Rhonda BeLue, Ph.D.

 Lutcher Brown Endowed Distinguished Professorship #1

Professor, Public Health

Associate Dean for Community Engagement and Partnerships

Esteemed community health scholar Rhonda BeLue is the Lutcher Brown Endowed Distinguished Professor in the UTSA Department of Public Health.

BeLue joined UTSA in Spring 2022 after being hired through the Clustered and Connected Program within the university’s Strategic Faculty Hiring Initiative, designed to attract and recruit scholars that will advance the institution’s national role as an advocate for equity and inclusion.

In her role at UTSA, BeLue serves as the nexus for leading public health and biomedical innovators to provide real world instruction, thoughtful leadership and expertise to solve problems in health equity and inclusion. 

In addition to her faculty position, she serves as the first associate dean for community engagement and partnerships in the UTSA College for Health, Community and Policy (HCaP). 

BeLue was recruited to UTSA from Saint Louis University, where she served as chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy. In 2020, she was tapped by the City of Saint Louis to lead its Department of Health advisory board. Prior to that, she served on the faculty of Pennsylvania State University where she administered a seven institution, multi-country global health research initiative.  

BeLue’s research centers around understanding the role of family in health and health care, chronic disease in BiPOC communities, immigrant families in the US and globally. Over the span of her career, BeLue has been awarded research funding from institutions such as USDA, NIH and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to name a few. 

As with many public health scholars, BeLue’s research has also shifted to include the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, she was awarded $800,000 from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to work with community-based organizations to provide COVID-19 vaccine education and improve vaccine updates among underserved communities who suffered disproportionately from poor COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. 

She has over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters and other scholarly writings. She writes for both public health and health management audiences, seeking to use research to inform practice and policy. 

BeLue is a member of American Public Health Association, American Society for Quality, Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Interdisciplinary Society for Population Health Sciences and the American Evaluation Association.

BeLue earned a Ph.D. in health policy analysis and management and a master’s degree in statistics with a minor in epidemiology from Cornell University. She received a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. She holds Graduate Certificates in Organizational Leadership and Development from St. Louis University and is an American Society for Quality Certified Manger of Quality and Organizational Excellence.