Dr. Tesfau Alexander

Tesfa Alexander, Ph.D. has been an outstanding member of the University of Memphis since his days as a doctoral student in health communication. As a doctoral student, he spent two summers in Uganda working with both biomedical and indigenous providers to understand how trust shapes working relationships with providers and health-seeking behaviors. This work resulted in his dissertation entitled, “Engaging Rural Community Members as Problem Solvers: Application of Health Communication to Improve the Quality of Health Care in Southwest Uganda” that he completed and defended in Fall 2010. Dr. Alexander completed his dissertation under the direction of Mandy Young, and he reports that Dr. Young as well as other faculty provided him with a strong background in health communication theory.

Dr. Alexander has been able to translate this knowledge of theory into practice. Upon completion of his doctoral degree, Dr. Alexander completed a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Currently, he is employed by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). At the FDA, he leads all of the research and evaluation in health communication and education for the Center for Tobacco Products. He and his team guide formative research that results in smoking prevention advertisements aimed at youth age 12-17 and other at-risk populations. Dr. Alexander has been able to take the knowledge he gained during his doctoral program about how to impact the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of youth and apply and evaluate the impact of his work on a national scale.

Dr. Alexander’s impact extends beyond his work at the FDA. Recently, he has started the I Am Photo Project, http://iamphotoproject.com/.  In this project, forty-six African American men from seventeen U.S. cities tell their stories. Dr. Alexander started this project as a way to constructively channel emotions about death of Trayvon Martin and other tragic events that stem from erroneous stereotypes of black men. He hopes that his photo project will be an educational tool for critical reflection on negative stereotypes that are associated with being a black man. The project has been featured on MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry/watch/photo-project-amplifies-voices-of-black-men-326002755720 and Buzzfeed, http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/one-artists-journey-to-photograph-the-black-men-of-america?utm_term=3m75i39#2vew8sd

Tesfa Alexander is a University of Memphis alumnus who is making a big impact on a national scale. Yet, he also makes time to give back to the University of Memphis serving as an adjunct for the health communication program. The University of Memphis is proud of alumni like Dr. Alexander that are making a big impact.

The Center for Information Assurance, led by Dr. Dipankar Dasgupta, will share in a $2.3 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The grant funds the work of the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium (NCPC), a five university consortium that includes The University of Memphis, the University of Texas, San Antonio, the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Norwich University, and Texas A & M University. Norwich University is the lead institution on this $2.3 grant.

The consortium will develop and deliver four web-based, just-in-time courses on cybersecurity that can be accessed by communities throughout the United States. The courses address how to develop a cybersecurity annex, how to manage a cybersecurity incident, how to defend against cyberterrorism, and first responding during a cyberterrorism incident.

This new FEMA grant follows up on the work of the ACT Online program. ACT Online was funded by a $4.2 million grant from the United States Department of Homeland Security from 2006-2010. The ACT Online project developed a series of ten courses on cybersecurity. More than 50,000 people have successfully completed this training.

The Center for Information Assurance will also be hosting the sixth annual Midsouth Cybersecurity Summit from October 16-17, 2014. The summit will feature eight speakers including representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, the National Science Foundation, and members of the consortium. It is anticipated that 150-200 people will participate in the summit. More information about the work of the Center for Information Assurance can be found on their website: http://cfia.memphis.edu/index.php

We’re very excited to announce major funding for Susan Neely-Barnes, Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work along with her colleagues Elena Delavega and Susan Elswick, Assistant Professors.  They have been awarded a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training for Professionals Grant, $473,892 during year one with a possible $1.4 million over a three year period.

The grant will fund the establishment of the Mid-South Social Work Professional Development Initiative (MSW-PDI) which will train 102 advanced Master of Social Work students over a three to four year period on: violence prevention; integration of behavioral health and primary care; working with transition age youth; interprofessional education; engagement with families; and cultural and linguistic competency. Students participating in the program will have experiential training and provide direct services to children, adolescents, or transition age adults in the Mid-South region. Trainees will also receive a $10,000 stipend.

This grant’s goal, part of a White House “Now is the Time” initiative, is to train more quality behavioral health professionals with a commitment to serve populations who are at-risk or have developed a behavioral health disorder. The grant, in response to school shootings and other national tragedies involving youth and gun violence, focuses on transition age youth who are the least likely among the population to receive continuous services.