The purpose of the Center for Health & Social Issues at Georgia College & State University is to improve the health of the residents of Central Georgia through collaborative campus/community partnerships to provide research and education concerning contemporary health problems and social issues.
Strategic Plan
The Center for Health & Social Issues believes that good health is a multidimensional phenomenon comprised of a balance of physical, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions. Good health is essential to the attainment of an actualized life. Individuals have the power to positively change their own health status and to influence others to do the same, as well as the power to positively influence the health of the community and nation. Research is essential to our understanding of health and social issues related to health. As an institution of higher learning, Georgia College & State University has an obligation to direct its many resources for the purpose of improving both individual and public health.
Director
Center for Health & Social Issues
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Damian K. Francis
Assistant Professor - Public Health and Director - Center for Health & Social Issues
Ph.D., Epidemiology, University of the West Indies
Biography
Dr. Damian K. Francis is a Nutritionist and Epidemiologist trained at the Caribbean Institute for Health Research, University of the West Indies, Jamaica. Dr. Francis is the Director of the Center for Health & Social Issues at Georgia College & State University. He is an Emerging Leader of the Americas Programme (ELAP) scholar, completing a research fellowship in knowledge synthesis and knowledge translation at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Francis is the founder of the Cochrane Caribbean and currently serves as adjunct faculty for the World Health Organization (WHO)/Cochrane/Cornell Summer Institute for systematic reviews in nutrition for global policymaking. He serves both the Pan American Health Organization and as a member of the Essential Medicine List expert panel. Dr. Francis is an Assistant Editor for the Campbell Collaboration Nutrition Sub-group of the International Development Coordinating Group. He enjoys teaching epidemiology, translational research methods and mentoring students in research. Dr. Francis has a track record of excellence in research publication which has focused on the epidemiology of chronic non-communicable diseases among people of Afro-Caribbean heritage with an emphasis on health equity, systematic reviews of interventions, and the food environment as a risk factor for diseases.
