JOSEPH TELFAIR, M.S.W., M.P.H., Dr.P.H.

Professor of Public Health Research and Practice
Department of Public Health Education
University of North Carolina
Greensboro, NC

Dr. Telfair is a professional with over 25 years of experience in the health care field. He currently serves as Professor of Public Health Research and Practice in the Department of Public Health Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), School of Health and Human Performance as well as Director of the UNCG Center for Social Community and Health Research and Evaluation. Dr. Telfair is also a member of the graduate faculty at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Graduate School. Notable past positions held by Dr. Telfair include Associate Professor of Public Health Practice at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology; Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa School of Social Work; Co-Director of the Public Health Social Work Program at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and at Birmingham; Scholar at the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Assistant Professor at the University of Birmingham School of Public Health, Department of Maternal and Child Health; and Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health, Department of Maternal and Child Health. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Telfair held various practice and leadership positions at diverse health organizations in the state of California.

Dr. Telfair has served on numerous prestigious panels and advisory boards as an expert based on his recognized scholarship. He is currently a Senior Advisor/Consultant for the National Center for Cultural Competence; member of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society; Public Health Practice Advisory at the Institute for Child Health Policy, Division of Policy and Programs; member of the National Technical Advisory Panel for the Healthy Start Evaluation; Evaluation Advisor for the Minority Health Advisory Council, Alabama Department of Public Health; and Senior Practice Advisor for the Medical and Research Advisory Committee, Sickle Cell Disease Association of America among many others in the areas of sickle cell disease, maternal and child health, and public health research, evaluation and policy.

Additional public health practice and technical assistance activities for Dr. Telfair include service as a technical expert in community engagement and evaluation for the Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy; technical expert in measurement and assessment of ethnicity and culture for the Ethnic Difference in Pain Responses project funded by the National Institutes of Health; technical expert in practice-based measurement and assessment for the Communities in Charge: Financing and Delivering Health Care to the Uninsured project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; evaluation consultant for the Sickle Cell Disease Association of the Piedmont’s Home Health Project; technical expert in data analysis and protocol preparation for the Salud Para Todos Project funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, and numerous other projects.

Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Telfair has published extensively in the areas of sickle cell disease, maternal and child health, HIV care, practice of evaluation-based research, cultural and ethnic diversity, community-based research, and adolescent health. His scholarly work has appeared in many books and peer-reviewed journals such as the Maternal and Child Health Journal, Child Neuropsychology, Public Health Reports, Journal of Adolescent Health Care, International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, Behaviour Research and Therapy, Psychosomatic Medicine, Journal of Community Practice, Journal of Rural Health, Health and Social Work, New Directions in Evaluation, and the Journal of Health and Social Policy.

Dr. Telfair received his Doctor of Public Health with emphasis in sociology, health issues of children, families and people of color from Johns Hopkins University. He also holds a Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health specializing in children and families and behavioral science, respectively, from the University of California, Berkeley. In addition, Dr. Telfair received a Bachelor of Arts degree in behavioral psychology from California State University at Northridge. His post-graduate education includes a post doctorate fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work, Psychosocial Research Division as well as a faculty leadership fellowship at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center at Oklahoma City. Additionally, he holds advanced certificates in evaluation and performance review from the Office of Program Review, Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Telfair is also certified as a hemoglobinopathy counselor and educator from the State of California Department of Health, Division of Maternal and Child Health.