David Dausey

David J. Dausey is an epidemiologist, professor and academic administrator. He is currently the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania. He is also a Distinguished Service Professor of Health Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining Mercyhurst, Dausey was the Senior Director of Health Programs and Initiatives at the Heinz College and before that a Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation where he remains as a consultant.

Dausey is regularly consulted as a public health expert by regional, national and international news media providers on a wide variety of general public health issues including: health care reform, diet and exercise, and toxic chemicals. He is most frequently contacted by the news media for his expertise in infectious disease epidemiology that includes diseases such as: West Nile Virus HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Avian Influenza, and Hantavirus. Dausey has served as a guest commentator on public health topics for national and international television news providers including CNN, BBC, and Canadian Television. He has also served as a guest commentator on public health topics for national and international radio news providers such as NPR and Beijing Today. Dausey is a regular guest writer on public health topics for regional and national newspapers including USA Today, the Washington Post, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the Buffalo News.

Dausey received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Mercyhurst University with the highest Latin honors (summa cume laude). He was honored at his undergraduate commencement with the Social and Behavioral Science award for academic excellence.

Dausey received his master's degree in epidemiology and public health from the Yale School of Public Health and his doctoral degree in epidemiology and public health from the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. While at Yale, Dausey served as a senator for the Graduate and Professional Student Senate. He completed post graduate training in higher education management and leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Dausey with Palestinian Minister of Health His Excellency Dr. Bassem Naim in Ramallah, Palestine in 2009

Dausey is an internationally recognized epidemiologist. He was appointed a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology in 2012. He has conducted public health research in more than 20 countries including Bahrain, Cambodia, China, Jordan, Israel, Mexico, Tanzania, Thailand, Palestine and Qatar. For example, Dausey helped to design a national health care strategy for the Emir of Qatar that included revising the entire country's health care and public health systems.

In the United States, Dausey has conducted public health research in every region of the country with more than 100 state and local public health agencies. He has received research grants from foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Benter Foundation, as well as grants and contracts from government agencies including the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Veterans Health Administration. Dausey's research on public health systems received international attention when it called into question the preparedness of U.S. public health agencies to respond to major emergencies. Dausey has used simulation exercises to evaluate public health agencies and cooperations between public health agencies and their community partners. Dausey has conducted research on global disease surveillance and global cooperations for public health. Dausey and colleague Melinda Moore (RAND) were the first to coin the term "sub-regional disease surveillance networks" to describe the emerging trend of transnational disease surveillance and control organized and governed by member countries to address their shared priorities. Dausey has emphasized the need to develop models to sustain these cooperations over time. In addition, Dausey is an expert in planning for global public health emergencies such as pandemic influenza. He developed and conducted tabletop exercises in collaboration with the ministries of health of six countries in Southeast Asia. He later conducted similar exercises in East Africa and the Middle East.

Dausey teaching in Linsly Chittenden Hall at Yale University

Dausey is an award winning professor and teacher. He began his teaching career at Yale University where he was a teaching fellow. At Yale, Dausey taught sections of Epidemiology and Health Policy. His first role as a professor was at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he was a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. At the University of Pittsburgh, Dausey was actively engaged in the Center for Research in Health Care. During this time, Dausey made significant contributions to the literature in the fields of Psychiatry and health services research. For example, Dausey conducted research on the predictors of suicide among individuals with severe mental illness. Dausey also developed performance metrics to assess the quality of mental health care in the United States. Dausey and colleges Robert Rosenheck and Anthony Lehman developed a new mental health performance measure known as "preadmission care" in 2002.

