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
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. BCHS collaborates extensively with other departments and centers in GSPH and throughout the University to carry out the teaching, research, and service mission.
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, and train biostatisticians capable of exercising leadership in public health and medicine.
Environmental and Occupational Health
Students in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) study and define the health effects of exposure to potentially harmful biological, chemical, and physical agents to increase the accuracy of estimating human health risks in populations. Training activities include: identifying such agents that affect health, studying the long-term effects of environmental and occupational health risks, and identifying the molecular mechanisms of actions of toxic agents that contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular disease, aging and carcinogenesis.
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, and conducting studies that evaluate risk-factor modifications on the subsequent frequency of a disease. 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) prepares students 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, as well as to develop and advocate for public policies to achieve cost-effective delivery of health care services.
Human Genetics
The Department of Human Genetics is dedicated to genetics research, teaching, and service, and embraces three major research missions: developing and using genetic methods to investigate the causes and treatment of hereditary and acquired human illness, understanding and exploring the impact of genetics on public health, education, and disease prevention, and appreciating the role of genetic diversity within human populations. 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, as well as 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.