Dr. Steven Coughlin, a Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Director of the Research Core for the University of Tennessee College of Medicine’s Research Center on Health Disparities, Equity, and the Exposome, has been appointed to the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Care, the International Journal of the Environment and Biotechnology, and Annals of Translational Medicine and Epidemiology (https://www.austinpublishinggroup.com/translational-medicine/). Dr. Coughlin has served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Epidemiology for almost two decades. He is also a member of the Editorial Boards of The Open Health Services and Policy Journal, the International Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Genetics, Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, and The Open Epidemiology Journal.
Dr. Coughlin, who relocated to Memphis from Washington, DC in January, noted that “Serving as a journal editor and anoymous peer reviewer provides an important service to medicine, epidemiology, and community health as it is essential that articles published in biomedical and public health journals be subjected to rigorous peer review. Peer review is an important part of the scientific method.”
He emphasized that the dissemination of information about effective approaches for addressing health disparities such as elevated rates of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, major depression, and infant mortality is an important goal of the Research Core of the Research Center on Health Disparities, Equity, and the Exposome. The Center is co-directed by Dr. Patricia Mathews-Juarez and Dr. Paul Juarez.
Explains Dr. Coughlin, “I enjoy working with graduate students, medical students, residents, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty to help them with their own careers in academic medicine, epidemiology, and community health by facilitating their efforts to write up research findings and publish them in peer-reviewed journals.” Dr. Coughlin also noted that students and fellows should become familiar with approaches for reviewing and critiquing journal articles prepared by other authors, so that they can objectively review the biomedical literature. He emphasized, “Department of Preventive Medicine faculty, including Dr. Karen Johnson, Dr. Pamela Connor, and many others, have done a fantastic job of mentoring students and post-doctoral fellows in this way.”
In his free time, Dr. Coughlin is currently editing a book on Community-based Participatory Research for the American Public Health Association (APHA). He lives in downtown Memphis and enjoys exploring hiking trails and horse back riding.