Jeffrey Coben, MD, serves as associate vice president for Health Affairs and is a tenured professor with joint appointments in the West Virginia University Schools of Public Health and Medicine. As associate vice president, Dr. Coben serves as an advisor on matters related to the impact of WVU programs on health and serves as a University representative in activities throughout West Virginia that seek to improve public health and healthcare, and reduce healthcare costs. He also provides oversight for the WVU Health Affairs Institute.
Dr. Coben is an Alpha Omega Alpha graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine. After graduation, he undertook residency training in emergency medicine and internal medicine at Northwestern University Medical Center. Prior to joining WVU, he founded and directed the Center for Injury Research and Control at the University of Pittsburgh, and then served as assistant dean at what is now the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. He has served on the board of directors of the National Commission Against Drunk Driving and the U.S. Office of Women’s Health Advisory Committee for Violence Against Women, and as senior scholar-in-residence for domestic violence at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. His research and health improvement projects utilize clinical, epidemiological and health services research methods.
Since joining WVU in 2004, Dr. Coben has held numerous leadership positions including director of the Center for Rural Emergency Medicine, director of the Injury Control Research Center, vice chair for research in emergency medicine, vice dean for operations in the School of Medicine, and associate vice president for clinical innovations, planning and operations for the Health Sciences Center. Dr. Coben served as interim dean of the School of Public Health in 2013 and again in 2016 prior to serving as permanent dean from 2017 to 2023. During this time, he led the school in attaining full accreditation twice, expanded undergraduate and graduate academic programs, developed new collaborations with local, state and national public health agencies and provided public health expertise to assist the State of West Virginia and the University with navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Dr. Coben has directed multiple statewide health improvement initiatives in West Virginia, including several Medicaid Transformation grants and the West Virginia State Innovation Model Design initiative. In 2022, he served as interim cabinet secretary for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.