Coben named to lead WVU School of Public Health

Jeffrey Coben, M.D., has been named dean of the West Virginia University School of Public Health.

“Jeff Coben has been instrumental to the success of the School of Public Health in attracting and educating students since its founding. He is among the most respected leaders in public health in West Virginia and across the country,” said Clay Marsh, M.D., WVU vice president and executive dean for health sciences. “All of us at WVU are extraordinarily grateful to Jeff for his willingness to step up and lead this School forward.”

Coben has been serving as interim dean since June, 2016. He also led the School on an interim basis for more than a year beginning in 2013. He will continue to serve the entire Health Sciences Center as associate vice president for health affairs. In this role, he is Marsh’s chief advisor on all matters related to academic excellence, scientific creativity and the impact of WVU programs on health, and is the University’s representative in activities throughout West Virginia that seek to improve public health and healthcare, and reduce healthcare costs.

He also serves on the faculty of the School of Medicine.

Since joining WVU in 2004, he has served as director of the Center for Rural Emergency Medicine, director of the Injury Control Research Center, and vice chair for research in the Department of Emergency Medicine. He has also directed multiple statewide health improvement initiatives including several Medicaid Transformation grants and the West Virginia State Innovation Model Design award.

Coben is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed residency training in emergency medicine and internal medicine at Northwestern University Medical Center. Since 1980, he has maintained continuous certification by both the American Board of Emergency Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine.

He founded and directed the Center for Injury Research and Control at the University of Pittsburgh, and served as assistant dean at what is now the Drexel School of Public Health in Philadelphia.

Coben also served on the board of directors of the National Commission Against Drunk Driving, the U.S. Office of Women’s Health Advisory Committee for Violence Against Women, and as senior scholar-in-residence for domestic violence at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.  

-WVU-

bc/05/23/17

CONTACT: Bill Case
Director, Health Sciences Communications
304.293.8045; 304.276.8559 (c); bill.case@hsc.wvu.edu