Emeritus | SDSU School of Public Health

The School of Public Health recognizes the achievements of its emeritus faculty for their many contributions in building its programs and educating its outstanding graduates.

Boskin, Warren D. (emeritus: 1998)
Burgess, William C. (emeritus: 1992)
Harper, Leroy A. *
Kitzinger, Angela, M. (emeritus: 1969)
McTaggert, Aubrey C. (emeritus: 1992)

* deceased

	Kenneth J. Bart (emeritus: 2004) served as the Director of the School of Public Health from 1998-2004. During his years at the SPH, Dr. Bart helped to move the SPH forward into its third decade of excellence and continued to promote immunization and other programs directed toward the health of mothers and children.
	Stephen Bender (emeritus: 2004) served as Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the SPH and was a member of the SDSU faculty for 30 years. Dr. Bender published numerous articles in scholarly journals, authored five books, and was the recipient of over six million dollars in grant/contract awards. He was the founding Head of the Division of Health Promotion in the SPH, and also served as both the Associate Director and Acting Director of the SPH.
	Aram S. (Bud) Benenson* was world renowned in epidemiology and the editor-in-chief for 25 years of the bible of communicable disease, Control of Communicable Disease in Man. He was one of the early faculty members of the school, joining after a long and distinguished career in the military medical corps and in academia.
	Stephanie Brodine was Professor and Head of the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases with active research interests and expertise in Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, particularly in HIV and AIDS, International Health, and Health Disparities. She is the Clinical Director of the DoD HIV/AIDS Prevention Program, which has HIV prevention and care activities in approximately 70 countries. In the area of Health Disparities, she is Program Director of the California NARCH (Native American Research Center for Health), in partnership with the Indian Health Council. CA-NARCH is funded by the NIGMS and the Indian Health Service, with active research and student development projects. She is also active in U.S./Mexico border educational and research collaborations and is the U.S. coordinator of the VIIDAI program and a co-investigator in a recently funded USAID TIES program. Dr. Brodine has over 75 publications and has research and program management funding from NIH, USAID, and US DoD.
	John B. Conway (emeritus: 1992) was associate director of the SPH and a professor of OEH. His 40-year career in environmental health included many experiences. Among these were being chair of the State of Washington Board of Health, serving as a registered sanitarian, and recognition as an expert in water quality, disaster preparedness and emergency response, and food supply quality.
	Ann de Peyster (emeritus: 2011) was a Professor of Toxicology and Director of the Toxicology program in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Health. Initially on a joint appointment with the Department of Biology, she collaborated with aquatic biologists and ecologists to expand her laboratory and field-based studies of chemicals on reproductive processes. She served as Interim Director of the SPH from 2004-2007.
	John Elder (emeritus: 2013) is a Distinguished Professor in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at San Diego State University’s School of Public, and Adjunct Co-Leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Medicine at the University of California-San Diego. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University and an MPH from Boston University. He currently serves as Multiple Principal Investigator of an Alzheimer’s research training grant with UCSD, and with Dr. Noe Crespo as a Co-Investigator on a Covid-19 prevention grant.Dr. Elder has authored 4 books and over 400 other publications in the areas of health promotion, disease prevention, and behavioral epidemiology. He has consulted for USAID, DoD, the Rockefeller Foundation and WHO projects in 34 different countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, and has taught at universities in Germany, Spain, Mexico and Indonesia.
	Dr. Richard M. Gersberg is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Public Health at San Diego State University (SDSU). He has an M.S. degree in biology and a Ph.D degree in microbiology from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Gersberg specializes in water quality research, and has broad experience working with both chemical and microbiological pollutants and human health risk assessments. He has well over 100 scientific publications in these areas. Dr. Gersberg has conducted a number of studies on the detection, quantitation, and risk posed by chemicals and/or pathogens in the Tijuana River and Estuary at the U.S-Mexico border, the Salton Sea, CA and the Venice Lagoon, Italy. He has directly measured the level of hepatitis A virus and enteroviruses in the nearshore coastal waters of Imperial Beach and has carried out risk assessments for these pathogens as well as for toxic chemical contaminants in these waters. Dr, Gersberg is a member of the Independent Advisory Panel for the City of San Diego’s Pure Water Project and for the East County Advanced Water Purification Program (Padre Dam Municipal Water District and Helix Water District).
	Hershel E. Griffin* (emeritus: 1987) was Associate Director of the School of Public Health in 1980. He also served as a Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health during the early years of the SPH.
	Tee L. Guidotti (emeritus: 1984) was recruited, in 1980, as the founding Head of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Health. He launched two main graduate programs (MPH concentrations in OH and EH) in 1981 as well as developing a demonstration project in occupational health services and a research program. Dr. Tee L. Guidotti has a background in pulmonary medicine and inhalation toxicology. His work included issues related to firefighting and energy technologies, later becoming pillars of his career.
