Josiah Alamu, PhD 
Assistant Professor
Office: 217/206-8485
e-mail: jalam3@uis.edu
Dr. Josiah Alamu received his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Iowa (2009) and his MPH from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (2003). He completed his undergraduate degree in pharmacy from the Obafemi Awolowo Univeristy Ife, Nigeria in 1994 after working as an Environmental Health Officer with the Ministry of Health Ibadan, Nigeria. He had is Diploma in Public Health from the School of Health Technology, Ilesa, Nigeria in 1987. Dr. Alamu lectured basic sciences, introduction to epidemiology, and waste management at School of Public Health – Gambia College Brikama, The Gambia between 1998 and 2001. Dr. Alamu’s interest is in epidemiology of antimicrobial use, recreational drug use/abuse, and hepatitis C.
Dr. Kathy DeBarr is Associate Professor of Public Health at University of Illinois at Springfield in Springfield, Illinois. She previously served as the Chair of the UIS Health Services Administration Department. She has taught numerous courses in Health Services Administration and currently teaches Health Education and Research Methods. She has served as a peer reviewer for several academic journals, including International Electronic Journal of Health Education, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Healthcare Management, and the American Journal of College Health, as well as Films for the Humanities and Sciences. She has published articles in the following academic journals: The Journal of Health Administration Education, Journal of Safety Research, the American Journal of Health Education, California Journal of Health Promotion, and the Journal of School Health. Her 2004 article A review of current health education theories. Californian Journal of Health Promotion, 2(1), 74-87 is used in the Psychological Factors in Health and Illness course at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. She is a past nominee for the CASE National Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. DeBarr has earned a number of certificates from the Sloan Consortium for Online teaching, and is a member of the New Century Learning Consortium. Dr. DeBarr holds membership in the American Public Health Association, the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the American Association for Health Education, and the Society for Public Health Education.
Mark Edgar, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Office PAC 328
Phone: 217/206-7835
Email: medga01s@uis.edu
Mark Edgar is assistant professor of public health policy at the University of Illinois at Springfield. He received his PhD in Public Health from Saint Louis University and his Master’s in Public Health from University of Illinois at Springfield. Past positions include Director of Assessment and Planning at the Illinois Public Health Institute, Senior Research Associate at Saint Louis University School of Public Health, Researcher at SIU School of Medicine, Director of Epidemiology at the Adams County Health Department and adjunct faculty at UIS and Quincy University. His research has been published in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice and Public Health Reports and presented at the annual meetings of the American Public Heath Association, the National Network of Public Health Institutes and Academy Health’s Public Health Systems Research Interest Group. Dr. Edgar’s teaching includes graduate, undergraduate and community-based courses and workshops in statistics, research methods, public health administration and policy, program planning, outcome measurement, and program evaluation. He has over 20 years of experience working with public health and human services programs; schools of public health, medicine and nursing; and not for profit organizations throughout the country. His work has focused on assessment, evaluation, policy and program development, and public health research in both academic and practice settings. Funding sources for Dr. Edgar’s work have included the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Network of Public Health Institutes, the Office of Rural Health Policy and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.
Shahram Heshmat, PhD
Associate Professor
Office: PAC 330
Phone: 217-206-7878
Email: heshmat.shahram@uis.edu
Shahram Heshmat is a Ph.D. in Managerial Economics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). He has been teaching for over 20 years. His specialty is Health Economics. Courses include Addiction, Public Health Economics, Food & Health, and Human Well-Being. His research interests focus on addictive behavior from behavioral economics perspective. Behavioral economics blends insights of psychology and economics. Hispassion is to make economic education relevant and interdisciplinary for non-majors and to reach a broader audience.
Sharron LaFollette, PhD
Associate Professor & Chair
Office: PAC 306
Phone: 217- 206-7894
Email slafo1@uis.edu
Dr. Sharron LaFollette joined the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2001. She is currently chair the Department of Public Health. Before coming to UIS, she taught and was director of the Environmental Health Program at Illinois State University for eight years. Prior to joining academia, she spent eight years in Illinois government conducting multi-media risk assessments for all hazards and providing risk communication and environmental and occupational health educational programs for physicians, public health professionals, and the general public. While in Illinois government, she worked at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Illinois Abandoned Mined Lands Reclamation Council, and Illinois Department of Public Health. At UIS she teaches courses in environmental risk assessment, toxicology, air quality, and solid and hazardous waste at the graduate level. She is in her fourth year as General Chair of the EHAC and her ninth year on the Council. She is past-president of the Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs, and the Illinois Environmental Health Association. She is currently director at large of the Illinois Environmental Health Association. Her research and consulting is in risk evaluation, risk communication, workforce development, indoor air quality impact on health, and radon levels.
Jim Veselenak, PhD
Associate Professor
Office: HSB 349
Phone: 217-206-7346
Email: veselenak.james@uis.edu
Dr. Veselenak is an Associate Professor Emeritus of Clinical Laboratory Science and Public Health. He retired September 1, 2009 after 29 years at SSU/UIS. In the Clinical Laboratory Science Department, he was responsible for the Medical Microbiology sequence.
He has also taught courses in Electron Microscopy, Mycology, and Emerging Diseases as well as one of the first online courses. He has been active in HIV/AIDS education and was a founding member of the Springfield Area AIDS Task Force.
On a personal level, his hobbies are nature (especially mushroom hunting), photography, and scuba diving. He and his wife (Marygael) have a 24 year old son (Devin) who graduated from SIU-Edwardsville and The Montessori Training Center in St. Paul, MN. Devin is currently a Montessori Teacher in Dortmund, Germany.
He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Eastern Michigan University and his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He has experience in a variety of clinical microbiology and public health laboratories, and participated in an experiment which was conducted during the Apollo 16 moon mission.
Lenore Killam
Nancy Rachelle
Office Manager
Office: PAC 384
Phone: 217-206-6720
Email: nrach1@uis.edu
