment and consulting for UNICEF on a project measuring the economic burden of child maltreatment in the Pacific Rim.
Since 2009, Corso has co-hosted the TV show “Public Health Impact,” which regularly airs on WUGA-TV and reaches a viewing audience of 1.5 million throughout North Georgia and metro Atlanta. In addition, she was recently tapped to join the 2014 class of Leadership Georgia, a 42-year-old statewide leadership program affiliated with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Prior to joining the UGA faculty in 2006, she worked for 15 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an economic and policy analyst, most recently in the area of injury and violence prevention. In January, Corso rejoined the CDC as a senior policy analyst in the agency’s Policy Research, Analysis, and Development Office, which spearheads and coordinates much of the policy efforts conducted at CDC’s Atlanta locations.
Corso holds a Master of Public Administration in public policy from UGA and a doctoral degree in health policy from Harvard University.
The University of Georgia Foundation funds more than 150 chairs and professorships across a wide variety of departments and disciplines at the university. Funding for these chairs and professorships is made possible through the generosity of donors, who establish funds with the foundation to support these important positions.