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Jeff Etchason, M.D., Leonard Parker Pool Chair, Department of Community Health and Health Studies, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN) and Professor of Health Evaluation Sciences, Penn State University College of Medicine.

Dr. Etchason was named Chair of the Department of Community Health and Health Studies in August, 2005.  In this role, Dr. Etchason is responsible for the development, coordination, implementation and evaluation of research and educational programs and community health improvement efforts. 

Dr. Etchason came to the LVHHN from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta where he was the Chief of Health Policy Research in the newly-formed National Center for Health Marketing. As part of the CDC’s response to the influenza vaccine shortage last year, Dr. Etchason also served as the agency’s Health Care Sector Management Lead.  Dr. Etchason previously held positions at the CDC of Director of the Division of Public Health Systems Development and Research, and Chief of Organizational Performance and Health Systems Research. 

Prior to joining the CDC, Dr. Etchason was the President of the Kerr L. White Institute for Health Services Research in Decatur, Georgia and also, while in Atlanta, served as the Executive Director of the Promina Health System’s Quality Institute. He has also held academic appointments at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the Medical College of Georgia, and Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Etchason received his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine and completed his residency in internal medicine at the Mayo Medical Center.  After residency, Dr. Etchason completed a fellowship in health services research as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UCLA and RAND (Santa Monica).