SPH Professor Harry J. Heiman Appointed to Georgia Comprehensive Health Coverage Commission

ATLANTA — Dr. Harry J. Heiman, a clinical professor in the Georgia State University School of Public Health, has been appointed to the Georgia Comprehensive Health Coverage Commission.

The nine-member commission will advise the governor, General Assembly and the Department of Community Health on issues related to access and quality of healthcare for Georgia's low-income and uninsured populations. Heiman was appointed to the commission by state Sen. Gloria Butler (D-Stone Mountain).

“I appreciate the opportunity to help inform our state’s health policies to both advance healthcare access and address our poor health outcomes and inequities,” Heiman said.

Heiman directs the School of Public Health’s Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program, which provides public health practitioners with the knowledge, skills and experiences to prepare them for leadership roles that advance public health and health equity. Prior to joining Georgia State, he served as director of the Division of Health Policy at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine, where he was also an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians with more than 20 years of clinical practice experience. He leverages his experience as a primary care physician as well as his expertise and experience in health policy to focus on the intersection of health policy and health equity.

His additional experience includes a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship in Washington, D.C., in which he served with committee staff for the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives under Ranking Member Henry Waxman. He is a former board member and board chair of Georgians for a Healthy Future, a statewide consumer health advocacy organization.