PHF Principal Investigator

Dr. Peggy Honoré currently holds the position of Public Health Systems Researcher with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and Office of Minority Health. In these roles she is leading joint HHS and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded efforts to advance fields of study in public health finance and public health systems research. Primary focus areas include assessing performance, establishing public health financial datasets, examining funding patterns in the public health system, and investigating system capacity to reduce health disparities. Dr. Honoré is also leading an HHS-wide Public Health Systems Working Group and Public Health Systems Expert Panel that are both targeted at establishing connectivity between partners in the public health system.

Dr Honoré has the unique experience of having served in the three distinct fields of private industry, academia, and government (federal and state). Leadership positions held in these fields include Vice President of Finance and Administration at two universities, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Science Officer at two state health departments, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Financial Officer over a group of four medical clinics, and Controller and Sr. Financial Analyst with McDonald’s Corp and Exxon USA in Louisiana and Texas. Dr. Honoré also has extensive experience working with legislative bodies in three states and the US Congress. She testified before the US Senate Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness in March 2006 and was recognized as instrumental in getting public health systems research mandates in the 2007 Pandemic and All-Hazard Preparedness Act.

Dr. Honoré is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and holds academic appointments at Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, the Medical University of South Carolina College of Health Professions, and the Medical Knowledge Insitute in the Netherlands. She also serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (JPHMP). Dr. Honoré was guest editor of two public health finance issues of the JPHMP and has authored many papers in peer-reviewed journals. She also organized and moderated the first national conferences on public health systems research and public health finance convened in 2006 and 2007. She is currently serving on the Tbilisi State Medical University School of Public Health Advisory Board in the country of Georgia. Recent committee appointments include the AcademyHealth 2008 Annual Research Meeting and Public Health Systems Research Interest Group Planning Committees, the Healthy People 2010 Public Health Infrastructure Workgroup, and Chair of the American Public Health Association Public Health Finance Ad-Hoc Committee. Previous appointments include Vice President of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education’s College and University Finance Officers Association.

Dr. Honoré holds a Doctorate in Health Administration (DHA) with honors (1st in class) from the Medical University of South Carolina. She earned a Master of Health Administration (MHA) from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Her undergraduate degree is in Accounting. The Delta Omega Honor Society recognized Dr. Honoré for outstanding contributions to the field of public health and she is an honorary member. She is a native of New Orleans and has one daughter who is a Clinical/Community Psychologist at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.

Julia Field Costich, M.P.A., J.D., Ph.D., is Chair of the Department of Health Services Management in the University of Kentucky College of Public Health and Director of the Kentucky Injury Prevention & Research Center. Before joining the UK public health faculty in 1998, she administered academic medical programs for twelve years and practiced health care law in the public and private sectors. Dr. Costich holds a B.A. from Duke University and M.P.A., Ph.D., and J.D. degrees from the University of Kentucky. Her honors and awards include a Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship and the College of Law’s Order of the Coif. She is the author of over 30 peer-reviewed publications in health law and policy.

Xueyuan (Snow) Wang , M.P.H., is currently a Research Assistant at the University of Southern Mississippi. She serves in a critcal role of coordinating activities under a Robert Wood Johnson Fondation funded project to advance a field of study in public health finance. Previously, Ms. Wang was a Research Assitant at the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH). During that period she coordinated the development of a special finance issue of the Journal of Public Health Mnagament and Practice that was published in March 2007.  She was instrumental with ensuring the quality and timeliness of papers submitted by authors. She is co-author on one paper where she lead  the statistical analysis. This paper investigated for associations between changes in health status given significant increases in county revenues from the casino industry. Her current research activites include examining the use of property taxes to fund local public health services. She is a member of AcademyHealth and the American Public Helath Association.