Dausey moved to Carnegie Mellon University where he became a Distinguished Service Professor of Health Policy and Management where he taught courses in health systems, health policy, program evaluation and epidemiology. Dausey is currently a tenured full professor at Mercyhurst on administrative leave to serve as the University's provost. He was formerly chair of the Department of Public Health. Dausey was recognized for teaching excellence at Carnegie Mellon when he was awarded the Martcia Wade Teaching Award in 2010. He was later recognized for teaching excellence at Carnegie Mellon's "Celebration of Education" in 2011. Dausey was also awarded both the Alpha Theta Mentorship Award and the Panhellenic Intrafraternity Council Role Model Award for his active role in mentoring and advising students. Dausey has extensive experience teaching distance learning courses and courses that involve asynchronous learning techniques. He also has extensive experience teaching study abroad and experiential learning courses. He has advised or led study abroad initiatives in a number of countries including Mexico, Vietnam, Ireland, Ghana, Uruguay, Bangladesh and Tanzania.

Dausey giving a commencement address at Carnegie Mellon University in May 2010

Dausey began his career in academic administration as the Senior Director of Health Programs and Initiatives Carnegie Mellon University. In this capacity, he oversaw three master degree programs, three master degree concentrations, three joint undergraduate/graduate degree programs, and a health focused doctoral program. Dausey grew and expanded the academic programs at Carnegie Mellon focused on health by creating partnerships with community organizations. He also restructured health focused programs and initiated the "healthcare@heinz" initiative. The healthcare@heinz initiative enabled the Carnegie Mellon to bring together the university's health programs to have: administrative unity, common branding and marketing, shared networking experiences, a central repository of assets and greater academic and research collaborations. Dausey left Carnegie Mellon to join Mercyhurst University to become the Founding Chair and Professor of the Department of Public Health. Dausey later became Founding Director of the Mercyhurst Institute of Public Health. In this capacity he created the first Academic Health Department in the Northeast parterning Mercyhurst with the Erie County Department of Public Health. He also created the first formal collaboration between an American university and Teletón, the largest provider of rehabilitation services in Latin America. Dausey was appointed the Founding Dean of the School of Health Professions and Public Health at Mercyhurst, which he eventually grew to become the Zurn College of Natural and Health Sciences. As Dean, Dausey was responsible for restructuring the nursing programs at Mercyhurst and successfully establishing an accredited master's level Physician Assistant program. Dausey became Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Mercyhurst University in 2015. He oversaw a major restructuring of the academics at Mercyhurst including the establishment of four new colleges, restructuring the faculty body, and the development and implementation of a new core curriculum.

Dausey is the author of a wide range of books, reports and peer-reviewed publications. His publications have been read by academic audiences, public health practitioners and the general public. For example, his book "Tests to Evaluate Public Health Disease Reporting Systems", was disseminated to federal, state and local public health practitioners throughout the United States by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He has published in a variety of academic journals such as the American Journal of Public Health, the American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, and Health Affairs. His research has been profiled in by major media outlets such as USA Today, the Nation's Health and JAMA.

