Warne named director of MPH program

Donald K. Warne has been named director of the Master of Public Health Program at the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS). Warne fills the role previously held by the program’s founding Director Raymond Goldsteen, who retired in June.

“I look forward to building upon the great work that Dr. Goldsteen and his team accomplished in UND’s MPH Program,” Warne said. “And we have even more opportunity to link undergraduate and graduate public health programs with the medical curriculum. I foresee UND becoming a regional leader in population health education, research, and service.”

Warne also serves as the associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion and director of the Indians Into Medicine (INMED) Program at the SMHS.

“Dr. Warne had been functioning as the interim director of our public health program, and I’m thrilled that he’s agreed to be the new permanent director,” noted SMHS Dean Joshua Wynne. “Dr. Warne is well-qualified to assume this additional responsibility and will have a full plate of activities at the School.”

Among other duties, in his new role Warne will provide strategic vision and operational leadership for the program, creating an environment and community that supports the program’s faculty, research agenda, and students. He has responsibility for the leadership and direction of the core curriculum and specialization tracks taught by UND faculty, and will establish, maintain, and foster important relationships within SMHS and with other academic units within UND, as well as with external schools, colleges, institutes and centers, including the SMHS clinical campuses.

An enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe in Pine Ridge, S.D., Warne received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1995 and his Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University in 2002. A prolific scholar and grant writer, Warne is also senior policy advisor for the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board and former senior fellow of American Indian health policy for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico.

In addition to being a member of the American Public Health Association, American Medical Association, and Association of American Indian Physicians, Warne served in a leadership capacity for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the American Cancer Society.

The Master of Public Health Program at UND supports population health improvement in North Dakota, the Northern Plains, and beyond by creating strategies and opportunities to promote health and well-being, prevent disease and injury, and advance health equity. The program offers specializations in Population Health Analytics and Health Management & Policy, and has a 100 percent graduate employment rate in health-related careers.