Catherine L. Troisi, PhD

Cathy Troisi is a professor in the Divisions of Management, Policy, and Community Health and Epidemiology at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health and coordinator for the Leadership Studies Concentration. She teaches courses in leadership and public health and is a faculty advisor for the Society for Women and Leadership. She created and manages the undergraduate public health certificate program. Her research interests are in infectious disease epidemiology, and she has research grants in the areas of HIV, viral hepatitis, and improving immunization rates. She holds a BA in Chemistry from the University of Rochester, an MS in Biochemistry from Michigan State University, and a Ph.D. in Epidemiologic Sciences from the University of Michigan. She completed the National Public Health Leadership Training in February 2011. Previously, she served at the Houston Department of Health and Human Services, where she worked on policy development, research collaborations with academic institutions, promotion of public health education for staff, and preparing for health department accreditation. Prior to that, Cathy was assistant director for the Division of Disease Prevention and Control and prior to that, bureau chief for HIV/STD prevention. Prior to joining HDHHS, she was on the faculty of UTHealth and Baylor College of Medicine. Having experience in both academia and practice, her passion, besides infectious diseases, is bridging the gap between these two essential components of public health. Cathy has been involved with APHA since 2004. She is active in the Epidemiology Section and served as programming chair for two years and Epidemiology Section representative to the Governing Council for seven years. She served as chair of the APHA Action Board and co-chair of the Joint Policy Committee. In the past three years, she has had 15 op-eds published in Texas newspapers and given over 100 media interviews on public health issues. Cathy received the APHA Advocacy award in 2015. She is active with the Texas Affiliate as well, having served on the governing council, and receiving the TPHA award for outstanding service in 2010. She is a member of the National Association of County and City Health Officials epidemiology workgroup as well as many local and state public health advisory boards.