Selected Works

• Moore M, Dausey DJ. Local cross-border disease surveillance and control: experiences from the Mekong Basin. BMC Research Notes. 2015 Mar 21;8:90
• Teufel, J; Heller, SM; Dausey, DJ (Dec 2014). "Medical-legal partnerships as a strategy to improve social causes of stress and disease". American Journal of Public Health. 104 (12): e6–7. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302268. 
• Toro ML, Garcia Y, Ojeda AM, Dausey DJ, Pearlman. "Quantitative Exploratory Evaluation of the Frequency, Causes and Consequences of Rehabilitation Wheelchair Breakdowns delivered at a Paediatric Clinic in Mexico. Disability, CBR and Inclusive Development Vol 23, No 3, 2012.
• Moore M, Dausey DJ, Phommasack B, Tok S, Guoping L, Nyein SL, Ungchusak K, Vung ND. Sustainability of Sub-Regional Disease Surveillance Networks. Global Health Governance. Spring 2012.
• Moore M, Dausey DJ. Response to the 2009-H1N1 Influenza Pandemic in the Mekong Basin: Surveys of Country Health Leaders. BMC Research Notes. 2011, 4:361
• Dias MB, Dausey DJ, Casman E, Dias MB. The PREval (Pilot Research Evaluation) Framework: Evaluating Pilot Projects in Information Communication Technology for Development (ICTD). CMU-RI-TR-11-02. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute, 2011.
• Kilbourne, AM; Fullerton, CA; Dausey, DJ; Pincus, HA; Hermann, RC. "A Framework for Measuring Quality across Silos: The Case of Mental Disorders and Co-occurring Conditions". Quality and Safety in Health Care. 19: 113–116. doi:10.1136/qshc.2008.027706. 
• LaTourrette T, Davis LE, Howell DR, Sama PR, Dausey DJ. Public Health Preparedness and Response to Chemical and Radiological Incidents: Functions, Practices, and Areas for Future Work. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2009.
• Dausey DJ, Pincus HA, Herrell JM. Performance Measures for Co-Occurring Mental and Substance Use Disorders. Substance Abuse Treatment Prevention and Policy, 4:18, 2009.
• Parker A, Nelson C, Shelton S, Dausey DJ, Lewis M, Pomeroy A, Leuschner K. Measuring Crisis Decision-Making for Public Health Emergencies. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2009.
• Nelson, C; Beckjord, E; Dausey, DJ; Chan, E; Lurie, N; Lotstein, D. "How Can We Strengthen the Evidence Base in Public Health Preparedness?". Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2: 247–250. doi:10.1097/dmp.0b013e31818d84ea. 
• Lurie, N; Dausey, DJ; Knighton, T; Moore, M; Zakowsky, S; Deyton, L. "Community Planning for Pandemic Influenza: Lessons from the VA Health Care System". Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2: 251–257. doi:10.1097/dmp.0b013e31817dd143. 
• Desai, RA; Dausey, D; Rosenheck, RA (2008). "Suicide among discharged psychiatric inpatients in the Department of Veterans Affairs". Mil Med. 173: 721–8. doi:10.7205/milmed.173.8.721. PMID 18751586. 
• Dausey, DJ; Lurie, N; Buehler, J. "Designing and Conducting Tabletop Exercises to Assess Public Health Preparedness for Man Made and Naturally Occurring Biological Threats". BMC Public Health. 7: 92. 
• Jackson, BA; Buehler, J; Cole, D; Cookson, S; Dausey, DJ; Honess-Moreale, H; Lance, S; Lurie, N; Molander, RC; O'Neal, P. "Bioterrorism with Zoonotic Disease and Public Health Preparedness: Issues and Opportunities at the Boundary Between the Public Health, Agriculture, and Law Enforcement Sectors". Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science. 4: 287–292. doi:10.1089/bsp.2006.4.287. 
• Kilbourne, AM; Salloum, I; Dausey, D; Cornelius, JR; Conigliaro, J; Xu, X; Pincus, HA (2006). "Quality of Care for Substance Use Disorders in Patients with Serious Mental Illness". Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 30: 73–77. doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2005.10.003. PMID 16377454. 
• Desai, RA; Dausey, DJ; Sernyak, M; Rosenheck, RA (2005). "The Effects of Federal Verses State Funding and Academic Affiliation on Mental Health Services". Administration and Policy in Mental Health. 32: 267–83. doi:10.1007/s10488-004-0844-3. PMID 15844848. 
• Desai, RA; Dausey, DJ; Rosenheck, R (2005). "Mental Health Service Delivery and Suicide Risk: The Role of Individual Patient and Facility Factors". American Journal of Psychiatry. 162: 311–318. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.2.311. PMID 15677596. 
• Dausey DJ, Lurie N, Diamond A, Meade B, Molander R, Ricci K, Stoto M, Wasserman J. Bioterrorism Preparedness Training and Assessment Exercises for Local Health Agencies. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2005.
• Stoto MA, Dausey D, Davis L, Myers S, Olmsted S, Ricci K, Ridgely S, Sloss L, Wasserman J, Lurie N. Learning from Experience: The Public Health Response to West Nile Virus, SARS, Monkeypox, and Hepatitis A outbreaks in the United States. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2005.
• Taneilian T, Ricci K, Stoto M, Dausey DJ, Davis L, Myers S, Olmsted S, Willis H. Exemplary Practices in Public Health Preparedness. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2005.
• Farley DO, Chinman MJ, D’Amico EJ, Dausey DJ, Engberg JB, Hunter SB, Shugarman LR, Sorbero M. Evaluation of the Arkansas tobacco settlement program (ISBN 083303748X). Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2005.
• Desai, RA; Maciejewski, PK; Dausey, DJ; Calderone, B; Potenza, MN (2004). "Health Correlates of Recreational Gambling in Older Adults". American Journal of Psychiatry. 161: 1672–1679. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.161.9.1672. PMID 15337659. 
• Dausey, DJ; Desai, RA. "Psychiatric Comorbidity and the Prevalence of HIV Infection in a Sample of Patients in Treatment for Substance Abuse". Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases. 191: 10–17. doi:10.1097/00005053-200301000-00003. 
• Dausey, DJ; Rosenheck, R; Lehman, A (2002). "Preadmission Care as a New Mental Health Performance Indicator". Psychiatric Services. 53: 1451–1455. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.53.11.1451. PMID 12407274. 

