Assistant Professor
Dr. John Clements, PhD, is an associate professor whose research focuses on health outcomes and disparities among individuals with diabetes and multiple chronic conditions. His research interests also include rural experiences on disease progression and access to care, the influence of environmental exposures, and social determinants of health outcomes. While some of Dr. Clements' earlier research centered on environmental issues, he has expanded his focus to include how political and religious ideologies shape attitudes toward health care and medical science.
At his core, Dr. Clements is passionate about using data to address these topics. Although data has limitations and cannot express opinions or feelings, it can provide evidence that advocates for restructuring societal systems that have historically marginalized certain groups of people.
Dr. Clements teaches in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program. His courses include biostatistics, research methods, rural public health, and various elective courses. In addition to teaching, he is actively involved in academic governance, accreditation, curriculum development, and the creation of course and program evaluation systems. Dr. Clements also mentors’ students in health outcomes research and co-developed the new rural public health and data management and analytics MPH concentrations in 2024.
Before joining the MPH program in 2019, Dr. Clements served as an assistant professor at Central Michigan University’s College of Medicine, where he was a founding faculty member. His previous experience encompasses various roles in medical education, including overseeing undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education, as well as developing research and international programs for medical students and residents.
His diverse work experiences also include environmental chemistry and biology, environmental project management and engineering, grant writing and management, and health services and outcomes research.
Selected Publications:
Phillips Sharia, Jasmine Hamilton, Wayne McCullough, Darline El Reda, Connie Currier, and John M Clements. 2025. Refocusing public health training on effective leadership and communication skills to increase efficacy. Front. Public Health 13:1601444.
Burress, Lainy A and John M Clements. 2025. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Type 2 Diabetes Complications and In-hospital Mortality in the United States: A Retrospective Cohort Study. Diabetology 6(3):15.
Currier, Connie, John M Clements, Robey Champine, Alec Bennet. 2024. Building Community in an Online Program: Promoting Student Engagement through Small Group Discussions. Pedagogy in Health Promotion.
Clements, John M. 2022. Access to Care by Medicare Beneficiaries with Diabetes and Multiple Chronic Conditions During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications. 36(12):108355.
Clements, John M, Neli P Ragina, Jordan Killingsworth, Thomas G Weiss, S Akbar Husain, Mariam Zunnu Rain, Kellie M Clark, Spandana Alla, and Michelle G Jin. 2020. Differences in Spending for Diabetes and Multiple Chronic Conditions in Michigan Medicare Beneficiaries. The American Journal of Managed Care 26(11):e362-e368.
Clements, John M, Brady T West, Batoul Harissa, Nolan Hayden, Mishaal Mustafa Khan, and Raghuram Palepu. 2020. Race Disparities in the Use of Prevention, Screening, and Monitoring Services in Michigan Medicare Beneficiaries with Type 2 Diabetes and Combinations of Multiple Chronic Conditions Clinical Diabetes. 38(4):363-370.
Farley, Brendan J, Brian M Shear, Vivian Lu, Kyla Walworth, Kevin Gray, Matt Kirsch, John M Clements. 2020. Rural, Urban, and Teaching Hospital Differences in Hip Fracture Mortality. Journal of Orthopaedics 21:453-458.
Clements, John M. 2020. Knowledge and Behaviors Toward COVID-19 Among U.S. Residents During the Early Days of the Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Online Questionnaire. JMIR Public Health Surveillance 6(2):e19161.
Clements, John M, Mariana Rosca, Carla Cavallin, Shelby Falkenhagen, Thomas Ittoop, Christina K Jung, Megan Mazella, Joseph A Reed, Megan Schluentz, and Caleb VanDyke. 2020. Type 2 Diabetes and Chronic Conditions Disparities in Medicare Beneficiaries in the State of Michigan. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences 359(4):218-225.
Clements, John M, Brady T West, Zachary Yaker, Breanna Lauinger, Deven McCullers, James Haubert, Mohammad Ali Tahboub, and Gregory J Everett. 2019. Disparities in Diabetes-related Multiple Chronic Conditions and Mortality: The Influence of Race. Diabetes. Research and Clinical Practice 159(2020):107984.
Fana, Michael, Gregory Everett, Thomas Fagan, Megan Mazella, Sulmaz Zahedi, John M Clements. 2019. Procedural outcomes of deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in rural and urban patient population settings, Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 72:310-315.
Alghanem, Fares and John M Clements. 2019. “Narrowing Performance Gap between Rural and Urban Hospitals for Acute Myocardial Infarction.” The American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Caso, Marcello and John M Clements. 2019. “Cobb Angle for Scoliosis: Assessing a novel method of calculation.” Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 46(6):430-8.
Clements, John M. and Stephanie J Rhynard. 2018. “In-hospital Mortality, Length of Stay and Discharge Disposition in a Cohort of Rural and Urban Native Americans.” American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research. 25(3):78-91.
Clements, John M. 2018. “Measuring Actual Payment for Biodiversity Protection: The Influence of Religiously and Scientifically Framed Messages.” Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology. DOI:10.1163/15685357-02203100.
Selected Media Coverage:
To request a comprehensive CV summarizing Dr. Clements’s achievements, email
