New Public Health Sciences students received a warm welcome to UVA School of Medicine in late August. (photo credit: Coe Sweet)
The Department of Public Health Sciences (PHS) welcomed 47 new students to the UVA School of Medicine in an orientation program held last week — a class that arrives just as the department’s Master of Public Health (MPH) program secured another seven years of national accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
PHS leadership celebrated a successful site visit in January with two of the site visitors. (contributed photo)
CEPH completed a rigorous reaccreditation review of the MPH program this year, including a self-study process and a January site visit. Just as the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredits medical education programs leading to the MD degree, CEPH is the national accrediting body for schools and programs of public health. Accreditation confirms that an MPH program meets rigorous standards for curriculum, faculty qualifications, student outcomes, and community engagement. The CEPH Council notified the University this summer that the MPH program was reaccredited through 2033, the maximum term CEPH grants. The program has held continuous CEPH accreditation since 2006.
“This is an exciting time for the department. We’ve just launched a new division structure, we’re growing our faculty and our research portfolio, and now we get to welcome this new class of students into a program that has just earned another seven years of national accreditation,” said Matthew Gurka, PhD, Evelyn Troup Hobson Professor and chair of the Department of Public Health Sciences. “It’s a great time to reflect on how far this program has come, and I’m especially grateful to Aaron Pannone and Alexa Eisenbart, whose tireless efforts carried us through the reaccreditation process.”
PHS offers two graduate programs: the MPH and the Master of Science in Clinical Research (MS-CR), along with a Certificate in Public Health. The nationally accredited MPH program offers an individualized, interdisciplinary experience, with students choosing a concentration in Research in Practice or Health Policy, Law & Ethics. The MS-CR Program is designed to meet the health care field’s growing need for professionals skilled in biostatistics, epidemiology, clinical trial design, and health services research. UVA graduates of both programs go on to careers in health departments, health systems, consulting, and federal and nonprofit agencies, with some pursuing further training in medicine, law, business, or public health doctoral programs.
With reaccreditation secured, the department is now turning its attention to a comprehensive review of both the MPH and the MS-CR curricula over the next year, aimed at keeping both programs responsive to the needs of students entering this new era of public health.
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