College Deans
- Dr. Michael G. Perri, Dean and the Robert G. Frank Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology
- Dr. Stephanie Hanson, Executive Associate Dean and Clinical Professor
- Dr. Linda Cottler, Associate Dean for Research and Professor
- Dr. Amy Blue, Associate Dean for Educational Affairs and Clinical Professor
- Andrea Burne, Assistant Dean for Finance and Human Resources
- Dr. George Hack, Assistant Dean for Instructional Design and Education Technology and Clinical Associate Professor
- Dr. Cindy Prins, Assistant Dean for Educational Affairs, Director of Master of Public Health program and Clinical Associate Professor
Dr. Michael G. Perri, Dean and Robert G. Frank Endowed Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology
Michael G. Perri, PhD, ABPP, is the Dean of the College of Public Health and Health Professions and the Robert G. Frank Endowed Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology. Dr. Perri was appointed Dean in 2009, after serving as interim dean for two years. Under his leadership, the college has grown from 1,700 to 2,505 students and has expanded its academic portfolio to include a doctorate of occupational therapy, PhD programs and concentrations in biostatistics, environmental and global health, epidemiology, One Health, public health, social and behavioral sciences, an online Masters of Public Health, and a Bachelor of Public Health. Dr. Perri’s research focuses on health promotion and disease prevention through changes in diet and physical activity. He has contributed to more than 185 publications and has been the principal investigator or co-investigator for more than $60 million in research grants and contracts. Dr. Perri is an elected fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the Obesity Society. He is the recipient of the American Psychological Association’s Samuel M. Turner Award for Distinguished Contributions to Applied Research in Clinical Psychology and the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Distinguished Research Mentor Award.
Contact: (352) 273-6214
Administrative Specialist: Lauren Guidi
Administrative Assistant: Miriam Cadelinia
Address:
College of Public Health and Health Professions
Dean’s Office
PO Box 100185
Gainesville, FL 32610
Dr. Stephanie Hanson, Executive Associate Dean and Clinical Professor
Stephanie Hanson, PhD, is the executive associate dean and a clinical professor at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions.
A member of the college since 1996, Dr. Hanson received her PhDs in developmental psychology and clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University. From 1986 to 1991, she was a clinical assistant professor at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, where she directed inpatient psychology services at Rusk Rehabilitation Center and helped establish the center’s first postdoctoral psychology training program. She also established psychological services at the University’s Women’s Health Center.
In 1991, she moved to North Carolina, where she led the development of the first comprehensive outpatient brain injury program at Charlotte Institute of Rehabilitation. She subsequently worked as the development coordinator for the neurology program at Whitaker Rehabilitation Center in Winston-Salem. Dr. Hanson chaired the ethics committee for the APA Rehabilitation Psychology Division (Division 22) for seven years (1993–2000) and served as a Division 22 executive committee member (1998–2001). She was one of the first women to be board certified in rehabilitation psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, and from 1999 to 2002 was on the board of directors of the American Board of Rehabilitation Psychology, which certifies psychologists in the specialty of rehabilitation. Dr. Hanson is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. She has chaired multiple APA-sponsored continuing education workshops and symposia, published, and taught on health care ethics.
Dr. Hanson’s interests include ethical practice in complex health care delivery systems, interdisciplinary team functioning, traumatic brain injury and stroke, and clinical and academic program development. Dr. Hanson oversees administrative aspects of the health science program and has previously taught Therapeutic Communication Skills and Ethical and Legal Issues. She is a faculty supervisor for Clinical Observation/Health Care Volunteer Work.
Contact: (352) 273-6377
Administrative Specialist: Candice Vogtle
Address:
College of Public Health and Health Professions
Dean’s Office
PO Box 100185
Gainesville, FL 32610
Dr. Linda Cottler, Associate Dean for Research and Professor
Dr. Linda B. Cottler is Associate Dean for Research at the College of Public Health and Health Professions and Dean’s Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the College of Public Health and Health Professions and the College of Medicine at the University of Florida where she was the Founding Chair from June 2011 through December 2018. She is involved in studies in several major areas with public health importance. is involved in studies in several major areas with public health importance. These include: the development of culturally reliable and valid measures for identifying substance use, abuse and dependence, along with psychiatric disorders and their risk factors; innovative methods for conducting national surveys of high risk behaviors; and community based, peer-delivered interventions to change HIV risk behaviors and substance abuse. The Cottler lab has focused its work with underrepresented populations including prescription drug misusers, former National Football League players, stimulant users among youth 10 to 18 years of age nationally, out-of-treatment drug users and heavy drinkers, prescription drug misusers, female sex workers, and criminal justice populations. The work she has done is directly related to reducing disparities for health research and health services.
Dr. Cottler has expanded her community focus to the CTSA Community Engagement Program, first at Washington University as Director and now at the UF program as Co-director. Pertinent to this effort is her HealthStreet model, a hub for community outreach which links community residents to social and medical referrals, health messages, and research opportunities. The HealthStreet model has leveraged funding from the NIH for the multisite Sentinel Network, a GO! grant and others.
Cottler’s work has had international focus as well, extending internationally to Sydney, Taipei, Bangalore, Kenya and Afghanistan. Dr. Cottler’s research has been funded continuously since 1989; grants have been funded through NIDA, NIAAA, NCRR, NINR, NIMH, NHLBI, Pinney Associates and ESPN. She is principal investigator of a Fogarty International Center Training Program partnering with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, India (one from 2001 to 2013) and one just funded in 2011; and she is the former Director of a 28-year NIMH Post-Doctoral Training Program in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and former Director of a NIDA T32 Training Program in Comorbidity and Biostatistics. She served as Director of the Master of Psychiatric Epidemiology program at WU, the only program of its kind in the world, and has directly mentored over 60 pre-and post-doctoral fellows, who are now themselves making important contributions to research efforts. Dr. Cottler was at Washington University in the Department of Psychiatry for nearly 31 years prior to coming to the University of Florida in 2011. In her career, she has received numerous awards for mentoring and excellence in research.
