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2008 Vital Statistics

• Dean: Ken Warner, Ph.D.
• Students: 862
  • Master's students: 646
  • Doctoral students: 216
• Faculty: 141
• Alumni: 13,000 living alumni in all 50 states and more than 100 countries

Departments

(see Academic Departments & Programs)

• Biostatistics
• Environmental Health Sciences
• Epidemiology
• Health Behavior and Health Education
• Health Management and Policy

Degrees

(see Programs & Degrees)

• M.P.H., Master of Public Health
• M.H.S.A., Master of Health Services Administration
• M.S., Master of Science (through Rackham Graduate School)
• Ph.D., Doctor of Philosophy (through Rackham Graduate School)

Samples of Research Projects and Areas of Interest  

(see Research Centers & Initiatives)

• Vaccine development
• Tobacco — impact of smoking and tobacco control policies on health; exploration of the economics of smoking and tobacco control; evaluation of smoking
• Asthma control and patient self-management
• Statistical gene mapping for diseases such as diabetes, glaucoma, and breast cancer
• Air and water quality — measurement and modeling of hazardous air pollutants
• Cancer — occupational cancer epidemiology; cancer prevention
• AIDS — development of chemo-therapeutic agents for pneumocystitis carinii; transmission system analysis of HIV infection
• Management of health care organizations, costs, and quality
• Economics and impact of varying types of health insurance
• Assessments of long-term care costs, quality, and outcomes
• Global health
• Women's health/Men's health
• Community participation in public health decision-making
• Infectious diseases — molecular and global epidemiology
• Chronic disease management
• Ethics of genetic research and application
• Bioterrorism preparedness and recovery
• Socioeconomic inequalities and health

Notes of Interest

(see Timeline for more)

• Michigan's School of Public Health established in 1941.
• Jonas Salk did post-doctoral training at the School of Public Health. Professor Thomas Francis, Jr. directed polio vaccine trials of more than a million children that proved Salk vaccine "safe, potent, and effective" (4/12/55).
• Launched first Public Health Genetics curriculum in the country in 1996. First graduates in May 1998.
• On Job/On Campus Program: a two-year, weekend curriculum that allows health care professionals to pursue advanced degrees while remaining employed full-time, that has graduated approximately 1,000 professionals. Program established in 1972.
• School leads University-wide initiative exploring inequalities in health status (1998).
• Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health established (1998).
• UM Bioterrorism Preparedness Initiative established (2002).
• FDA approves FluMist nasal spray flu vaccine developed at SPH for use by healthy people ages 5-49 (2003).
• Opening of Crossroads of Public Health building addition and renovation (2006).

Mission

The mission of the University of Michigan School of Public Health is to create and disseminate knowledge with the aim to prevent disease and promote the health of populations in the United States and worldwide. We are especially concerned with the poor, often minority populations, who suffer disproportionately from illness and disability. The generation of knowledge derives from the school's research enterprise, presentation and publication of research findings, instruction of professional and graduate students, and service activities conducted in collaboration with the public health practice community. The school employs integrated approaches to solving public health problems, and teaches and promotes the ethical practice of public health.

Statement of Values Underlying Public Health Practice.

The University of Michigan School of Public Health has been working to promote health and prevent disease since 1941, and is consistently ranked among the top five schools in the country. Faculty and students in the school’s five academic departments and dozens of collaborative centers and institutes are forging new solutions to the complex health challenges of today, including chronic disease, health care quality and finance, emerging genetic technologies, climate change, socioeconomic inequalities and their impact on health, infectious disease, and the globalization of health. Whether making new discoveries in the lab or researching and educating in the field, our faculty, students, and alumni are deployed around the globe to promote and protect our health.