Tsai receives the R. Palmer Beasley, MD Faculty Award for Innovation

Congratulations to UTHealth School of Public Health San Antonio Campus Dean, Jack Tsai, PhD for being nominated and selected as the recipient of R. Palmer Beasley, M.D. Faculty Award for innovation. Nominated by Aanand Naik, MD, chair for the Department of Management, Policy, and Community Health, Tsai's research and academic career has focused on the development and creation of innovative models used for collaborative care, targeting the health and social needs of vulnerable populations including homeless and veterans.

"Dr. Tsai is a prolific scholar whose work addresses the health and social needs of vulnerable populations due to housing insecurity—a particularly difficult to reach and engage population," says Naik. "His scholarship highlights the relevance of non-conventional and innovative approaches, including collaborative models of care adapted to unique contexts. His innovative collaborative care model is impactful due its capacity for adaptation to unique settings and context that benefit vulnerable populations."

Tsai currently serves as UTHealth School of Public Health San Antonio Campus Dean and professor of public health at UTHealth. He also serves as research director for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans. He is an adjunct associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine where he previously served on the faculty for a decade before coming to UTHealth School of Public Health. He has received federally funded grants and published over 200 peer-reviewed articles on topics related to homelessness, severe mental illness, trauma, and health disparities. He has held leadership positions in the American Psychological Association and the American Public Health Association, and serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness, as well as associate editor for Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Tsai is Taiwanese American and has lived in various parts of the country as well as abroad. He currently spends time living in Houston and San Antonio, and is actively involved in both communities.