Halverson leaving IU Fairbanks School of Public Health
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Paul Halverson, the founding dean of the Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health and a longtime advocate for a stronger role for public health across the state, especially during the pandemic, plans to step down in January after 10 years at the school to take a position in Oregon.
Halverson has accepted a job as dean and professor at the School of Public Health at Oregon Health & Science University and Portland State University.
“I think we’ve established a good foundation,” Halverson told IBJ on Tuesday morning, referring to IU Fairbanks. “We’ve got terrific faculty and staff and great leadership. And I think we’ve got a strong base. So when the folks from Portland called to talk about some of the things that they were interested in, it seemed like it was the right time.”
IU has not named a successor to lead the school, which has 54 full-time faculty members and research funding of about $40 million.
The Fairbanks School, located on the IUPUI campus, focuses on urban health, health policy, biostatistics, epidemiology, and environmental health. It evolved from the Department of Public Health in the Indiana University School of Medicine and became an independent Indiana University school in 2012, with Halverson as dean during the entire time.
Haverson is known throughout Indiana’s health community as someone who has pushed for improving the state’s traditional low ranking in health outcomes and health funding.
According to the latest American Health Ranking report, Indiana is 41st among all states on public health and is at least 10% below the U.S. average rate for preventable mortality such as infant deaths, accident deaths, and alcohol, drug, and suicide deaths.
For years, Indiana has struggled to get sufficient funds and equipment for its public health efforts, from encouraging people to quit smoking and become more physically active to controlling outbreaks of HIV and opioid use.
During the pandemic, the state found itself in the biggest health crisis in decades and trying to make do with funding that ranks among the lowest in the nation.
Halverson, as a member of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Public Health Commission, pushed the Indiana Legislature to approve more funding for local health departments. The Republican-controlled Legislature, after months of testimony and debate, approved $225 million of the commission’s request for $350 million.
“It was a big step,” Halverson said. “…But sometimes I have to say, I get a little impatient because we’ve been in this situation for a long time. We’ve had poor health outcomes as a state for a long time.”
Public officials spoke highly of Halverson and said he worked closely with them to develop policy on a wide range of health issues.
In addition to his academic background, Halverson had a public policy background as a former Arkansas state health officer and director. He also served in senior management roles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Luke Kenley, a former state senator from Noblesville who co-chaired the commission, said Halverson brought a combination of academic and practical experience to the job.
“Paul was a tremendous asset to our work,” Kenley said. “He had a very helpful intellectual side, and he also had the practical experience as a former state health officer.”
Cindy Kirchhofer, a former Republican state representative from Indianapolis who chaired the House Public Health Committee, said she frequently turned to Halverson for advice, who she said steered clear of partisan politics.
“He knew no politics,” she said. “He was a true advocate for the patients and students, and for public health in particular.”
Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, chair of the Senate Health and Provider Committee, said Halverson played a major role in developing health care policy in the state, and called his work “invaluable.”
In his new role, Halverson will oversee a school of public health shared by two universities. Portland State University, an urban university based downtown; and Oregon Health Science University, home to two hospitals and schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and other health sciences.
In joining IU, Halverson helped set up the university’s second school of public health, with a $20 million endowment for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and a $1 million feasibility study from drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co.
IU’s Bloomington campus already had a public health school, established in 1946 as the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. (It changed its name in 2012.)
The Bloomington school, with about three times the faculty as the Fairbanks school in Indianapolis, is independently accredited.
Halverson begins his new job Feb. 1. IU said it is working to develop a transition team.