Peggy Honoré Selected for African Diaspora Task Force
Leslie Capo, Director of Information Services
Peggy A. Honoré, MHA, DHA, AmeriHealth Caritas-General Russel Honoré Endowed Professor at LSU Health New Orleans' Schools of Public Health and Medicine, is one of seven individuals invited as inaugural members of the African & Diaspora Universities Research, Instruction & Engagement (ADURIE) Task Force. The Task Force, which, when filled, will comprise 12 members, is an initiative of the African Renaissance & Diaspora Network (ARDN), envisioned as an operative extension of ARDN's Higher Education Initiative.
The task force will facilitate collaboration between colleges and universities within the African Continent and the African Diaspora throughout the United States, Central and South America and the Caribbean in a number of areas. Collaboration areas include research, distance learning, study abroad, curricular design, accreditation assistance, faculty exchange, community engagement, capacity building, technological enhancement with respect to cyber-infrastructure and shared instrumentation, as well as joint fundraising to support management and implementation of the partnerships, undergraduate student scholarships, graduate student teaching and research assistantships, postdoctoral fellowships, faculty development, endowed professorships, and institutional endowment enhancement.
Before joining the LSU Health New Orleans faculty, Dr. Honoré held executive-level posts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with responsibilities for developing programs to address public health quality and health disparities. Her testimonies before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness aided in acquiring a $50 million appropriation to create academic centers for Public Health Preparedness Research coordinated at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her current research and teaching priorities include population health, policy, workforce, quality, and health equity. Among several innovative programs she created is the Health Policy Honors Program and the Population Health Management Clerkship for LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine.
Dr. Honoré's global experience also includes invited memberships in the World Health Organization (WHO) Coalition of Partners for Strengthening Public Health Capacities and Services in Europe. WHO consultancies included missions to Ukraine, Denmark, Greece, Helsinki, and Slovenia.
Her work on the task force has already begun. An article she wrote, Solving Africa's Physician Crisis, published in Africa in Fact, a special diaspora edition of The Journal of Good Governance Africa, contributes to the understanding of health policy as an essential tool in achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Serving as an inaugural member of the Task Force is an honor and provides an unparalleled opportunity for research and higher education collaborations across all sectors of the African Diaspora domestically and on the African continent,” notes Dr. Honoré. “My keen interests center on enhancing student competencies needed to advance achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”