Department of Public and Community Health

The University sits 10 miles from the nation’s capital, the world’s largest and most influential political maze, and a stone’s throw from every major federal funding agency. In an environment that demands quality teaching, originality, imagination, and research, the department is building strong alliances with federal agencies, health volunteer agencies, foundations, and the business community throughout the nation’s capital and the world. As a result of these alliances, we attract inventive and industrious students of all cultures, ages, interests and academic backgrounds.

Moreover, public and community health have been service-oriented professions with a variety of career opportunities that can make meaningful contributions to the health and welfare of the individual and society. As the emphasis has traditionally been on prevention rather than treatment, many institutions have developed and are developing health promotion and wellness programs for public and community members. Public and community health remain service-oriented professions; however, the future direction is to combine both prevention and treatment for a more effective outcome, and to craft research as a major part in delivering quality community health programs. The need for health professionals who can interface between fields of practice, research, planning, administration and policy development is growing, and employment opportunities are excellent. Better research skills make better public and community health professionals.

As was noted by our previous chair (Dr Robin Sawyer), our department has many strengths that help us in achieving our mission and attracting outstanding faculty who devise new ways to approach problems and transform cutting edge research into new knowledge for the benefit of the nation. Our internationally renowned faculty come from all walks of life and bring a vast array of experiences. The faculty is amazingly productive as reflected in:

• Greater than 325 publications in peer-reviewed journals since 1996;
• Literally hundreds of presentations at international, national and regional professional meetings;
• Research funding exceeding $2.5 million yearly since 1997.

We have a diverse and talented student body with students from throughout the United States and the world seeking to study public and community health at the University of Maryland.

• Upon graduation, our students consistently enjoy professional placement in agencies, foundations and major universities.
• Our MPH program is accredited by the Council for Education for Public Health and is the only accredited MPH program in a public university in the region.
• Our doctoral program is well respected nationally and was ranked as a “top 10” program in a 2000 study performed by the University of Illinois. Moreover, U. S. News & World Report ranked our department 12th among universities granting similar degrees.

Peruse our Web site so that you get a sense of the opportunities available at the University of Maryland. You’ll find what we know…the opportunities are vast and endless.