FACULTY & STAFF

About

Education:

• DrPH, Health Promotion – Loma Linda University
• MPH, Health Education – Loma Linda University
• BSN, Nursing – University of Alaska, Anchorage
• BA, Sociology/French – Utah State University
• ADN, Nursing – Florida College
• Graduate Certificate in Education – University of Alaska

Areas of expertise:

• Mix-methods research and program evaluation
• Sleep health
• Heat illness prevention
• Qualitative/Quantitative research

Biography:

Dr. Smart has 48+ years as a Registered Nurse specializing in Maternal and Child Health, Pediatrics, Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC-1994-2004),School Nursing and Correctional Nursing. In addition, she served in both the Navy and Air National Guard. In the latter, she served 16.5 years as Chief of Public Health at both Eielson AFB, AK and Fairchild AFB, WA where she retired as a LtCol in 2012 with 22.5 total years. As part of her military PH training, she has extensive training in disaster preparedness and response. Dr. Smart currently is the weekend on-call nurse for a juvenile detention center, and is serving as the Interim PHHA Department Chair for EWU.

Research and scholarship have centered around military occupational and environmental health (sleep and heat illness prevention), nursing workforce issues such as burnout, compassion fatigue and intent to leave the profession, and other specialized population health topics.

Dr. Smart is passionate about mentoring students in their academic and career trajectories as well as working with students in the areas of scholarship and publications/dissemination.

Courses taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level: Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Mixed-Methods Program Evaluation, Population Health, Education courses, Occupational/Environmental Health, Disaster Preparedness for Health Professions.

About

Education

• DSHc, Health Sciences with a speciality in Global Health – A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine
• MBA, Healthcare Management
• BA, Mass Communications

Biography

Dr. Lynn Anidi is a professor, manager, author, and speaker who has served Eastern Washington University since 2021 as Department Chair, faculty member, and academic program and course developer. She teaches a wide range of courses across healthcare, public health, business, and research, and is the author of a textbook along with multiple publications. Her academic work reflects a strong commitment to advancing student learning, integrating applied practice, and strengthening professional preparation in health-related fields.

Before transitioning into academia, Dr. Anidi spent more than 25 years in executive leadership roles within large multi-site and specialty healthcare organizations. Her work focused on automating systems, strengthening operational efficiency, and advancing labor and financial performance through data-driven decision making. As a consultant, she continues to provide expertise in revenue cycle optimization, managed care contracting, analytics, clinical and physician support systems, and organizational strategy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications, an MBA in Healthcare Management, and a Doctorate in Health Sciences with a concentration in Global Health from A.T. Still University. Dr. Anidi has presented at the American Public Health Association and ACHE conferences and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Atlanta Cares Mentoring and the Fulton County Landmarks Commission of Georgia.

About

EDUCATION BACKGROUND

• PhD, Health Services Research – University of Maryland
• MPH, Health Policy and Management – Drexel University
• MBA – UCLA Anderson School of Management
• MBA –  National University of Singapore
• MBBS (MD) – Clinical Medicine – Fudan University
• BS Computer Science – Fudan University

Areas of Expertise

Health equity and disparities; epidemiology; health services research; chronic disease management; dialysis and kidney health; healthcare administration; quality improvement; AI-enabled and digital health analytics; global health systems.

Biography

Dr. Ying (Joy) Zhu is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health & Health Administration at Eastern Washington University. Her career is both multinational and interdisciplinary, spanning clinical medicine, public health, healthcare administration, data analytics, and academic research.

Dr. Zhu earned her PhD in Health Services Research from the University of Maryland, where her dissertation examined racial and ethnic disparities in home hemodialysis utilization and outcomes in the United States. Her research agenda centers on health equity, chronic disease management, and the use of data-driven and AI-enabled tools to improve population health and healthcare delivery.

