Our very own Doctor Nelson Atehortua De la Pena, known among colleagues and the community as Dr. A, has recently become the Director of the Office of Health Data and Research for the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) and has stayed with us at JSU as an Adjunct Professor/Affiliated Faculty. Dr. A is a Medical Doctor – Doctor of Medicine (MD) -who graduated from the School of Medicine of the University of Cartagena (Colombia). He completed postgraduate training majoring in Health Services Management, minor in Management of Health Services Provider Institutions (HSPI), from the Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia. He came to the US to earn a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Western Kentucky University and a Ph.D. degree from Texas A&M University.

In addition, he has rounded his scientific training with postdoctoral fellowships in Public Health Genomics, through the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; in Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Disabilities, through the joint Lend Program between Utah State University and the University of Utah; the Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research (MCCTR), a collaborative effort between the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) and the University of Southern Mississippi (USM); and more recently, as a fellow with the National Medical Fellowships on Diversity in Clinical Trials Research.