New Dean Looks to Accelerate Cross-Disciplinary Education and Research, Engage Community Partners
06/21/2023
Media Contacts: Emily Gowdey-Backus, director of media relations and Nancy Cicco, assistant director of media relations
Mary Gallant, an expert in health behavior, community health and public health programs and policy, will join UMass Lowell as the next dean of the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences.
Gallant currently serves as interim dean of the School of Public Health at the University at Albany, State University of New York, where she leads multiple academic departments and research centers, all in collaboration with the New York State Department of Health, a partnership in place since the school was founded. She is also a professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior.
She will start Sept. 5.
“Modern health care – whether for a patient or for a community – is collaborative,” said Joe Hartman, UMass Lowell provost and vice chancellor for academic and student affairs. “Mary stood out among a strong pool of finalists in the ways she articulated her vision to accelerate the interdisciplinary education and research that have been central to the Zuckerberg College’s elevation during the last decade.”
Gallant said UMass Lowell’s commitment to interdisciplinary education and scholarship, as well as its focus on faculty and student success, drew her to the college and to the university.
“The depth and breadth of Zuckerberg faculty expertise is incredibly impressive. From foundational scientific research to bedside treatments and interactions to public health systems and policy, UMass Lowell is providing the interdisciplinary and interprofessional perspective that students need to join and lead a health care and public health workforce,” Gallant said.
“I’m excited to build on the college’s existing momentum and grow and strengthen educational, clinical and research opportunities within the college as well as with existing and new partners across the communities UMass Lowell impacts.”
Gallant joined the University at Albany as an assistant professor in 1996. During 27 years there, she has served as department chair and senior associate dean, and has been widely published and received millions of dollars in federal and state funding to research health behaviors and outcomes among older adults and the impacts of evidence-based public health programs and policies.
She has served as the chair of the American Public Health Association’s Aging and Public Health section, been honored with the Philip G. Weiler Award for Leadership in Aging and Public Health, earned appointments to the University at Albany’s Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities and Center for Social and Demographic Analysis, and has been a fellow of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University and both a master’s and Ph.D. in health behavior and health education from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.