Washington, DC, November 21, 2022 – The Gary L. Filerman Prize for Educational Leadership Selection Committee is pleased to announce the selection of Dean G. Smith, PhD, Dean of the School of Public Health and Richard A. Culbertson Professor of Health Policy & Systems Management at the Louisiana State University Health Science Center – New Orleans, as the recipient of the 2023 Gary L. Filerman Prize for Educational Leadership. The Prize will be presented to Smith at the Awards Presentation Session on Saturday, July 1st during AUPHA’s 2023 Annual Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland.
The Filerman Prize recognizes individuals from AUPHA member programs who have made outstanding contributions to the field of healthcare management education, who have exhibited leadership in their field, and who have enriched their institutions, their students, and healthcare management through their work.
“Dr. Smith was nominated by Dick Culbertson, colleague at LSU, and Jack Wheeler, former colleague from the University of Michigan,” said Christy Harris Lemak, PhD, FACHE, Professor, School of Health Professions, at The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Chair of the 2023 Filerman Prize Selection Committee, and the 2022 recipient of the Filerman Prize. “The Committee noted the sustained commitment of Dr. Smith to improving health management education, from his earliest days as an academic to his influential work in the movement of the field to competency-based education, his leadership on the AUPHA and CAHME boards, and his recent service as Editor of the Journal of Health Administration Education. Dr. Smith exemplifies leadership in health administration education and we were unanimous in our selection of him for this year’s Prize.”
“Gary Filerman and colleagues at AUPHA were instrumental to the foundation of my career in healthcare management education,” said Dr. Smith. “The support that AUPHA provides to faculty and programs has been a motivation to strive towards excellence and innovation in health management and policy education, and scholarship. I am deeply honored to be associated with the distinguished Filerman Prize awardees, so many of whom are close colleagues and friends.”
Dean G. Smith, PhD, is Dean of the School of Public Health and Richard A. Culbertson Professor of Health Policy & Systems Management at the LSU Health Science Center – New Orleans, where he leads a school whose mission is to advance the public’s health and well-being through education, research and service, with a focus on issues affecting Louisiana. He previously served on the faculty of the University of Michigan for thirty years before becoming Professor Emeritus. At Michigan, he served as Chair of the Department of Health Management & Policy and Senior Associate Dean for Administration of the School of Public Health.
Dr. Smith was the first AUPHA/Health Insurance Association of America Faculty Fellow in the Health Insurance Industry, working at Lincoln National Life. He later co-founded two HMOs that were acquired by Molina Healthcare Inc. and he served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. He served as Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Public Health Institute, Vice-Chair of the Board of Visitors at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, and as a member of the Board of Commission on Accreditation of Health Management Education (CAHME). For AUPHA, he has served as Chair of the Board of Directors, Chair of the Economics and Finance Faculty Forum, and Editor of the Journal of Health Administration Education. He currently serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the Board of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.
Dr. Smith is committed to a line of teaching, research, and service that provides a better understanding of the financial aspects of working with and working in healthcare delivery and financing organizations. He has published more than two hundred papers and supervised more than sixty doctoral dissertations. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and his doctorate in economics from Texas A&M University.
