Donald Simpson
May 12, 2016
Outstanding Alumni Award in Heath and Human Services
Donald D. Simpson, Ph.D., M.P.H. is dean of the College of Health Professions and professor of clinical laboratory sciences at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, where he also serves as director of the Institute for Environmental Health and Environmental Medicine. Prior to joining Upstate, Simpson was simultaneously chair of the Department of Laboratory Sciences and program director for the Cytotechnology Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Health Professions. He also was the director for the Office of Global Health in the Division of Academic Affairs.
Simpson served as a U.S. Representative for cytopathology education to the Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Hubei Provincial People’s Government in Wuhan, China; serves the Polytechnic of Namibia in Windhoek, Namibia, as a member of the Curriculum Advisory Board; and serves on the Medical Technology Professional Standards Committee of the Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing School International. At Upstate Medical University, Simpson serves on the President’s Leadership Council; the Health Professions Alumni Association Board of Directors; the Northern Area Health Education Center, Inc. Board of Directors; the Upstate Medical University Foundation Board of Directors; and the Recruitment, Retention and Education Committee of the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization. He is also very active with the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions where he chairs the Alliances and Partnerships Committee, and co-chairs the Task Force for Training Rehab Professionals Globally.
Simpson’s entrepreneurial activities include leading projects that established international partnerships and licensing of both medical laboratory sciences and radiologic imaging sciences curriculum at the King Saud bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences, National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Simpson received a Bachelor of Science in microbiology from Louisiana Tech University; a Bachelor of Science in cytotechnology from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; a Master of Public Health from Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; and a Doctor of Philosophy in health sciences from the University of Arkansas.