• "Tests to Evaluate Public Health Disease Reporting Systems in Local Public Health Agencies". RAND Corporation. 2005-08-03. Retrieved 2012-09-11. 
• Dausey, DJ; Chandra, A; Schaefer, AG; Bahney, B; Haviland, A; Zakowski, S; Lurie, N (2008-09-01). "Measuring the Performance of Telephone-Based Disease Surveillance Systems in Local Public Health Departments". American Journal of Public Health. AJPH. 98: 1706–1711. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.114710. PMC 2509590. PMID 18172134. Retrieved 2012-09-11. 
• "Mental Health Service Delivery and Suicide Risk: The Role of Individual Patient and Facility Factors". American Journal of Psychiatry. 2005-02-01. Retrieved 2012-09-11. 
• "State Mental Health Policy: States' Early Experience in Improving Systems-Level Care for Persons With Co-occurring Disorders". Psychiatric Services. 2007-07-01. Retrieved 2012-09-11. 
• "Public Health Response to Urgent Case Reports". Health Affairs. 2005-08-30. Retrieved 2012-09-11. 
• Hall, Mimi (2005-08-30). "Agencies Respond Slowly to Major U.S. Health Threats". USA Today. Retrieved 2012-09-11. 
• "Readiness of Local Public Health Agencies to Response to Bioterrorism Questioned". JAMA. 2005-10-30. Retrieved 2012-09-11. 
• http://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-015-1047-6
• http://dcidj.org/article/view/167
• http://blogs.shu.edu/ghg/2012/06/22/sustainability-of-sub-regional-disease-surveillance-networks/
• http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1756-0500-4-361.pdf
• http://www.ri.cmu.edu/publication_view.html?pub_id=6794&menu_code=0307
• https://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR719/
• http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/4/1/18
• https://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR712/
• https://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR261/
• https://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR285.html
• https://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR239.html
• http://www.amazon.com/Evaluation-Arkansas-Tobacco-Settlement-Program/dp/083303748X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317749171&sr=1-1

Dausey was awarded a predoctoral fellowship from the National Cancer Institute to pursue research in cancer epidemiology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He was awarded a training grant from the National Institutes of Health that fully supported his doctoral studies at Yale University. He served as an elected trustee or director on the Board for several organizations including the American College of Healthcare Executives, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Healthcare Council of Western Pennsylvania, Jewish Health Care Foundation, Women for a Healthy Environment and the Alzheimer's Association.

Dausey running as captain of the Mercyhurst Cross Country team in 1996

Dausey was born on June 13, 1975 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Daniel and Jody Dausey. He currently lives in Erie, Pennsylvania with his wife, Nichole, and their two boys, Daniel and Elijah. Dausey is an avid runner and was a varsity athlete while in college. He served as the captain of the Mercyhurst Cross County team from 1995-1997.