Heather A. Tillewein, PhD, MPH, MCHES, is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at Austin Peay State University. Her research examines the epidemiology of substance use, mental health, and sexual violence, focusing on rural and sexual and gender minority populations. She uses spatial epidemiology, national surveillance data, mixed methods, and multimodal AI for real-time risk detection. She has published over 28 peer-reviewed articles and led a Tennessee Department of Health surveillance project. She leads CEPH accreditation for APSU’s MPH program. Her honors include the Tennessee Public Health Association’s 2026 Academician of the Year, APHA’s Ayman El-Mohandes Young Professional Public Health Innovation Award, and a Boston Congress of Public Health 40 Under 40 award.