Wheat, John R.
John R. Wheat, MD, MPH
Professor
College of Community and Health Sciences
The University of Alabama
(205) 348-1300
Dr. Wheat is Professor of Community and Rural Medicine in the College of Community Health Sciences at the University of Alabama. He oversees the Rural Health Scholars Program, Minority Rural Health Pipeline Program (MRHPP) and the Rural Medical Scholars Program at The University of Alabama, and teaches Rural/Community Medicine in year 3 of medical school. He is active in several local and national medical societies, is Past-Chairman of the North American Agromedicine Consortium and a Bureau Member of International Association of Agricultural Medicine and Rural Health. He represents Alabama on national and regional task forces related to health care, health policy, and rural occupational medicine, Delta Regional Authority, and Appalachian Regional Commission. He was appointed to the statewide Health Advisory Committee, Alabama Rural Action Commission (ARAC), after co-chairing the Black Belt Action Commission Health Access subcommittee, 2003-2007.
His educational background includes BS and MD (University of Alabama System); MPH (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill); Medicine Residency (Mayo Clinic); Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar in Clinical Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, followed by Post-doctoral fellowship in Epidemiology (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). He is board certified in Internal Medicine, General Preventive Medicine/Public Health, and Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He served as a Primary Care Medical officer in the US Navy rising in rank to Lieutenant Commander.
His academic interests revolve around vulnerable and underserved rural populations, e.g., prevention in agricultural medicine, insurance and health care systems for uninsured rural children, and educational and community developments needed for rural practice. He has traveled to Queensland, Australia, correlating educational programs for rural medicine there with those in the United States. His publications address rural community health, urban undertow, agricultural medicine, rural public health, utilization of health care and mental health services, and medical education for population health. He was named the 2007 Distinguished Educator of the Year by National Rural Health Association.