Ellen P. Averett, Ph.D., MHSA

Professional Background

Dr. Ellen Averett is a Professor Emerita in the Department of Population Health at the University of Kansas School of Medicine where she directed the Community Health Center Executive Fellowship (CHCEF) and the Master of Health Services Administration (MHSA) programs. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duke University and has practiced in various health care settings including private practice, a managed care group model HMO (Kaiser Permanente), public and private psychiatric and general hospitals, and a university student counseling center. In 1999, she earned an MHSA from the University of Kansas.
Her approach to teaching is based on active learning and other adult learning principles. She is committed to helping students become critical thinkers and supporting their efforts to be life-long learners. The business of health care is constantly changing and requires resilient leaders. Health administrators must be able to analyze an issue, assess the level of evidence, and think critically about the pros and cons of the issue.
Dr. Averett has taught Health Systems, Health Services Ethics, Research Inquiry to Support Evidence-Based Practice, Health and Social Behavior, Instructional Methods in Health Services Education, Professional Development, and the study abroad course Health Care and Social Policies in Sweden and Finland.

• BA, Psychology, CUNY City Col.
• PhD, Clinical Psychology, Duke Univ.
• MHSA, Health Services Administration, Univ. of Kansas
• Internship, Clinical Psychology, Willaim S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, Columbia, South Carolina

Research

Overview

Dr. Averett’s scholarship and research interests include interprofessional education, social determinants of health, health communications, public health education and disease prevention, health-related behavior change, health system ethics, the impact of hospital ethics committees, training long-term care workers in communication and leadership skills, quality improvement methods in health care organizations and public health systems, and evaluation and survey research. Her work has been published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, American Journal of Health Behavior, Cancer Control, Journal of Environmental Health, Journal of Disability Policy Studies, and Journal of Interprofessional Education and Practice. She has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Health Administration Education and the Association of University Programs in Health Administration/Health Administration Press.