Leadership

Director: Seth Himelhoch, MD, MPH

Seth Himelhoch, MD, MPH, serves as professor and chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. He received his medical degree at the University of Michigan School of Medicine (1994) and completed his residency training in general psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (1998). He completed a fellowship in health services research through the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2001-2003), where he concurrently received a Masters Degree in Public Health from the Bloomberg School of Public Health (2003). Dr. Himelhoch completed a fellowship in Implementation and Dissemination Science through the NIH-sponsored Implementation Research Institute (2012) and additional leadership training through the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program (2017-2020).

His research focuses on developing and studying the efficacy of innovative strategies aimed at improving the health and welfare among people with co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders. Dr. Himelhoch has received continuous external grant funding from NIH since 2004 including, this Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science award (U54 NIDA/FDA) in 2023.

Associate Director: Ellen Hahn, PhD, RN, FAAN

Ellen J. Hahn is a professor in the Colleges of Nursing and Public Health at the University of Kentucky and director of BREATHE, including the Tobacco Policy Division, the Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy (KCSP), and the Radon Policy Division. She also serves as director of UK-CARES (Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences). She holds the Marcia A. Dake Endowed Professorship in the College of Nursing. Dr. Hahn is the director for the Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing Core of the NIOSH-funded Central Appalachian Regional Education and Research Center.  She is also a faculty associate at UK’s NCI-designated Markey Cancer Center, and a member of the the Cancer Prevention and Control Program. Dr. Hahn received her undergraduate degree in nursing from Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University. She earned a Master of Arts in Health Education from The Ohio State University and a Master of Science in community health nursing from Indiana University. In 1992, she completed a PhD in health policy/health of the community with a minor in substance abuse and the family at Indiana University School of Nursing. Through KCSP, Dr. Hahn and her colleagues have assisted many of Kentucky’s over 50 communities to go smoke-free. Hahn and colleagues have published multiple smoke-free workplace policy outcome studies showing positive health effects and no harm to business. In 2011, Dr. Hahn was named a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Hahn was named the 2012 UK Provost’s Public Scholar, and has served as an Ambassador for Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research (FNINR). In 2021, she received the Faye Glenn Abdellah Leadership Award from FNINR.

Associate Director: Teresa Waters, PhD

Teresa, M. Waters, PhD, is a professor of health management, economics, and policy and Inaugural Dean of Public Health for Augusta University (AU).  Prior to joining AU, Dr. Waters served as chair of health management and policy for UK’s College of Public Health. Her research focuses on health care finance and policy, with a focus on underserved populations.  Dr. Waters serves as associate director for AppalTruST.