UT Health San Antonio Appoints Tracey E. Barnett as Founding Chair of Quantitative and Qualitative Health Sciences Department with $250,000 Award

Tracey E. Barnett, PhD, has been appointed as the founding chair of the Department of Quantitative and Qualitative Health Sciences at the new UT School of Public Health San Antonio at UT Health San Antonio. This position comes with a $250,000 UT System Faculty STARs (Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention) award, which will enable the school to obtain advanced technologies for combining, analyzing, and incorporating machine learning to enhance science.

Barnett’s research focus is on health risk behaviors for adolescent and adult populations, particularly in regards to tobacco use, smoking cessation for adults, and prevention strategies for emerging trends among youth populations. She is currently working on a project aimed at improving educational guidelines for substance use disorders among individuals with developmental disabilities.

Excited about the launch of the new UT School of Public Health San Antonio this fall, Barnett expressed her enthusiasm about contributing to training the much-needed public health workforce. She believes that the rapid growth of UT Health San Antonio and the surrounding region makes this endeavor timely and essential.

Prior to her current role, Barnett held positions at the University of Florida and the University of North Texas Health Science Center’s School of Public Health. In these roles, she served as an assistant professor, associate professor, and chair for various departments related to public health research and education.