Before joining EWU, Dr. Zhu worked as a nephrologist and dialysis-center administrator in Shanghai and later held leadership and professional education roles with global healthcare organizations including Fresenius Medical Care, Johnson & Johnson, and Eli Lilly. In the U.S., she served as a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Specialist with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, supporting data-driven performance improvement in community health programs.

Dr. Zhu is deeply committed to inclusive, applied, and student-centered education that connects public health theory with real-world practice.

About

Education

• PhD, Public Health (Epidemiology) – Walden University
• MS, Public Health – Trident University International
• BS, Healthcare Management – Trident University International

Areas of Expertise & Research 

• Clinical epidemiology of cardiovascular and kidney disease
• Quantitative and qualitative research methods

Biography

Dr. Shavonda Devereaux is a public health scholar, healthcare administrator, and educator with over 18 years of experience in public health policy and practice and executive healthcare leadership. Her professional background includes strategic planning, healthcare operations, policy development, and project management, with a focus on advancing population health and organizational effectiveness.

Dr. Devereaux dedicated 25 years of service to the Department of Defense, serving in senior executive leadership roles with responsibility for the health and welfare of military service members, retirees, and surrounding communities. Most recently, Dr. Devereaux served on the executive leadership team of a rural healthcare facility in Louisiana, overseeing more than 680 healthcare professionals across 23 clinical departments and managing a $63 million annual operating budget. Under her leadership, the organization was nationally recognized with the 2022 Leapfrog Award as one of the Best Rural Hospitals in the United States and the only honoree in Louisiana during that year.

Dr. Devereaux currently serves as a Lecturer in the Master of Public Health program, where she teaches across multiple core and applied public health courses. She specializes in delivering high-quality instruction in Environmental Health, Health Policy and Law, Healthcare Administration and Reform, Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Leadership Ethics, Program Planning and Evaluation, and Applied Practice Experience. Her teaching emphasizes inclusive, student-centered learning, applied practice, and real-world problem solving.

About

Education

• PhD, Human Services – Healthcare Administration – Capella University.
• MHA, Healthcare Administration – Chapman University
• BS , Business Administration – California State University

Fellowship and Certification

• Fellow of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (FHIMSS)
• Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE)
• Fellow of the American College of Medical Practice Executives (FACMPE)
• Certified Professional in Healthcare Information Management Systems (CPHIMS)
• Certified National Senior Baldrige Performance Examiner (B.P.E.)
• Certified Higher Education Professional (CHEP)

Biography

Transformative leader, scholar, and national and international subject matter expert with extensive executive and academic experience at world-renowned medical and higher education institutions and integrated health systems. A visionary and entrepreneurial healthcare leader who works in diverse environments to promote public health, healthcare, population health, and digital health transformation, and build resilient organizations and communities

About

Education

• PhD – Public Health Sciences (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) – West Virginia University
• MPH (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) – Jackson State University

Areas of Expertise

• Epidemiology
• Biostatistics
• Big Data
• Secondary Data Analysis

Biography

Loretta Shields has a BS in chemistry, an MPH in epidemiology & biostatistics, a Ph.D. in public health sciences (epidemiology & biostatistics), an MA in pastoral studies, and a Doctor of Ministry in pastoral counseling. In 2011, she started in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Chicago as a statistician, where she used Medicaid claims data to assess ectopic pregnancy outcomes and risk factors in the Medicaid population. She has also worked for several insurance payors using in-house claims data to assess health outcomes and utilization, and cost patterns among member populations. As a faculty member at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (2016-2022), she worked as a statistician/epidemiologist with the Jackson Heart Study and collaborated with other University departments to complete grant proposals, research proposals, manuscripts, and presentations using clinical, cohort, Medicare, electronic medical record, and other data sources. Most recently, she worked as a statistician at the VA hospital, assessing risk factors, health outcomes, psychosocial outcomes, and utilization patterns among U.S. veteran populations using the VA Corporate Data Warehouse. She has over 17 years of experience as a statistician/epidemiologist using a variety of data sources and over 14 years of teaching experience in public and population health sciences.