Heidi Beidinger-Burnett, PhD, is the new Assistant Professor for the Eck Institute for Global Health. Beidinger recently joined Notre Dame after working as a consultant in K-12 education for nearly 10 years. She developed expertise in leadership, school redesign, curriculum evaluation, and development. Prior to her tenure in K-12, Beidinger served in various leadership roles at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for 13 years. She developed an expertise in STD/HIV, correctional healthcare, and surveillance and monitoring programs focusing specifically on improving screening and treatment programs at Cook County Jail, Hospital, Juvenile Detention Center, and community health centers in Chicago. While working for the CDC, Beidinger received her Master in Public Health from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

After moving back to South Bend, IN, her hometown, Beidinger earned a PhD in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University. This unique blend of education and experiences has culminated into a lifelong passion and sense of urgency to improving the quality of life for individuals who may not have a voice or the resources they need to be successful in life. Her current community health research includes development of a new pre-test and post-test tool to assess knowledge acquisition of participants during HIV/AIDS education sessions conducted by a local care coordination organization.

“We are excited that Dr. Beidinger has joined our team,” states Katherine Taylor, PhD, Director of Global Health Training at the Eck Institute for Global Health. “Her unique blend of experience in public health and education leadership, has already made a significant contribution to our program. She is heading up our health research partnerships with the local community focused on special populations and low-resource neighborhoods, while preparing to extend these community health approaches to partnerships in India and elsewhere."

The Eck Institute for Global Health is a university-wide enterprise that recognizes health as a fundamental human right and endeavors to promote research, training, service to advance health standards for all people, especially people in low and middle-income countries, who are disproportionately impacted by preventable diseases. For more information about Notre Dame’s Master of Science in Global Health degree program, visit: here