College Leadership

Beth A. Virnig, Ph.D., M.P.H., is the dean and Robert G. Frank Endowed Professor at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions. She joined the university in July 2022 as the sixth dean of the college in its 64-year history.

She served as a professor in the division of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and as director and lead of the school’s Strategic Global Public Health Programming, where she guided efforts with partner universities in Thailand, India, Mexico and Ghana. Prior to that, she served as the school’s senior associate dean for academic affairs and research.

Dr. Virnig’s research examines how patient factors and system factors combine to influence care and outcomes. Her research focuses on cancer care, women’s health, end-of-life care, and the measurement of racial and ethnic disparities in care and health outcomes among Medicare beneficiaries. Her work has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. She serves on the American Cancer Society’s Council for Extramural Research. She is the author or co-author of more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, including an article on breast cancer surgery that was named one of the 10 best papers of the decade (1999-2009) by the American Society of Breast Surgeons.

She directed the Research Data Assistance Center, or ResDAC, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services-funded program providing free assistance to academic, government and nonprofit researchers interested in using Medicare and Medicaid data in their work.

She earned both her Ph.D. and M.P.H. in epidemiology from the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining the University of Minnesota, Dr. Virnig held positions at the University of Miami and Dartmouth Medical School’s Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences.

George Hack, PhD, MEd, is the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions’ Associate Dean for Educational Affairs 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.

I serve as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Public Health and Health Professions (PHHP). In this role, I actively promote the college’s research mission, in particular, supporting the research efforts of assistant professors and more senior faculty. I manage college resources, such as the PHHP Research Innovation Fund and PHHP Grant Feedback Portal, and lead “PHHP Days”, a two-day showcase of college research.

I direct a research laboratory in the UF McKnight Brain Institute is funded by multiple NIH grants. Current areas of emphasis include 1) electrical, pharmacological, and chemogenetic stimulation of spinal neurons to promote respiratory motor recovery after spinal cord injury; 2) therapeutic uses of oxygen in neurodegenerative diseases, and 3) understanding the control of breathing in Pompe disease, and testing gene therapy approaches for this disorder.

I serve as PI of an NIH T32 Training Grant https://pt.phhp.ufl.edu/train-with-us/t-32/. This T32 training program in Neuromuscular Plasticity has been continually funded for 20 years, and provides interdisciplinary training of clinicians and basic scientists in neuromuscular plasticity and rehabilitation science.

Lastly, I am the Associate Director of the Breathing Research and Therapeutics Center (BREATHE). https://breathe.phhp.ufl.edu/. BREATHE brings researchers together from throughout the UF campus in a collaborative effort to advance the understanding and treatment of neuromuscular disorders that compromise breathing.

Stephanie Hanson, Ph.D., ABPP (Rp) is the executive associate dean in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions. In her current position, Dr. Hanson is integrally involved in college and academic program accreditation processes as well as curricular reviews at the college level. She has also been involved in implementation of several college strategic plans. She led the design and development of both the master of public health program and the PhD program in rehabilitation science; she also transformed the bachelor of health science program to a broad-based pre-professional degree and served as the initial director of the MPH and the BHS. Dr. Hanson also led the college’s initial 5-year strategic initiative around blended learning. This involved spearheading the implementation of the college’s vision for a pedagogical educational model in which the use of technology and a blending of on line and interactive live class sessions facilitate student learning. A member of the college since 1996, Dr. Hanson received her Ph.D.’s in developmental psychology and clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University. She was one of the first women board certified in rehabilitation psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. She subsequently served on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Rehabilitation Psychology as well as on the Executive and Ethics and Social Responsibility Committees of the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA). She is an APA fellow and a rehabilitation psychology (APA Division 22) lifetime achievement award recipient based on her significant contributions to the field of rehabilitation psychology, particularly in the area of ethics. She most recently co-chaired the revision of APA’s Guidelines for Assessment and Intervention with Persons with Disabilities.

Dr. Jamie L. Pomeranz, Ph.D., CRC, CLCP, is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Florida. He holds three advanced degrees from the University of Florida: a Master of Exercise and Sports Science, a Master of Health Science in Rehabilitation Counseling, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Science. As a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and Life Care Planner, Dr. Pomeranz has dedicated over 20 years to serving individuals with disabilities across various capacities. His clinical expertise spans spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and intellectual disabilities.

Since joining the University of Florida faculty in 2004, Dr. Pomeranz has focused his research on health promotion for individuals with disabilities, life care planning, and modern measurement theory. His scholarly contributions include 58 peer-reviewed publications and two book chapters. A committed mentor, Dr. Pomeranz continues to guide Ph.D. and MPH graduate students in the Public Health and Rehabilitation Science programs.

In his current role, Dr. Pomeranz teaches within the Bachelor of Health Science undergraduate program and serves as the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Director of the Bachelor of Health Science program. His research endeavors have been supported by funding from the Area Health Education Centers, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Veterans Health Administration.

Dr. Pomeranz’s work has earned him numerous accolades, including the Excellence in Research Award, the Outstanding Young Alumni Award, and the Public Health Award for Faculty Excellence.

Zachary (Zac) Bielling, MHA, is the Executive Director (Associate Dean) of Administration for the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions. In his role as Executive Director, Mr. Bielling, serves as the Chief Administrative and Financial Officer for the college reporting directly to the Dean. He is responsible for the financial, human resource, information technology and data analytics, and research administration operations of the college.

Mr. Bielling completed his Bachelor of Health Science (BHS) and Master of Health Administration (MHA) at the University of Florida and has professional leadership experience in public, higher education and private, hospital administration.

While completing his graduate training, Mr. Bielling, completed an Administrative Internship at Peace River Regional Medical Center (now Bayfront Health Port Charlotte) with Health Management Associates, Inc (now Community Health Systems). His performance as an Administrative Intern led to his appointment as the Assistant Administrator at Peace River Regional Medical Center. Thereafter, Health Management Associates promoted and transferred Mr. Bielling to complete the acquisition, transitional leadership and management of Shands Lake Shore Regional Medical Center as the Associate Administrator (Chief Operating Officer). In both positions, Mr. Bielling was responsible for the operational and financial performance of multiple clinical and non-clinical ancillary departments, in addition to contract administration.

Following his tenure in acute-care hospital administration, Mr. Bielling began his career in public, higher education with the University of Florida in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering as an Associate Director of Administrative Services. Over his nearly nine-years of service to Engineering, he served four academic departments: Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Chemical Engineering and the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering. His service to each department required strong business acumen and leadership to oversee the daily and long-range administrative operations (assets, compliance, cost analysis, financial, human resources, and sponsored research), in addition to, a variety of other operational processes and projects.