Appointment of Dr Laura J Reichenbach as the Dean of James P. Grant School of Public Health

Dear all

It is a great pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr Laura J Reichenbach as the Dean of James P. Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH) at BRAC University. She is expected to commence in her new role on the 1^st of November 2023. Dr Reichenbach is a globally renowned public health expert with extensive experience in low-and-middle income countries.

In her previous role at the Population Council in Washington DC, Dr Reichenbach served as a Senior Associate and Project Director of Breakthrough RESEARCH. In this role, she acted as the Principal Investigator overseeing more than 50 research and utilization projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Reichenbach has experience of working in Bangladesh as the Director of the Center for Reproductive Health at icddr,b.

With a Doctorate of Science from Harvard School of Public Health, Dr Reichenbach has a strong publication record and a history of successful fundraising from a range of donors including USAID, DFID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

In her new role, Dr Reichenbach will lead JPGSPH in shaping the vision and strategies related to research, training, education, and advocacy. Her responsibilities will include acquiring significant globally competitive grants and ensuring effective management, leading high-impact research and publications.

Please join me in welcoming Dr Reichenbach to BRAC University.

I take this opportunity to thank Professor Sabina Faiz Rashid for her outstanding leadership of JPGSPH for ten years, delivering a quality academic program, overseeing high-quality research, fundraising, and partnering with leading institutions globally. During her leadership the school grew from a team of 66 in 2013 to over 200 in 2023, developed an excellent track record in peer-reviewed publications with 79,000 citations in the last 5 years, and was featured by John Hopkins University as one of the top Schools in the region. Please join me in wishing Professor Rashid continued success in her research, publication and community engagement.  

Best regards,
Prof. Syed Mahfuzul Aziz, PhD
Pro Vice-Chancellor
& Acting Vice-Chancellor
BRAC University