Jeffrey Dennis

Jeffrey Dennis, PhD, is an Associate Professor (Tenured) in Public Health and the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the Julia Jones Matthews School of Population and Public Health, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC). He also directs the MPH Applied Practice Experience program. His expertise spans criminal justice-mental health intersections, population mental health, demography, and rural health. Dr. Dennis teaches courses like Social Epidemiology and Public Health Communication. He joined TTUHSC in 2015 after completing his PhD in Sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

His research focuses on community health in the Texas Panhandle and mental health interactions with the criminal justice system. Key studies include analyzing mental health diversion programs, opioid use disorder terminology, and disparities in pediatric triage scores. He has received awards such as the 2018 IPUMS Research Award and the 2019 President's Emerging Engaged Scholarship Award.

Dr. Dennis has led grants including a Department of Justice-funded collaboration on Lubbock County's mentally ill inmate population and a Laura W. Bush Institute project on gender differences in stroke/heart attack mortality. His 15+ peer-reviewed articles reflect diverse topics like arthritis CAM use, sleep-apnea-hypothyroidism links, and trauma bay mortality analysis. Teaching innovations include integrating community partnerships into public health curricula.