David Buys

Bio

David R. Buys, PhD, MSPH, CPH, FGSA is Associate Vice Provost for Health Sciences and Associate Professor at Mississippi State University. He is responsible for ensuring that the University’s health sciences programs are well-integrated, resource-efficient, and aligned with both academic standards and community needs across the University’s multiple instructional and outreach sites. In July 2024, he began serving as interim Head of Campus at MSU-Meridian where he provides leadership for strategic planning, current academic program delivery needs, and the MSU Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts. Prior to this role, he served as the Extension State Health Specialist where he led research-based public health education in Mississippi’s 82 Counties. In that role for a decade, he secured over $20 million in federal agency funding to support the work and has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed articles. He collaborates with international partners on One Health initiatives, serving as a liaison between faculty and staff at MSU and those abroad, to advance this focus area. Dr. Buys earned degrees in medical sociology, health services research, and epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Auburn University, Mississippi College, and Hinds Community College. He is Certified in Public Health by the National Board of Public Health Examiners and a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the Royal Society for Public Health.