David R. Buys, PhD, MSPH, CPH is the president-elect of the Mississippi Public Health Association. He serves as State Health Specialist for the Mississippi State University Extension Service, a researcher in the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station, and an Assistant Extension and Research Professor in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition, and Health Promotion. As State Health Specialist for the Extension Service, Dr. Buys delivers community-based health education and health promotion and provides research-based health-related resources to Extension Agents in each of Mississippi’s 82 Counties with a particular focus on the creating healthy home environments and on prevention and management of chronic diseases. He directs the Extension Healthy Homes Initiative, the goal of which is to equip Mississippians with the knowledge they need to keep their indoor environments safe and healthy. The Initiative reaches individuals from across the life span and socio-economic spectrum. As a researcher, he examines how food security and nutritional status affects older adults’ health-related outcomes. Dr. Buys maintains an adjunct appointment in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine’s Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Medicine where he previously served on faculty. He is associate director of the Myrlie-Evers Williams Institute for the Elimination of Health Disparities based at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He earned a PhD in medical sociology, a MSPH in epidemiology and completed an AHRQ-funded postdoctoral fellowship in health services and outcomes research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also completed a master of science degree in sociology at Auburn University and a bachelor of science (cum laude) in sociology at Mississippi College. He is Certified in Public Health by the National Board of Public Health Examiners.