Meit, MA, MPH, Director of Research and Programs for the ETSU Center for Rural Health Research, is a senior researcher with 25 years of project management and leadership experience. Housed within the ETSU College of Public Health, the Center for Rural Health Research works with partners from across sectors and disciplines to improve health and well-being in East Tennessee, Central Appalachia, and nationally. Center initiatives focus on the root causes of health inequity, with an emphasis on intergenerational poverty, maternal and child health, and food security, among others. Meit is responsible for oversight and management of center activities, including staffing, strategic direction, and direct project management. Meit also maintains a role with NORC as a Senior Fellow, leading select NORC research initiatives and creating synergies between ETSU and NORC activities.

Meit previously served as Co-Director of the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis in Bethesda, MD, as Executive Director of the University of Pittsburgh‘s Center for Rural Health Practice, as Deputy Executive Director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and as a policy analyst in the Pennsylvania Department of Health. He serves on the Editorial Boards of Public Health Reports, the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, and the Journal of Appalachian Health. He has published widely in the Journal of Appalachian Health, Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, The Journal of Rural Health, and Public Health Reports, and has authored a number of technical reports for the Federal government. Meit was named the National Rural Health Association’s 2019 Outstanding Rural Health Researcher.