Diversity Program 2021 FINAL

Dean’s Faculty Award for Diversity and Inclusion
Diane Marie M. St. George, PhD is an Associate
Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and
Public Health (EPH) at the University of Maryland
School of Medicine (SOM). Dr. St. George joined
the SOM faculty in 2008 and currently serves as
the director of the Master of Public Health (MPH)
Program and the EPH Vice Chair of Academic
Programs. She holds a BS in Psychology, a BS in
Zoology and an MA in Health Education from the
University of Maryland College Park and a PhD in
Epidemiology from the University of North
Carolina Chapel Hill School of Public Health.
She completed a Fogarty-funded post-doctoral
fellowship at the Institute for Preventive and
Clinical Medicine in Bratislava, Slovakia and a Kellogg-funded post-doctoral
fellowship in community-based participatory research at the University of North
Carolina School of Public Health.
Dr. St. George is committed to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion and has
tried to exemplify that through her service, academic leadership, teaching and
research. She is a member of the SOM Diversity Advisory Council and a former
SOM representative to the University Diversity Advisory Council. She currently
serves as the Chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Association
of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH). ASPPH is the body
representing the accredited schools of public health and MPH programs housed
within schools of medicine or other health professions, like the UMSOM.
Dr. St. George is proud to lead the dedicated staff and faculty of the SOM MPH
Program. The program strives to attract and retain a student body that
exemplifies diversity across a number of domains. Further, she wants to ensure
that every student who enters our doors feels welcome, nurtured, supported and
prepared for graduation and beyond. As such, she teaches courses to MPH
students in their first and last semesters, helping to lay the framework for their
experience at both milestones in the program.
Throughout her career, Dr. St. George’s research interests have focused on the
health of underserved populations who suffer a disproportionate burden of
disease by virtue of race, socioeconomic status, place of residence, immigrant
status and other factors that place them at a disadvantage. She is very interested
in the school environment as an opportunity for health promotion and is
currently funded to work within a Baltimore school to explore the use of the
Youth Participatory Action Research Framework to identify and advance
interventions to address health issues of concern to students.