Dr. Joe Gerald Honored as Extraordinary Faculty Member

The University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health’s Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, will be given one of two 2021 Extraordinary Faculty Awards awarded this year by the UArizona Alumni Association in recognition of his outstanding commitment to COVID-19 response in Arizona.

An associate professor and director of the college’s Public Health Policy and Management Program and MD-MPH Program, Dr. Gerald joined the UArizona Health Sciences faculty in 2009. He also is an associate scientist with the UArizona Cancer Center Biobehavioral and Social Sciences Research Program, and the UArizona Health Sciences Asthma and Airways Disease Research Center. In addition, he is co-chair of the UArizona Public Health Advisory COVID Team (PHACT), which was presented with a 2021 UArizona Team Award for Excellence this spring.

Image

Dr. Gerald’s weekly Arizona COVID-19 forecast data reports have served as a guide for decision-makers at the university, in Tucson, Pima County and around the state of Arizona, as both public and private institutions navigate the pandemic.

“These weekly eagerly awaited reports have been super-valuable for hospital systems, county health departments, clinicians, schools, nursing homes and assisted living centers, other university researchers, journalists and the public,” said Iman Hakim, MD, PhD, MPH, dean and professor of the Zuckerman College of Public Health. “He has done incredible work over the last year as he helped all of us to understand where we were and where we were likely going, epidemiologically. He also frequently provided sound advice for mitigating spread.”

Dean Hakim also acknowledged Dr. Gerald’s tireless communication through local and national media interviews on pandemic data that kept the public informed around the state and country.

“While I'm honored to receive this award as an individual, there are so many colleagues who also have done outstanding work and made major contributions to our local communities, to the university and the state as a whole,” Dr. Gerald said.

“They've helped me achieve the things that I've been able to do by providing additional insight and guidance and expert knowledge. One of the things that's been so rewarding for me is the team effort, in that so many people have come together here to help solve a collective problem. This award reaffirms that that effort over the past 18 months has been worth it.”

High points for him, Dr. Gerald said, included his serving on U.S. Rep. Anne Kirkpatrick's COVID-19 Task Force, chairing U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly's COVID-19 Task Force and co-chairing PHACT. He noted that the dozen members of PHACT have volunteered many hours above their normal work responsibilities to “answer the call and provide needed assistance” during the pandemic. While it’s been wearying at times, he said, “It's also gratifying to have the opportunity to serve in some of these leadership positions and help inform policy at a fairly high level, which normally faculty don't get the opportunity to do.”

Dr. Gerald said he wished PHACT members’ calls for interventions earlier as COVID-19 spiked in summer and fall of 2020, and even more recently with the rise of variants, were better heeded to reduce hospitalizations and deaths across the state.

Throughout the pandemic, though, he said, “A tremendous amount of scientific knowledge was generated through efforts of many University of Arizona faculty. The piece of the puzzle we've yet to figure out are these human behavior elements. This includes how to avoid politicization of key public health interventions, how to build trust and how to fight misinformation in the social media era on safety and efficacy of masking, vaccines and so forth.”

The Extraordinary Faculty Award is given to a faculty member who brings honor or distinction to UArizona. It will be presented at the Zuckerman College of Public Health’s homecoming celebration Nov. 4 to honor public health alumni and community leaders.