Dr. Eugene Lengerich is Faculty Director of the Graduate Program and Certificates in Homeland Security, Public Health Preparedness Option, Penn State World Campus.

Established in 2006 and delivered online, the option admits 40 top students each year to develop their knowledge, leadership and competencies to increase the capability of the individuals, communities, public health and health care systems to prevent, protect against, quickly respond to and recover from health emergencies.

He enjoys teaching and mentoring students, postdocs and junior faculty in epidemiology, health disparities, outbreak investigation and interventional studies. 

Dr. Eugene Lengerich joined the faculty of Penn State College of Medicine in July 1998. He is an epidemiologist with more than 25 years of experience in community- and clinic-based research to reduce the risk for acute and chronic diseases, especially among vulnerable populations. He has a special interest in translational research that addresses health disparities related to race, ethnicity or residence in a rural or Appalachian community. His research has received funding through the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lance Armstrong Foundation, American Cancer Society, Health Resources and Services Administration, Susan G. Komen Greater Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania Department of Health. Dr. Lengerich has more than 90 peer-reviewed publications and helped to develop digital atlases and story maps that visualize and disseminate disease surveillance data so as to inform future health research, policy development, and program implementation.

For Penn State Cancer Institute, he is the Associate Director for Health Disparities and Engagement and Director of the Community Sciences and Health Outcomes Shared Resource. Through these appointments, he fosters Cancer Institute member research to reduce cancer risk and improve cancer outcomes for residents of the 28-county Penn State Cancer Institute catchment area in central Pennsylvania. Dr. Lengerich and his wife also own and operate a small family farm in central Pennsylvania.