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About the author
Dr. John A. Romas, MPH, Ph.D., a University of Michigan Graduate, is professor emeriti within the Department of Health Science, Minnesota State University-Mankato. Before retiring in 2010, he was the former department chair administrator of the Health Science Department. In addition to his background and experience in health education and promotion, Dr. Romas has training in counseling psychology and career development. He has worked as a public school teacher/administrator, public health administrator/educator, state health consultant, and small business owner/manager. He has been a well-known speaker, presenter, and health consultant for health care, business, educational organizations, government, and industry in the areas of personal performance, stress reduction, managing change, and health promotion. His Licensure as a Professional Counselor was earned with the State of Minnesota Board of Behavioral Health.Manoj Sharma, MBBS, Ph.D., MCHES® is a public health physician and educator with a medical degree from the University of Delhi and a doctorate in Preventive Medicine from The Ohio State University. He is also a Master Certified Health Education Specialist certified by the National Commission on Health Education Credentialing. He is currently a tenured Full Professor of Public Health and Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He served as the past Founding Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Health at UNLV. In his career, spanning over 40 years, he has trained/taught over 6,000 health professionals. He has designed and taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in health behavior, health education, and health promotion at 13 national and international universities working full-time or part-time. He has worked and provided leadership for local health departments, state health departments/agencies, federal government agencies, non-profit agencies, professional organizations, and international agencies including governments of other nations. He has been invited as a keynote presenter at several universities. He is a prolific researcher and as of March 2025 has published 17 books, over 425 peer-reviewed research articles, and over 500 other publications (h-index 60, i-10 index over 250, and over 20,000 citations) and secured funding for over $10 million. He has been awarded several prestigious honors including the American Public Health Association’s Lyndon Haviland Mentoring Award, PHEHP Distinguished Career Award, ICTHP Impact Award, J. Mayhew Derryberry Award, ATOD Lifetime Achievement Award, Cancer Forum’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award and William R. Gemma Distinguished Alumnus Award from the College of Public Health Alumni Society and Alumni Achievement Award from the College of Medicine at the Ohio State University among others. His research interests are in developing and evaluating theory-based (evidence-based) health behavior change interventions, obesity prevention, mental health, stress-coping, community-based participatory research/evaluation, and integrative mind-body-spirit interventions.
