The Graduate School of Public Health is a forerunner in its field, with departments and programs that address today's most critical public health issues.
- Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
- Biostatistics
- Environmental and Occupational Health
- Epidemiology
- Health Policy & Management
- Human Genetics
- Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
The Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences (BCHS) prepares individuals to apply theories, concepts, and methods developed within various social and behavioral science disciplines to the development of programs that prevent illness and promote health.
In recent years, there has been growing recognition that the social and behavioral sciences play a critical role in public health practice and in public health academics and training. Disciplines such as anthropology, psychology, sociology, and health education have emerged as important and essential sub-specialties in both public health practice and research educational and training programs.
BCHS collaborates extensively with other departments and centers in GSPH and throughout the University to carry out the teaching, research, and service mission. Currently, the department’s faculty members are improving the public health knowledge base in such areas as: assessing the needs of communities and populations for the purpose of guiding policy and program development; initiating and evaluating a range of culturally appropriate community-based chronic disease (diabetes and cancer) prevention and management initiatives; assisting in the development, implementation, and evaluation of local and regional tobacco control efforts; assessing health and welfare needs of the elderly; and assisting local provider organizations in streamlining their services.
Biostatistics
Students and faculty in the Department of Biostatistics study the theories and techniques for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting quantitative data relevant to public health and medicine. The department’s objectives are to:
- Foster an understanding of statistical logic as it applies to the quantitative study of problems in public health and medicine
- Develop innovative methodological techniques that contribute to the field of biostatistics
- Apply biostatistical methods to the study of new and pressing biomedical and public health problems through research and services
- Train biostatisticians capable of exercising leadership in public health and medicine
The Department of Biostatistics offers concentrations in biostatistics and public health statistics. The biostatistics program typically admits students with a background in mathematics and a strong interest in biology and public health. This program emphasizes statistical theory and methods so that students are prepared to:
- Provide statistical collaboration in interdisciplinary studies
- Pilot the design and execution of studies
- Contribute to the methodological development of biostatistics
The public health statistics program prepares students with a prior professional degree and/or background in health (i.e. physicians, nurses) to understand and apply statistical methods to health problems in their fields.
Environmental and Occupational Health
Among the key concerns facing public health practitioners today are health problems related to environmental and occupational exposure to biological, chemical and physical agents. Students in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) study and define the health effects of exposure to these potentially harmful agents to increase the accuracy of estimating human health risks in populations.
- Training activities include:
- Identifying chemical, physical and biological agents that affect health
- Studying the long-term effects of environmental and occupational health risks
- Identifying the molecular mechanisms of actions of toxic agents (gases, particles, minerals and fibers, heavy metals, infectious agents, microbial products) that contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular disease, aging and carcinogenesis including the role of partially reduced oxygen and nitrogen species and metals (zinc, iron, copper) in such pathology
- Determining the cellular and molecular components, including signaling pathways, that comprise complex and integrated responses of injury, repair and remodeling after environmental exposures.
- Students can study a wide range of environmental health topics, including environmental and occupational law, environmental radiation and environmental health biology. Current research is primarily focused on respiratory and cardiovascular toxicology, free radical biochemical toxicology, metal toxicology, molecular carcinogenesis and computational and risk assessment approaches to environmental health. In addition, EOH has developed a new DrPH program that will supply the department with a new dimension and broader appeal to professionals looking to advance their careers.
The EOH faculty is involved in:
- Training graduate students and medical residents in basic and clinical science of environmental and occupational health
- Performing original research on the basic mechanisms and pathogenesis of environmentally induced disease
- Providing service to GSPH, the University of Pittsburgh and surrounding communities on the impact of the environment on human health
A growing faculty is being assembled with expertise in basic science (molecular biology, toxicology), applied science (risk assessment, computational toxicology, biomarkers and exposure), and clinical medicine (occupational medicine). Their combined efforts will provide new insights into gene-environment interaction, basic action mechanisms of toxic substances, and physiological and environmental contributors to risk and/or sensitivity to developing acquired acute and chronic disorders. EOH has developed a sound reputation as a leader in stem cell biology of the lung, free radical biochemistry, and metal toxicology.
