Dr. Damien Byas is an Assistant Professor in Community Health Education at Hostos Community College of the City University of New York. Additionally, Dr. Byas works as an epidemiologist and has conducted several studies relative to veterans' health disparities, health disparities for minority populations in the United States, and critical health issues for American children and adults. Dr. Byas has also worked as a preventive medicine specialist while serving four years in the United States Army. He received a Doctor of Philosophy degree with an area of study in Community Health Education from the University of New Mexico, a Master of Arts degree in the area of Health Promotion from Jacksonville State University, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology, Pre-Medicine from Alcorn State University.

Currently, Dr. Byas is working on plans to conduct future research that will assess type two diabetes among diverse college student populations. He also plans to examine the various risk factors that may attribute to the development of type two diabetes in children's groups as well. Additional research interests include childhood overweight and obesity, drug and substance abuse community awareness, and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the United States.