Ashish Joshi

Ashish Joshi is the Dean and a Distinguished University Professor of the School of Public Health at the University of Memphis. He has academic training in clinical medicine, public health, and informatics, which he uses to design and develop human-centered, technology-enabled interventions. These interventions aim to enhance population health outcomes across diverse community settings. Dr. Joshi’s work focuses on utilizing community and hospital-based data to implement and evaluate informatics-enabled solutions, addressing social, economic, and health inequities in the 21st century. He combines data-driven, innovative, and entrepreneurial approaches to advance public health education and research.

Dr. Joshi has a documented history of conceptualizing models such as SMAART (Sustainable, Multisector, Accessible, Affordable, Reimbursable, and Tailored), which uses principles from human-centered design, humanistic, behavioral, learning, and information processing theory to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. He has designed and developed various digital health interventions, including population health dashboards, consumer health informatics, m-health interventions, and population-based surveillance tools. His research and projects have been implemented in multiple countries, including the US, India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Haiti, Egypt, and Brazil, with funding from federal, state, international government agencies, and private foundations. He was recognized with the Distinguished Service Award by the NYC Test and Trace Corps for his contributions to the COVID-19 response. He is also the author of the textbook, “Population Health Informatics: Driving Evidence-based solutions into practice.”

As Dean of the University of Memphis School of Public Health, Dr. Joshi adapted the SMAART model to create the “SPH CARES” framework. This framework aims to make the school community-engaged, an anchor institute, research-based, supportive of entrepreneurship and innovation, and student-centric. Under his leadership, student enrollment increased by 19%, research grants grew over 400% (from $2 million to $27 million), and two federally funded research centers were established within two years. He also developed a national model for public health education in high schools, including public health dual enrollment and RE-AIM public health IDEAS clubs. Dr. Joshi established new academic programs, such as an MS in Biostatistics with a concentration in Data Science in Public Health and a graduate certificate in population health informatics. He expanded faculty numbers and initiated programs like the Research Initiative Supporting Excellence in early careeR development (RISER) program to support junior faculty mentorship. His community engagement approach, “Uplift,” has fostered partnerships with health departments, school systems, and community centers, leading to national recognition with the ASPPH 2024 Harrison C Spencer Award for outstanding community service.