27/05/2026
Regina Shih, Ph.D., is a Professor of Epidemiology at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, with secondary appointments in the Emory School of Medicine, Emory School of Nursing, and RAND. Her research focuses on identifying environmental risk factors for dementia, supporting dementia family caregivers, building the research capacity of aging service providers, and improving dementia care systems and policy.
At Emory, Dr. Shih teaches Epidemiology of Aging to MPH, M.D., and Ph.D. students — training the next generation of public health professionals to address brain health and dementia. Integrating the free, online Alzheimer's Association Public Health and Dementia curriculum module into her course on dementia has been central to her teaching approach. The curriculum gave her a practical tool for evaluating students' knowledge of the scale and impact of dementia while also modeling how evidence-based health communication can be done in an engaging way.
As one of the early reviewers of the curriculum during its development, Dr. Shih had an early view of its potential — and has since seen it come to life in the classroom.
"Featuring the Association's Public Health and Dementia curriculum was central to our course module on dementia," Shih said. "It not only gave me an existing tool for evaluating students' knowledge of the scale and impacts of dementia, it was also a great opportunity for our students to see how health communication can be done in an engaging way."
Her commitment to the field is personal: her grandmother lived with vascular dementia. "One of the saddest parts of her decline was witnessing her social withdrawal from our family gatherings," she said.
