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CUNY SPH is delighted to announce that, effective July 1, Professors Renee Goodwin and Terry Huang have been elevated to the rank of distinguished professor. Both appointments were approved by the CUNY Board of Trustees at its meeting on June 26, bringing to five the number of distinguished professors serving CUNY SPH.
CUNY bestows the title of distinguished professor on faculty who have built international reputations as leaders within their fields and have been consistent producers of innovative and influential research. Professors Goodwin and Huang are both leading scholars in their fields of psychiatric and substance abuse epidemiology and chronic disease prevention, respectively.
Professor Renee Goodwin, a licensed clinical psychologist, is an internationally recognized psychiatric and substance use epidemiologist whose work since joining CUNY SPH has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
Her latest research focuses on the impact of cannabis commercialization in the U.S. on the mental and physical health and well-being of children, adolescents and adults; understanding how cannabis, tobacco and alcohol use affect depression and anxiety disorders, as well as the reverse, across the life course; and in taking innovative, community-based approaches that facilitate positive change in these areas.
Professor Goodwin has published over 265 papers in peer-reviewed journals and currently serves as a deputy editor for the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. She is a member of the College of Problems on Drug Dependence and the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. She currently is a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at CUNY SPH.
Professor Terry Huang is internationally recognized for finding innovative approaches to chronic disease prevention and the improvement of community health. He has received more than $16 million in research grant funding as principal investigator since joining CUNY SPH in 2014. He is also the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and editorials.
As the director of the Center for Systems and Community Design, Professor Huang has been collaborating with NYC Parks to evaluate the impact of the Community Parks Initiative, a $318 million park equity investment that has led to the redesign and renovation of more than 60 parks in New York City. He recently received another large grant from the NIH for a related project that leverages the park improvements in developing strategies to enhance neighborhood vibrancy and wellbeing.
Professor Huang is the founder of Firefly Innovations at CUNY SPH, a unique public health entrepreneurship platform for health equity startups. Since launching in early 2020, Firefly Innovations has successfully accelerated more than 50 early-stage venture companies mostly led by women and diverse founders. He is currently chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at CUNY SPH.
“We are very proud the university has bestowed this special honor on two of our senior faculty and we thank the Board of Trustees for supporting the school’s nominations,” says CUNY SPH Dean Ayman El-Mohandes. “We know to expect even more significant accomplishments from them as they embark upon the next chapter of their careers.”
Professors Goodwin and Huang join an eminent group of distinguished professors at CUNY SPH including Professors Luisa N. Borrell, Nicholas Freudenberg and Denis Nash.
