The College of Public Health has appointed George Wehby, professor of health management and policy, as the John W. Colloton Chair in Health Management and Policy. Wehby is an internationally recognized scholar in health economics and health services research with a focus on the social determinants of health, especially child and maternal health. His work examines socioeconomic, health care, and policy determinants of health, health and socioeconomic inequalities, long-term effects of early life conditions on health and human capital, and genetic influences on health and health care use.

Wehby, who also directs the Department of Health Management and Policy’s doctoral and M.S. programs, teaches at both the graduate and undergraduate level in the College of Public Health. He developed the undergraduate public health course in health economics and received the College of Public Health Outstanding Teaching Award in 2013.

Wehby earned his Master of Public Health degree from American University of Beirut and his Doctor of Philosophy in Health Management and Policy with a concentration in health economics from the University of Iowa in 2006. He joined the College of Public Health faculty in 2008. He holds secondary appointments in the Department of Economics, the Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, and the UI Public Policy Center. Wehby also has been a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research since 2013.