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Emory Rollins School of Public Health
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Deborah  McFarland

Assoc Professor

Associate Professor

Faculty, Global Health

Jointly Appointed, Health Policy and Management

 Dr. McFarland has been involved in health policy and health financing issues for the past 35 years with particular interest in the interface of disease control programs and health systems, and the ethics and economics of resource allocation for public health priorities. Since 2000 Dr McFarland has focused her service,  practice, and applied research on neglected tropical diseases.  She is/has been a member of the World Health Organization Neglected Tropical Diseases Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG), the WHO technical consultative committee for the Africa Programme on Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), the WHO/UNICEF Tropical Disease Research Special Advisory Committee, and the Mectizan Expert Committee for neglected tropical diseases.  Dr. McFarland served in the Peace Corps in Liberia, worked as a health services specialist for the United Mine Workers Health and Retirement Funds in central Appalachia, the director of a network of primary care clinics in the same region, and a health economist at CDC in the International Health Program Office.  She was a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow in health policy and finance at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and with the National Governors Association on Capitol Hill. She is director of the Foege Fellowship program in the RSPH, the Global Field Experience Program and the Peace Corps Masters International Program. She is an Open Society Foundation International Scholar supporting the development and strengthening of public health graduate education in Eastern Europe and the country of Georgia.  She is one of the three founders of the International Religious Health Assets Programme (IRHAP) based at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.  Along with international collegues she is part of the iCHORD research group that focuses on improving community health outcomes through research and dialogue.   Dr McFarland has been awarded numerous teaching awards including the ASPPH teaching excellence award 2017, the highest honor for teaching among all Schools of Public Health in the U.S., the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest teaching award at Emory University, the HDGH professor of the year award 2013, and many others.  Dr. McFarland holds a PhD.in strategic management and industrial organization economics, an MSc in economics, an MPH in health policy and a BA in philosophy. 

Contact Information

1518 Clifton Road

Atlanta , GA 30322

1518 Clifton Road NE. Room 7023

Phone: 4047277849

Email: dmcfarl@emory.edu

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Areas of Interest

  • Community Based Research
  • Cost Effective Analysis
  • Faith Based Health
  • Global Health
  • Health Economics
  • Healthcare Systems
  • Infectious Disease
  • Public Health Policy

Education

  • PhD 1987, University of Tennessee
  • MPH 1973, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
  • MSc 1984, London School of Economics

Courses Taught

  • GH 561: App.PH Econ.Low&Mod.Inc.Cntr.
  • GH 524: Health Syst.Perf. & Financing
  • GH 501: Health Systems

Affiliations & Activities

Winner of 2017 Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) for Teaching Excellence Award.  This national award is given to one faculty member annually for outstanding teaching and mentoring of students toward distinction in public health research, teaching, and practice. 

Publications