College of Medicine

Job Description

Dr. George Rust is a professor who teaches primary care, community health, and population health. His research focuses on health equity, e.g., achieving optimal and equitable health for all. He also serves the community as Medical Director of the Leon County Health Department and Florida Department of Health in five surrounding rural counties.  As the Co-Director of the Center for Medicine and Public Health, he seeks to build collaborations between professionals and academic programs across the continuum from medicine to public health, from community health and behavioral health to population health.

 

Biosketch

Dr. Rust joined the faculty at FSU-COM in 2016, after completing 24 years of teaching, patient care, research, and program development at the Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). He was the founding director of the MSM Faculty Development Program, and founding director of the MSM National Center for Primary Care. In Atlanta, Dr. Rust served as board chair of the Atlanta Community Access Coalition, and as co-chair of Georgia’s Minority Health Advisory Council, where he led development of the Georgia Health Disparities Report in 2008. In 2015-16, Dr. Rust also served as senior scientific advisor to the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Dr. Rust received his medical degree from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, and completed residency training in Family Medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He is board-certified in both Family Practice and in Preventive Medicine. After completion of his training, Dr. Rust served six years as Medical Director for the West Orange Farmworkers Health Association in Central Florida. Dr. Rust is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and monographs, and is the recipient of numerous local, state, and national awards for teaching and service. His career as a family physician and scholar has consistently focused on primary health care and community health for those in greatest need, and on the elimination of health disparities and on charting a path to health equity.

 

Education

University of Illinois Chicago MPH, with concentration in Community Health	1988
4th year Chief Resident and Faculty Development Program participant (charter class)	1984-85
Cook County Hospital (Chicago) Family Practice Residency	1982-84
Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Loyola University Medical Center(Maywood, Illinois) Internship	1981-82
Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine (Chicago) M.D.	1981
University of Miami B.S. in Chemistry	1977

Credentials

Advanced Standing, American College of Physician Executives	1997
Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine	1997
Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians	1996
Board-Certified, American Board of Preventive Medicine	1993
Board-Certified, American Board of Family Practice	1984, 1991, 1998, 2004, 2014

 

Service

Dr. Rust serves as Medical Director for the Leon County Health Department and for Florida Dept of Health in five surrounding rural counties.

Honors/Awards

Teaching Awards

President’s Award for Contributions to Health Equity; American College of Preventive Medicine	2017
Pioneer Award in Faculty Development; Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA	2016
William H. Cleveland Faculty of the Year Award for Clinical Teaching Morehouse School of Medicine (MSOM) Family Practice Residency Program	2006
Outstanding Mentor Award Morehouse SOM Master’s of Clinical Research Program	2006
Master Teacher & Leader Award, Morehouse SOM Faculty Development Program	2004
Dean’s Award for Excellence among Clinical Faculty Morehouse SOM	1999
Teacher Recognition Award (awarded by 4th year medical students) for Outstanding Teaching in Family Medicine Morehouse School of Medicine	1999
Dean’s Award for Excellence among Clinical Faculty Morehouse SOM	1995
Georgia Academy of Family Physicians (GAFP): Family Practice Educator of the Year	1994

Service Awards

ACT Award for Leadership in Health for Asian communities Pan Asian Community Services and the Georgia Asian Pacific Islander Community Coalition; Atlanta, GA	2009
Outstanding Physician Leadership in Disease Management Disease Management Association of America (DMAA), Las Vegas NV	2007
Clinical Leadership Award USPHS / HRSA Bureau of Primary Care, Region IV; Regional Clinicians’ Conference, January	1998
Aaron L. Brown Memorial Public Service Award National Association of Community Health Centers	1991
President's Award Florida Association of Community Health Centers	1990
Wendell N. Rollason Award Fla. Assoc. of Community Health Centers	1988
Regional Health Administrator's Award Region IV, U.S. PHS / HRSA	1987

 

Research Focus

Dr. Rust’s research has consistently focused on primary health care and community health for those in greatest need, and on the elimination of health disparities and on charting a path to health equity. He has also played a leading role nationally in the development of programs for training minority clinician-teachers and scholars.

