PhD, MSPH

Associate Teaching Professor

Dr. Brian Hensel is an experienced health care executive with many years of service at several hospital-based health systems. His experience includes having responsibility for a range of post-acute, long-term, and end-of-life care services within vertically integrated, hospital-based health systems.

Dr. Hensel began his career in health administration after completing his master’s degree in health administration at MU in 1987. He returned to Missouri in 2001 to complete a PhD focused in health communication from the Missouri School of Journalism (2005), followed by a National Library of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship in Health Informatics (2005-08).

Dr. Hensel then accepted a Health and Aging Policy/American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship in the office of U.S. Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia (2008-09). In this position, he helped develop palliative care and advance planning legislation within the Accountable Care Act and health information technology legislation within the Recovery Act. After this, he served for four years as assistant professor of Health Services Administration in the Beacom School of Business at the University of South Dakota.

Dr. Hensel returned to Mizzou in January 2014. He teaches courses on the U.S. health system, health policy, health care organization strategy and marketing, management and leadership of health care organizations, and the field of health administration. Although Dr. Hensel has been focused on teaching, his research publications include those on the use of technology in long-term care and on political communication in health policy. He is also interested in the role of media in health and health care.

Education and training

• Postdoctoral Fellowship in Health Informatics, National Library of Medicine, 2005-08
• PhD with a focus on health communication, University of Missouri, 2005
• Master of Science in Public Health (Health Services Management), University of Missouri, 1987

Courses taught

• HLTH_ADM 7410  Introduction to US Health Care Systems
• HLTH_ADM 8451  Individual Executive Health Administration Projects
• HLTH _ADM 8453  Executive Management Studies
• HLTH_ADM 8470  Strategic Planning and Marketing for Health Care Organizations
• HLTH_ADM 8575  Health Policy and Politics
• HLTH_SCI 1100  Introduction to Health Administration
• HLTH_SCI 3700  Health Care in the U.S.
• Introduction to Health Administration (undergraduate)

Awards and honors

• Congressional Fellowship, Health and Aging Policy/American Political Science Association
• Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow
• Health Management and Informatics Professor of the Year

In the news