Eric Finkelstein, PhD, MHA, will be the featured professor for the Mildred A. Reeves Distinguished Visiting Professorship (DVP) in Nutrition Lecture Series September 11. The professorship is sponsored by the Department of Preventive Medicine in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC).
Dr. Finkelstein is a professor of Health Services and Systems Research at the Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, and the executive director of the Lien Centre for Palliative Care. He also holds appointments at NUS School of Public Health and Duke University Global Health Institute.
The distinguished visiting professor is expected to participate in meetings, seminars, or other educational activities with students, faculty, and the public. The purpose of the professorship is to enhance nutrition education in the academic community at UTHSC.
The DVP is selected for his or her outstanding qualifications as a physician or a scientist. The selection is based on recommendations from senior faculty at UTHSC, and approved by the steward of the DVP in Nutrition.
Dr. Finkelstein will present two lectures – one academic and one for the community. His academic lecture, “Behavioural Economics as a Tool For Chronic Disease Prevention: Theory and Evidence,” will be presented at noon in the Freeman Auditorium of the Hamilton Eye Institute, 930 Madison Avenue, Memphis. His community lecture,” Exploring the Complicated Decisions Around End-of-Life Care,” will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Sara’s Place at the Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry Road, Memphis. Both events are open to the public, however, an RSVP is required for the evening event, as dinner will be served. Please confirm your attendance at preventivemed@uthsc.edu by Wednesday, September 6, 2017.
Dr. Finkelstein’s research focuses on the economic causes and consequences of health behaviors, with a primary emphasis on the use of traditional and behavioral economic incentives to influence those behaviors in ways to improve the public’s health. Recent research also focuses on studies to better understand the complicated decisions that revolve around end-of-life care. He has published over 170 manuscripts and two books in these areas, and also successfully commercialized an Obesity Cost Calculator for employers and insurers. Based on Google Scholar, he has an h-index of 52, and his publications have been cited over 18,000 times, including in the landmark Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. In 2015, he was selected by Thomson Reuters as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds.
About Mildred A. Reeves
A native of Indiana, Mrs. Mildred A. Reeves endowed the annual Distinguished Visiting Professor in Nutrition in 1983. Through her ardent interest in nutrition and generous patronage of The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 23 experts in the field of nutrition have been sponsored through Distinguished Visiting Professorships. Mrs. Reeves lived in Columbus, Indiana, until her death on May 20, 1999.