Dr. Deidre Hurse joined Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine in August 2020 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foundational Medical Studies. Her work operates at the intersection of community-engaged scholarship and translational prevention science, focusing on how structural and community-level factors shape health outcomes.
Dr. Hurse teaches medical students across the curriculum in health promotion and prevention, with emphasis on health-harming social factors, systems-based practice, and the application of public health principles to clinical decision-making. She has led the development and implementation of longitudinal service-learning curricula that integrate community partnerships into required medical education, aligning experiential learning with measurable competencies and institutional priorities.
Her research program centers on health equity, communicable disease prevention, and maternal–infant health, with a focus on how healthcare systems, community infrastructure, and workforce capacity shape prevention delivery and population health outcomes. She leads and collaborates on multiple community-engaged, mixed-methods studies, including projects focused on culturally grounded health resilience among descendants of enslaved Americans, maternal health resource access, and community-based HIV prevention initiatives.
Beyond her academic role, Dr. Hurse has extensive leadership experience in community health systems and enabling services. She has held executive and statewide leadership roles, including work with community health worker infrastructure and public health advisory bodies. She is an active member of the American Public Health Association and serves on the Michigan HIV/AIDS Council, contributing to policy and programmatic efforts to address health disparities.
Education:
Ph.D., Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Indiana University IUPUI
Master of Public Administration, University of Michigan
Bachelor of Social Work, University of Michigan-Flint
Research Focus Areas
- Advancing Medical Education and Workforce Training for Community-Responsive Care
- Impact of Social Factors on Health Across the Life Course
- Enhancing Community Health Infrastructure
- Communicable Disease Prevention: Risk Perception and Public Health Strategies
