Rachel Mahas, Ph.D., has joined the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences as an assistant professor and director of the Master’s of Public Health program.

Dr. Mahas’s research interests include racial and ethnic inequities in health, cancer control and prevention, and adolescent health, particularly HIV/AIDS education.

She received her bachelor’s degree in Clinical Laboratory Sciences with honors in 2010 and a master’s of public health degree in Community Health in 2013 from Georgia Southern University, a master’s degree in basic medical sciences from the Wayne State University School of Medicine in 2013 and a doctoral degree in Health Education from the University of Toledo’s School of Population Health in 2016.

Before joining WSU, Dr. Mahas was an assistant professor at Madonna University’s College of Nursing and Health, where she directed the Master’s of Public Health program from 2018 to 2020. At Madonna University, she developed courses in Leadership and Systems Thinking in Public Health, Health Communication Strategies, Health Promotion for Advanced Nursing Practice, Health Policy Analysis and Advocacy, and Translating and Integrating Scholarship into the Advanced Nursing Practice.