 

Publications

1. Lee I, Luo Y, Carretta H, LeBlanc G, Sinha D, Rust G. Latent pathway-based Bayesian models to identify intervenable factors of racial disparities in breast cancer stage at diagnosis. Cancer Causes Control. 2023 Sep 13. doi: 10.1007/s10552-023-01785-w.
2. Gaglioti AH, Li C, Baltrus PT, She Z, Douglas MD, Moore MA, Rao A, Cheng Immergluck L, Ayer T, Bazemore A, Rust G, Mack DH. Interpersonal Primary Care Continuity for Chronic Conditions Is Associated with Fewer Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits Among Medicaid Enrollees. J Am Board Fam Med. 2023 Mar 3:jabfm.2022.220015R1. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2022.220015R1.
3. Gerend MA, Bradbury R, Harman JS, Rust G. Characteristics Associated with Low-Value Cancer Screening Among Office-Based Physician Visits by Older Adults in the USA. J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Aug 11. doi: 10.1007/s11606-021-07072-1. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34379279.
4. Goldfarb SS, Houser K, Wells BA, Brown Speights JS, Beitsch L, Rust G. Pockets of progress amidst persistent racial disparities in low birthweight rates. PLoS One. 2018 Jul 31;13(7):e0201658. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201658.
5. Xu J, Williams-Livingston A, Gaglioti A, McAllister C, Rust G. A Practical Risk Stratification Approach for Implementing a Primary Care Chronic Disease Management Program in an Underserved Community.  JHCPU, February 2018.  29(1):202-213. 
6. Rust G. Perspective: Hope for Health Equity. Ethn Dis. 2017 Apr 20;27(2):117-120. doi: 10.18865/ed.27.2.117. eCollection 2017 Spring.
7. Brown Speights JS, Goldfarb SS, Wells BA, Beitsch L, Levine RS, Rust G. State-Level Progress in Reducing the Black-White Infant Mortality Gap, United States, 1999-2013. Am J Public Health. 2017 Mar 21:e1-e8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303689.
8. Rust G. Choosing Health Equity: Investing in Optimal and Equitable Health for All. Am J Public Health. 2017 Mar;107(3):361-363. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303645. PMID: 28177822
9. Vanderwielen L, Miller B, Gilchrist EC, Rust G, Petterson S, Nowels, M. Not near enough: Racial and ethnic disparities in access to nearby behavioral health care and primary care. J Health Care Poor & Underserved, 2015. 26(3):1032-47.
10. Rust G, Zhang S, Malhotra K, Reese L, McRoy L, Baltrus P, Caplan L, Levine RS. Paths to health equity: Local area variation in progress toward eliminating breast cancer mortality disparities, 1990-2009. ,Cancer. 2015 Apr 23.
11. Malhotra K, Baltrus P, Zhang S, McRoy L, Immergluck LC, Rust G. Geographic and Racial Variation in Asthma Prevalence and Emergency Department Use among Medicaid-Enrolled Children, in Fourteen Southern States. J Asthma. 2014 Jun 27:1-9.
12. Zhang S, McGoy SL, Dawes D, Fransua M, Satcher D, Rust G. The Potential for Elimination of Racial-Ethnic Disparities in HIV Treatment Initiation in the Medicaid Population among 14 Southern States. PLOS-One, 2014 Apr 25;9(4):e96148.
13. Levine RS, Rust G, Aliyu M, Pisu M, Zoorob R, Goldzweig I, Juarez P, Husaini B, Hennekens CH. United States counties with low black male mortality rates. Am J Med. 2013 Jan;126(1):76-80.
14. Daniels EC, Powe BD, Metoyer T, McCray G, Baltrus P, Rust GS. Increasing knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors among African Americans by use of community health workers: the ABCD community intervention pilot project. J Natl Med Assoc. 2012 Mar-Apr;104(3-4):179-85.