	Melbourne Hovell (emeritus: 2015) holds a PhD in Child Psychology and Human Development with specialization in adolescent development from the University of Kansas and a postdoctoral MPH in Social Epidemiology from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Hovell is the former and founding Head of the Division of Health Promotion.
	Alma Koch (emeritus: 2013) was a Professor of Health Management and Policy (formerly Division of Health Services Administration). She also served as Graduate Advisor of the SPH from 1990-1991 and again from 2007-2013. She became Associate Director of the SPH in 1998. Prior to joining the SDSU faculty, she was project director for the section of public health and preventive dentistry at UCLA. She has held numerous research positions as an investigator and a consultant, focusing on issues of health care finance, provider reimbursement, quality assessment, and long-term care.
	Lois Kessler* (emeritus: 1990) earned her master’s degree from what was then San Diego State College in 1966. She became a lecturer, then tenured professor, with her professional career at San Diego State spanning nearly 25 years. Among her many accomplishments, Lois Kessler helped develop the first women’s studies program in the country at San Diego State University.
	Sue Lindsay was an Associate Professor of Epidemiology and the Executive Director of the Institute for Public Health (IPH) in the school. Dr. Lindsay’s primary area of research interest was the study of interpersonal violence including youth violence, homicide, suicide, family violence, spousal abuse, child abuse, and sexual assault. She has directed and participated in the design and implementation of applied research and evaluation studies in a wide variety of content areas including homelessness, perinatal health, breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnosis, teen substance abuse prevention, HIV/AIDs prevention, chronic disease prevention, teenage pregnancy prevention, tobacco education. Dr. Lindsay’s community-based activities focused on health disparities across cultures, and culturally competent interventions designed to address those disparities.
	Caroline A. Macera (emeritus: 2015) served as a professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Associate Director of the SPH from 2007-2014. In addition to teaching and serving as chair for Master’s students, she was a key faculty member in the Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health for students in the Epidemiology emphasis. She was a former team leader for epidemiology and surveillance with the Physical Activity group at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her research interests included the study of physical activity and aging as well as chronic diseases in general. In addition to over 200 peer-reviewed publications, she co-authored a book entitled, “Physical Activity and Public Health Practice” and an undergraduate text book entitled “Basics of Epidemiology: The Distribution and Determinants of Disease in Humans.”
	Joni Mayer (emeritus: 2010) was a full-time faculty member in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences for 24 years. Her research interests included skin cancer prevention, early detection of breast cancer, and promoting healthier food choices and increased physical activity. She won three mentoring awards and under her supervision, many of her students published their thesis or dissertation research findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Mayer was recognized for her creativity combined with her commitment to stringent research designs and more specifically for developing: 1) objective measurement strategies for behaviors that are challenging to measure, 2) interventions that are tailored for and integrated into real-world environments, and 3) low-cost, user-friendly interventions that have a high likelihood of dissemination. For example, as a consequence of her large, randomized controlled trial with U.S.P.S. letter carriers, for the first time and on a nationwide level, the Postal Service began to offer as an option a canvas wide-brim hat as part of the official uniform. Dr. Mayer won the Dissemination Research Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine, where she was a Fellow. She was principal investigator on multiple research grants from the National Institutes of Health (primarily the National Cancer Institute–NCI), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program. Moreover, in the latter portion of her career in academia, Dr. Mayer was the recipient of the NCI’s prestigious, highly competitive 5-year Established Investigator Award (K05) in Cancer Prevention, Control , Behavioral and Population Science Research.
	James Noto (emeritus: 2001) helped develop the Community Health Education program in the School of Public Health and its predecessor programs. He contributed to the development of undergraduate and graduate education at the University with a tremendous commitment to students. His research interests have included HIV/AIDS in relation to high risk behavior, tobacco prevention/cessation programs, and alcohol and other drug prevention and treatment.
	Thomas E. Novotny (emeritus: 2015) is Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the San Diego State University (SDSU) School of Public Health. He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska Medical Center (MD 1973) and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (MPH Epidemiology 1992). He served as a CDC epidemiologist in the Office on Smoking and Health and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health in the US Department of Health and Human Services. He co-directed the Joint PhD program in Global Health at SDSU/UCSD from 2009-2015, and he has done extensive research on tobacco and the environment. In 2010, he founded the Cigarette Butt Pollution Project, a research, educational, and advocacy non-profit organization that addresses tobacco’s impact on the environment.
	Allan Ogelsby* (emeritus: 1990) obtained his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia. He held a Masters in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley. His career was devoted to developing and administering public health programs, teaching, and publishing articles and textbooks. He worked for a time at the Golden Gate Regional Center in San Francisco developing programs for children with disabilities. In Honolulu he worked developing and managing public health programs in close concert with the Governor’s office. In 1984 he accepted a position at San Diego State University as Professor of Public Health.
