Divisions

Community Health Sciences Heading link

The Community Health Sciences division focuses on public health practice aspects of community health as they relate to the interaction of individuals, families and community structures. The behavioral sciences form the theoretical basis for community interventions to enhance health and well-being.

Community Health Sciences offers three concentrations in which students can focus their studies: Community Health Practice and Methods, Maternal and Child Health, and Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology.  Interested students are encouraged to additionally complete the certificate in Global Public Health.

Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Heading link

The Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences division prepares students to protect the environment and improve the health of workers and the general public. Students learn to anticipate, identify and assess environmental and workplace health hazards, recommend corrective measures, institute programs to reduce morbidity and mortality, and evaluate these efforts. A highly inter-disciplinary area of study, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences students draw upon the fields of toxicology, epidemiology, engineering, industrial hygiene and other sciences to identify and control risks.

Specialized study is offered in: air pollution, industrial hygiene, water quality and health, occupational medicine, environmental chemistry, occupational safety, toxicology, occupational and environmental epidemiology and environmental and occupational health policy.

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Heading link

Epidemiology, the first of this division’s areas of focus, studies the distribution and determinants of disease and other health-related events in populations. Epidemiologic methods are used to establish links between risk factors and disease (e.g., diet and prostate cancer), clarify the distribution of disease locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally (e.g., global distribution of AIDS), elucidate the natural history of many diseases (e.g., cervical cancer), assess the effectiveness of public health interventions and evaluate health resource utilization.

Biostatistics is the development and application of statistical methods to problems in biology, medicine, public health and other life sciences. Professionals create solutions through management, analysis and interpretation of data, through study design and the acquisition of data analysis knowledge.

Health Policy and Administration Heading link

The Health Policy and Administration division provides students with the conceptual and analytical tools needed to: analyze the implications of proposed policies; influence their formation; evaluate them once implemented; and manage private and/or public health care organizations so as to improve the health of the population.  Students develop concentrations in health services research, health care administration, health policy analysis and public health informatics.