Dr. Josh West will begin his assignment as the new chair of the Department of Public Health on July 1, 2021.
Dr. Josh West is the new chair of the Department of Public Health. As a professor of Health Science, Dr. West has taught classes about technology and health promotion, health behavior change, and determinants of health behavior since 2008. He received his BA in Psychology at Utah State University, a Phd in Health Behavior at the University of California, San Diego, and an MPH in Epidemiology at San Diego State University.
Dr. West and his wife, Layne, have been married for twenty-one years and have five children between 9 and 18 years old. The family loves to be outside together and to be active together. They especially love biking and skiing. When Dr. West is not working, he is happiest when he is with his family and when he is outside doing yard work and weeding flower beds.
Dr. West’s research interests have taken him across the world as he has studied undernutrition and prevention of stunting in children in developing countries such as Tanzania. His research interests have also led him to investigate how health technologies and devices such as Fitbits promote health changes.
As the new department chair, Dr. West wants public health students to know how lucky he feels to work with them. He said, “The best part of working at BYU is visiting with students, learning about their needs, and seeing how BYU can help them. We are very lucky.”
