The 2024 recipient of the UConn Health Board of Directors Faculty Recognition Award is Dr. Robert Aseltine, professor and chair in the Division of Behavioral Sciences and Community Health in the School of Dental Medicine and Director of the Center for Population Health at UConn Health.

Aseltine is a medical sociologist whose work is broadly focused on the utilization of healthcare claims, electronic health records, and patient reported outcome data for health surveillance, monitoring, and clinical decision support. Over the past 30 years, Aseltine has led studies investigating diverse health outcomes, mental health and substance abuse, and suicide prevention.

“Dr. Aseltine has an impressive record of academic accomplishments, dedicated service, and contributions that have led to improvements in the health and wellbeing of at-risk individuals and communities,” says Dr. Steven Lepowsky, dean of the UConn School of Dental Medicine. “He is most deserving of this honor from the UConn Health Board of Directors.”

Aseltine received his B.A. in Sociology from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Aseltine held positions at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Boston University before joining the School of Dental Medicine faculty in 2001.

Aseltine’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Department of Defense, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Connecticut Health Foundation. His three most recent awards from the National Institute of Mental Health are focused on developing predictive algorithms and creating EHR based tools to assist clinicians in identifying patient suicide risk.

Aseltine maintains an active teaching portfolio and has an extensive history of institutional service to the School of Dental Medicine, UConn Health and the University. In addition to serving on multiple review panels for the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Aseltine is a reviewer for more than ten peer reviewed journals and served as the associate editor of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. A nationally recognized leader in his field, Aseltine has over 90 invited presentations, seven book chapters and over 100 manuscripts.

In addition to his faculty position, Aseltine chairs the advisory board for CTHealthLink—Connecticut’s first health information exchange. He also serves on the advisory board for Connecticut’s All Payer Claims Database and is a member and former chair of the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council.

Aseltine was the 2021 recipient of the Outstanding Researcher Faculty Award from the UConn School of Dental Medicine.