Written by: Syd Hayman
Behind the reports used in Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s daily COVID-19 briefings is a University of Central Arkansas graduate dedicated to public health.
Austin Porter ’05 serves as both deputy chief science officer at the Arkansas Department of Health and associate professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health.
In his role at the state Department of Health, Porter helps oversee scientific reports and endeavors for the agency, including reports that highlight disparities in health outcomes. He works with the data systems in the department and provides oversight on research papers and projects. His office is key in overseeing the data surveillance systems related to COVID-19.
“We’re continuously looking at the scientific literature to see if there’s been any changes or updates in how the disease is spread or risk factors that are associated with severe illness or mortality,” he said. “We’re always reviewing new things as they come in.”
Porter spent the first two years of his higher education experience at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee, which is now a part of the University of Memphis System. But he found that he was missing out on a strong support system for students like him. So he spoke with his UCA friends.
“After consulting with my friends, they said, ‘Yes, we have a strong support system. There’s a strong community structure for minority students,’” said Porter, a College Station, Arkansas, native who spent a chunk of his upbringing in Little Rock. “And that was something that was very important to me. That really solidified my decision to transfer to UCA and finish out my education there.”
Porter said the relationship he built with professors at UCA had a major effect on his life. As a student, he spent much of his time in Lewis Science Center, taking courses for his biology major with the hopes of later working in public health.
His student experience heightened when he became interested in Greek life. In 2003, he joined Kappa Alpha Psi, a membership he calls an “excellent experience.” He took part in voter registration drives, canned food drives and other community involvement through the organization.
“I was able to be around a bunch of accomplished individuals, and the members who were on campus at the time, they really carried themselves in a way that, I thought, was with integrity and as gentleman,” said Porter, who served as adviser to the chapter as an alumnus for nine years. “That’s something I later found out was a traditional aspect of the chapter.”
He also met his wife, Hollie (Whitted) Porter ’06 at UCA. He credits her with being the reason he went to graduate school at UAMS to earn his Master of Public Health in epidemiology in 2009 and his doctorate of public health in 2016.
He has worked in the clinical lab of UAMS’ hematology department and as an injury epidemiologist, trauma registry section chief and administrator for the trauma registry at the health department.
In his current dual role, his primary appointment is with UAMS’ College of Public Health as assistant professor. He contracts out about half of his time at the health department, working on research projects whose focus ranges from disparities to those with traumatic injuries.
The patience he witnessed from UCA professors such as Brent Hill, chair of the biology department, shaped his approach to being a faculty member at UAMS.
“You try to remember some of the teaching styles that those professors had when I was a student,” he said. “I try to live that out in how I teach my current students: Maintain a level of patience with them. Be there to support them, encourage them. Those are some of the things that I learned from my professors at UCA and beyond. Those are some of the things that I carry with me to this very day.”
To contribute to the public health fight against COVID-19, Arkansans should wear masks, practice regular hand-washing and practice social distancing, Porter said. He advised students with an interest in public health to seek internship experiences that will ready them for the working world.
“It’s quite a bit of work that’s involved in it, but it’s fun,” he said. “I’m passionate about it, and I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”