Allison Ford-Wade, PhD
Gillespie Distinguished Scholar
Chair and Professor of Public Health
The Department of Public Health
The University of Mississippi
Dr. Allison Ford-Wade serves as Department Chair in the newly created Department of Public Health at The University of Mississippi. Dr. Ford-Wade holds an undergraduate degree from the University of North Alabama in exercise science, a master’s degree in health promotion from Mississippi State University and a PhD in Health Science from The University of Arkansas. As a native Mississippian, Ford-Wade moved back to Mississippi after serving on faculty in Florida and is in her 22nd year at The University of Mississippi. Dr. Ford-Wade research is in women’s health and community health with the most recent funded projects being NIH funded Project SCORE (Student Centered Outcomes Research Experience). Project SCORE is an afterschool STEM program for high school students offered in Oxford and Jackson, MS. Dr. Ford-Wade is an investigator for a project offering Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) across Mississippi, funded through the Office of National Drug Control Policy. In her role as Department Chair, she oversees the Department of Public Health in their delivery of their academic programs. They offer a Bachelor of Science in Public Health (Health Science and Community Health and an MPH (Online and Residential) (Epidemiology and Community Health), minor (online and residential). They also have a co-curricular program with UM’s School of Pharmacy where they offer a PharmD/MPH.