Belinda Reininger, DrPH

Professor and Brownsville Regional Dean, Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences
[email protected]

Belinda Reininger, DrPH, serves as Dean and Professor of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Brownsville. She teaches graduate students about individual- and community-level strategies to achieve wellness. She also directs the Rio Grande Valley Summer Science Internship program that places first-generation, college-going students with mentors from UTHealth and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. In addition, she serves as a board of trustee for the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District. Dr. Reininger is an intervention researcher, focused on Hispanic populations and evidence-based, participatory approaches to improving health. Her research has demonstrated the important role community health workers play in contributing to positive health outcomes. Her award-winning community health work with many partners includes policy and environmental changes focused on healthy eating, physical activity, tobacco-free ordinances, walking and bike trail systems, community gardens, farmers’ markets, and chronic care management programs. Dr. Reininger earned a bachelor’s degree in education from The University of Texas at Austin. She received her MPH and DrPH from UTHealth School of Public Health and also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the school before becoming one of the first educators to join the faculty when its Brownsville location opened in 2001. In 2016, she was the recipient of a Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the premier teaching award honoring outstanding teachers from across the UT System. Two years later, she was elected to the University of Texas System Kenneth Shine Academy of Health Science Education.