Epidemiology
Epidemiologists study the variables in human situations that may have a critical influence on the distribution of disease within populations. Students in epidemiology apply the scientific method to prevent or control disease in populations by:
- Describing the frequency and causes of a disease in a defined population
- Evaluating factors that may cause a disease
- Conducting studies that evaluate risk-factor modifications on the subsequent frequency of a disease
The department of epidemiology offers students a wide variety of health topics on which to focus their studies, including:
- Aging
- Alcohol
- Cardiovascular disease
- Chronic disease
- Clinical trials
- Diabetes
- Environmental epidemiology
- Infectious disease
- Molecular epidemiology
- Physical activity
- Psychiatric epidemiology
- Telecommunications and public health
- Women’s health
Students generally take a series of core courses, and then specialize in one of these areas. Faculty members within each of these disciplines operate major research and/or community service programs that provide excellent facilities for student research and field training. The physical activity and women’s health tracks are among the first to be offered by an American school of public health.
Health Policy & Management
The Department of Health Policy & Management (HPM) retains its primary commitment to public health through an expanding research portfolio and stellar educational programs.
The masters-level programs provide students with an array of skills, knowledge, perspectives, and tools to prepare them for career development in leadership, managerial, consulting, and other knowledge-based roles in health care and public health. While most students enrolled in the MHA program prepare for entry-level professional and managerial positions in health care systems and other organizations that play a major role in the prevention and treatment of illness and disease, others pursue careers to develop and advocate for public policies to achieve cost-effective delivery of health care services and ensure desired outcomes, including patient safety and patient satisfaction. The department provides students with structured opportunities for transition to the world of practice through the development of a program called “On the Road to Professional Practice”.
With the dramatic changes transforming the health care industry, career opportunities for HPM graduates continue to grow, including such diverse venues as health system management, managed care organizations, integrated long-term care systems for the elderly, health care management consulting, pharmaceutical industry management, and public policy and higher education. The department meets the needs of students with its three master’s degree programs: the Master of Health Administration, the joint JD/MPH, and the Master of Public Health.
The faculty’s research encompasses the broad areas that reflect the field of health policy and management. Specific areas of research include:
- Health services research
- Health care financing
- Mental health disorders
- Patient decision-making and preferences
- Long-term care
- Public health workforce
- Healthcare governance
- Healthcare law and ethics
- Workers’ compensation
- Public health infrastructure
- Health policy
- Health management
- Public health administration
- Pharmaceutical policy
Human Genetics
The Department of Human Genetics is dedicated to genetics research, teaching, and service, and embraces three major research missions:
- Develop and use genetic methods to investigate the causes and treatment of hereditary and acquired human illness
- Understand and explore the impact of genetics on public health, education, and disease prevention
- Appreciate the role of genetic diversity within human populations
Students gain a strong background in all aspects of human genetics as a result of a broad-based curriculum and research opportunities in basic, applied, and clinical genetics. The program emphasizes the study of genetic mechanisms related to the transition from normal to disease states, and studies how genes and the environment interact to affect the distribution of health and disease in human populations.
Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
The Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (IDM) conducts research, teaching and service activities that promote the control of infectious diseases in the human population. To accomplish this mission, the department offers:
- Research programs that focus on understanding the mechanisms of pathogenesis of microbial infections at the cellular and molecular level as they relate to developing methods for disease prevention and treatment
- Integrated teaching programs devoted to the education and training of graduate students in various molecular, immunologic, epidemiologic, and biologic aspects of microbial pathogenesis, as well as infectious disease control and prevention
- Programs that focus on population-based education and prevention for the control of infectious diseases
- Program features include:
- Flexible curriculum in basic, medical, and education and prevention aspects of infectious diseases and microbiology
- Opportunities for involvement in top-rated research in molecular, immunologic and biologic aspects of microbial infections
- Close interaction with the microbiology and virology programs at the School of Medicine
Research conducted within the department has led to such prestigious accomplishments as hallmark clinical trials on passive immunization against poliovirus that directly aided the development of the Salk polio vaccine; the discovery of arthropod-borne encephalitis viruses and adeno-associated virus; original descriptions of the mechanisms of interferon production and action; the transmission of cytomegalovirus by organ transplants; and the establishment of the Pitt Men’s Study as one of the largest and longest-running cohort studies of HIV infection, including findings such as the predictive value of viral load in the development of AIDS.