Katherine Durso

Contributing Faculty
College of Health Sciences and Public Policy
Master of Public Health (MPH)

Dr. Katherine A. Durso has more than 30 years of wide ranging professional experience in health and medical care related fields. Her earliest work was as a patient and community health educator at a large general hospital and a substance abuse prevention specialist in a drug abuse treatment center. Later as a Senior Consultant for a national data analysis and consulting firm, she provided professional consulting services based on medical claims data analysis to Fortune 500 corporations throughout the country. She designed, conducted and directed data-based analytic studies focused on such employee health and productivity issues as the effectiveness of health management programs and cost management strategies, the preventable impacts of risk factors, the assessment of quality of care, etc.

Concurrent with her professional consulting career, Dr. Durso has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at both brick and mortar and online universities. Her teaching has primarily focused on health care economics, health care politics and policy, health care financing and delivery systems and health informatics. For several years she also instructed law enforcement and drug interdiction professionals on the physiological, psycho-social and public policy aspects of instrumental drug use (prescription and OTC), drug abuse and addiction.

Her voluntary political activities have included managing a campaign for a U.S. Congressional race in Connecticut, coordinating the Rides to the Polls effort in Savannah, Georgia for the 2016 Presidential race as well as the 2018 Georgia Gubernatorial race. In 2021 she was appointed to the Chatham County Board of Voter Registration.

Dr. Durso received her Ph.D. in Epidemiology from Yale University where she studied at the schools of medicine, law, and management, specializing in medical care financing, economics and policy. She also has an M.A. in Community Health Education from New York University where she was the recipient of a training grant from the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse for the study of addictive diseases.

Courses Taught

PUBH 6127 - Public Health Policy, Politics & Progress

Education

MA, New York University

PhD, Yale University

Public Service

Various Community and Political , Volunteer - Savannah

Awards / Honors

John D. Rockefeller, III, Research Fellowship for, Yale University, 1988

Mellon Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Studies, 1, Yale University, 1989

National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, New York University, 1975

National Institutes of Mental Health Ð Training, 1, Yale University, 1988

Publications

Durso, K. A. (2004). Alcohol and other substance abuse: Prevalence, cost and impact on productivity. . Employee Benefit News

Durso, K. A. (2004). Depression: Prevalence, cost and impact on productivity.. Employee Benefit News

Durso, K. A. (2004). Diabetes: Prevalence, cost and impact on productivity. . Employee Benefit News

Durso, K. A. (2005). Disciplining data and tracking employee absences. . Employee Benefit News

Durso, K. A. (2005). Making the case for your employee wellness program. . Employee Benefit News

Durso, K. A. (2005). Using data to shape employee health benefits strategy. . Employee Benefit News