15. Rust G, Levine RS, Fry-Johnson Y, Baltrus P, Ye J, Mack D. Paths to Success: Optimal and Equitable Health Outcomes for All. Journal of Health Care for the Poor & Underserved, 2012 May;23(2 Suppl):7-19.
16. Rust G, Strothers H, Miller WJ, McLaren S, Moore B, Sambamoorthi U. Economic impact of a Medicaid population health management program. Popul Health Manag. 2011 Oct;14(5):215-22. Epub 2011 Apr 20.
17. Shim RS, Baltrus P, Ye J, Rust G. Prevalence, Treatment, and Control of Depressive Symptoms in the United States: Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2005-2008. J Am Board Fam Med, Jan/Feb 2011; 24(1):33-38.
18. Fry-Johnson YW, Levine R, Rowley D, Agboto V, Rust G. United States black:white infant mortality disparities are not inevitable: identification ofcommunity resilience independent of socioeconomic status. Ethn Dis. Winter, 2010. 20(1 Suppl 1):S1-131-5.
19. Rust G, Satcher D, Fryer GE, Levine RS, Blumenthal D. Triangulating on Success: Research Innovation, Public Health, Medical Care, and Mortality Rates, 1950-2000. Am J Public Health, 2010 Apr 1;100 Suppl 1:S95-104. Epub 2010 Feb 10.
20. Rust G, Ye J, Baltrus P, Daniels E, Adesunloye B, Fryer GE. Practical barriers to timely primary care access: impact on adult use of emergency department services. Arch Intern Med. 2008 Aug 11;168(15):1705-10.
21. Rust G, Baltrus P, Ye J, Daniels E, Quarshie A, Boumbulian PJ, Strothers H. Presence or Absence of a Community Health Center vs. Rates of Uninsured Emergency Department Visits in Rural Counties. J Rural Health, 2009 Winter;25(1):8-16.
22. Rust G, Kondwani K, Martinez R, Dansie R, Wong W, Fry-Johnson Y, Woody R del M, Daniels EJ, Herbert-Carter J, Aponte L, Strothers H. A crash-course in cultural competence. Ethn Dis. 2006 Spring;16(2 Suppl 3):S3-29-36.
23. Satcher D, Rust G. Achieving health equity in America. Ethn Dis. 2006 Spring;16(2 Suppl)
24. Satcher D, Fryer GE, McCann J, Troutman A, Woolf S, Rust G. What If We Were Equal? A Comparison of the Black-White Mortality Gap in 1960 and 2000. Health Affairs, March 2005.
25. Rust G, Daniels E, Bacon J, Satcher D, Strothers H, Bornemann T. Research Letter: Ability to Obtain Mental Health Services for Uninsured Patients by Community Health Centers. JAMA, 2005 Feb 2;293(5):554-6.
26. Daniels EC, Bacon J, Denisio S, Fry Y, Murray V, Quarshie A, Rust G. Translation Squared: A group-randomized controlled trial of an intervention to improve asthma care in safety net primary care settings. Journal of Asthma, 2005 Jul-Aug; 42(6):499-505.
27. Herbert-Carter J, Taylor V, Smith QT, Earles K, Kondwani K, Rust G. Increasing Minority faculty in academic primary care: an executive faculty development program. J Assoc Acad Minority Phys. Oct 2004. 15(1):8-13.
28. Rust G, Murray V, Octaviani H, Schmidt ED, Howard JP, Anderson-Grant V, Willard-Jelks K. “Asthma Care in Community Health Centers: A Study by the Southeast Regional Clinicians’ Network.” Journal of the National Medical Association, 1999 Jul;91(7):398-403.
29. Rust G, and Fuller LE. "Producing Generalist Physicians -- A Computer Simulation; Family Medicine, 1994 Oct;26(9):563-8.
30. Rust G, "Health Status of Farmworkers in the U.S.", American Journal of Public Health, 1990 Oct;80(10):1213-7.