Contact: (352) 294-5947; lbcottler@ufl.edu
Administrative Specialist: Tamara Millay
Administrative Assistant: Zoe J. Martusewicz
Address:
College of Public Health and Health Professions
CTRB 4218
P.O. Box 100231
Gainesville, FL 32610
Dr. Amy Blue, Associate Dean for Educational Affairs and Clinical Professor
Amy Blue, PhD, is the associate dean for educational affairs at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions, and associate vice president for interprofessional education in the UF Health Office of the Senior Vice President for Health Affairs. She is also a clinical professor in the PHHP Department of Behavioral Science and Community Health.
Dr. Blue joined the UF faculty in 2013 from the Medical University of South Carolina where she served as the director of the university’s interprofessional education program, Creating Collaborative Care, as well as the director of the university’s Presidential Scholars program for students.
Dr. Blue has co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications regarding medical and interprofessional education. Her educational research interests have included measures of professionalism in medical students funded by the National Board of Medical Examiners, and assessment and evaluation practices funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has served in national leadership roles, including chair of The Generalists in Medical Education, chair of the Southern Group on Educational Affairs of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and was a founding member of the American Interprofessional Health Collaborative. Dr. Blue was elected as a faculty member to the medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha and honorary membership to the National Pharmacy Leadership Society, Phi Lambda Sigma. She has been an editorial board member of the journal, Teaching and Learning in Medicine and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Interprofessional Care. Dr. Blue served as a member of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel that wrote the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Report in 2011.
Contact: 352-294-4981, amy.blue@phhp.ufl.edu
Administrative Specialist: Gustavo Mazorra
Address:
College of Public Health and Health Professions
Dean’s Office
PO Box 100185
Gainesville, FL 32610
Andrea Burne, Assistant Dean for Finance and Human Resources
Andrea M. Burne, MBA, is the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions’ assistant dean for finance and human resources. Since 2006 she has served in this role, acting as the chief financial, operations and systems officer for the college.
Joining our college in 2001, Ms. Burne received her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in management of technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She went on to gain professional experience in both the health care industry and academia. Ms. Burne’s employment history ranges from several healthcare institutions in the northeast to serving as the assistant chair for the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester. Prior to her current role in the Dean’s Office, Ms. Burne served in our College as the assistant director for medical and health administration in the Department of Clinical & Health Psychology.
Her accomplishments include database design, project management of facilities, overseeing and managing multiple multi-million dollar budgets, as well as assisting in several different accreditation processes.
Contact: 273-6143, amburne@phhp.ufl.edu
Address:
College of Public Health and Health Professions
Dean’s Office
PO Box 100185
Gainesville, FL 32610
Dr. George Hack, Assistant Dean for Instructional Design and Educational Technology and Clinical Associate Professor
George Hack, PhD, MEd, is the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions’ assistant dean for instructional design and educational technology and a clinical associate professor in the department of Occupational Therapy. Dr. Hack received his PhD in Educational Technology from the University of Florida and has designed online and face-to-face instruction in a variety of environments, including secondary, undergraduate, graduate, professional, adult vocational training, and military schools.
At the University of Florida, Dr. Hack has served in various roles, working in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences as a coordinator of extension nutrition education programs, teaching graduate and undergraduate technology courses in the College of Education, and as assistant director for instruction and information systems in the Health Science Center Libraries. He has also collaborated on the Compendium for Children’s Health with a team of international physicians, setting up an online environment for pediatricians to receive instruction in Community Pediatrics.
Dr. Hack’s research interests include human-computer interactions in learning as well as pedagogy influenced by situated and grounded learning theories. In addition, he has served ten years in the military, with four years of active duty in the Marine Corps.
Contact: 352-273-6377, hackg@phhp.ufl.edu
Administrative Specialist: Candice Vogtle
Address:
College of Public Health and Health Professions
Dean’s Office
PO Box 100185
Gainesville, FL 32610
Dr. Cindy Prins, Assistant Dean for Educational Affairs, Director of Master of Public Health program and Clinical Associate Professor
Cindy Prins, PHD, MPH, CIC, CPH, is the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions’ assistant dean for educational affairs, the MPH Program Director, and a clinical associate professor of Epidemiology. Dr. Prins received her PhD in Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology from Penn State University in 2000, where she studied replication of JC virus. She completed her post-doctoral training at the University of Florida, focusing on regulation of vaccinia virus transcription elongation. Concurrently, she earned her MPH in the Epidemiology concentration from the College of Public Health and Health Professions at UF in the fall of 2006. After this she worked as an Infection Control Practitioner at UF Health Shands Hospital.
Dr. Prins joined the Epidemiology faculty first as an adjunct lecturer in 2009 and then full time as a clinical assistant professor in the fall of 2010. Dr. Prins’ research interests include the prevention of healthcare-associated infections, including those caused by multi-drug resistant organisms, and compliance with vaccine recommendations. Dr. Prins is Board Certified in Infection Control (CIC) and Public Health (CPH).
Contact: capfive@ufl.edu
Administrative Specialist: Mary Keramidas
Address:
College of Public Health and Health Professions
Dean’s Office
PO Box 100185
Gainesville, FL 32610