	Michael Peddecord (emeritus: 2005) joined the health services administration faculty in 1981. His interests have included quality improvement, community and institutional based programs, adolescent health and preventive services, immunization, and clinical laboratory quality. He served as co-director of the UCSD/SDSU/San Diego County Immunization Partnership (SDIP), and has participated in many community activities over the years.
	Dennis Pointer (emeritus: 2002) served as the University’s first John J. Hanlon Professor for 12 years. Dr. Pointer is a founder of the American Governance and Leadership Group, LLC (sponsored by the American Hospital Association) and President of Dennis D. Pointer & Associates, a governance consulting firm.
	Behzad S. Samimi* (emeritus: 2006) developed and directed the Industrial Hygiene masters program and mentored dozens of students who are now employed around the nation protecting the health of workers. His research interests were in the areas of assessment of human exposure to chemical agents in the work place, respiratory protection and indoor air quality.
	F. Douglas Scutchfield (emeritus: 1997) was the founding director of the SPH. He received his medical degree from the UK College of Medicine in 1966, was a resident in preventive medicine at the UK College of Medicine and, served in the Public Health Service, Epidemic Intelligence Service, of the Communicable Disease Center in Atlanta, Ga.
	Robert Seidman (emeritus: 2018) joined the faculty in 1981 during the initial year of the School of Public Health. His research focused on economic evaluation of health programs, physician and hospital performance, health data analysis, and public health workforce development. He was involved in several funded projects to develop or strengthen academic health departments, and served as Director of the California-Nevada Public Health Training Center from 2010-2015. He was also Associate Director of the SPH from 2005-2007 and Head of the Division of Health Management and Policy (formerly Health Services Administration) from 2007-2013.
	Karen L. Senn (emeritus: 2002) is one of the SDSU faculty instrumental in the founding of the School of Public Health. Her areas of research have focused on the utilization of lay community health workers in the implementation of health education programs. She has been Principal Investigator for the Por La Vida Program, which is an umbrella organization for several health promotion programs in the Latino community.
	Richard Shaffer (Emeritus 2024) is a Professor of Epidemiology and Coordinator of the Joint Doctoral Program in Epidemiology. His Ph.D. is in Epidemiology with emphasis in the health effects of physical activity. His teaching interests are epidemiologic methodology, assessment of physical activity in populations, and evaluation of community interventions to change health related behaviors. His research interests include the effects of exercise on musculoskeletal injury, sexually transmitted disease prevention, and the development and evaluation of community programs to reduce alcohol misuse.
	Walter Sorochan (emeritus: 1992) was professor of health education at San Diego State University from 1969 until retirement in 1992. He authored four books. He was active in community service. He fostered wellness promotion with medical doctors. He was instrumental in helping to survey the noise levels in the city of San Diego that provided the basis for the city noise ordinance. At the request of Jack in the Box, he conducted several sanitation classes for Jack in the Box employees. His interests were in personal health, school health, wellness promotion, international health and environmental health.
	Donald Slymen (emeritus: 2011) was a Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He was involved in a number of NIH and other collaborative research studies with faculty at San Diego State, including behavioral interventions to reduce or prevent smoking, alter nutritional habits, improve exercise, and other preventive studies. He had primary responsibility for shaping the biostatistics program since arriving at the SPH in 1988.
	Stephen J. Williams (emeritus: 2014), an alumnus of Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and Harvard, co-founded the SDSU School of Public Health, founded its health care management program, and served as Assoc. Dean of the SDSU College of Health and Human Services. He is the author of 28 trade books and ~100 academic articles and was principal investigator on over $2.5M of grants/contracts. His work with the US Navy included providing an on-base master’s program. He has been series editor for John Wiley and Delmar/Cengage. Awards include a citation from the California State Assembly, the first College faculty Monty, and an Honorary Naval Aviator, complementing previous experience on a US Navy nuclear submarine. Stephen Williams’ CV (pdf)
	Winnie O. Willis (emeritus: 2004) was one of the founders of the specialization in maternal and child health. She was Director of the SPH Institute for Public Health (IPH) from 1994-2000. Her research has focused on pregnant women and pesticide exposures, infant mortality in African-Americans, quality of clinical services for breast and cervical cancer, and public health professions personnel training.
	Dr. Elena Yu (Emeritus 2024), a Professor in the Division, received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Notre Dame in 1974. Prior to joining the faculty at SDSU, she was a Visiting Scientist at the National Center for Health Statistics, assisting the Director to analyze infant mortality rates of different minority groups in the U.S., with a special focus on understanding the factors that contribute to the health and mortality profiles of Chinese Americans. Dr. Yu has been involved in three interdisciplinary NIH-funded grants with different universities and community organizations, including Cancer Control among Asian Americans, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Caregiver’s Burden in China. She was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology in the mid-1990s. Her research and teaching interests in epidemiology include Research Methods, Study Designs, Minority Health Issues, and Epidemiology of Aging, Cancer, and Cardiovascular Diseases.