Chair, Director, Associate Vice President, Professor

Daniel Derksen, MD is the University of Arizona Health Sciences (UAHS) Associate Vice President for Health Equity, Outreach & Interprofessional Activities. He is a Professor of Public Health in the Community, Environment & Policy Department in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) with a joint appointment in the UA College of Medicine (COM) Family & Community Medicine Department. Since 2013 he has served as the Walter H. Pearce Endowed Chair and Director of the Arizona Center for Rural Health (AzCRH). His current service, research, and education activities include informing legislative, regulatory and program policy to improve health equity; increasing health insurance coverage; reducing the uninsured; narrowing health disparities; developing, implementing and evaluating interprofessional serving/learning sites; and working to assure a well-trained and distributed health workforce to meet the health needs of all Arizonans.

Dr. Derksen serves as Principal Investigator (PI) of programs housed in the Center for Rural Health include the State Office of Rural Health (AzSORH), funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (AzFlex, HRSA), the AzCRH Navigator Program (funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight - CMS/CCIIO), and the Arizona Department of Health Services ADHS–AzCRH Intergovernmental Services Agreements (ISAs): 1) Prescription Drug Misuse/Abuse Reduction Initiative: Online Continuing Medical Education Modules funded by the CDC, and 2) First Responders Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act First Responders Cooperative Agreement (CARA-FR) with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Dr. Derksen completed a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship in 2008 with U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman. He researched and drafted provisions to improve the supply of the nation’s health workforce later included in Title V of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).