 The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) - School of Public Health (SPH) serves a vital function for the people of the State of New Jersey, as well as for its students and for health care professionals alike. With three campuses located in the northern, central and southern part of the State, SPH reaches out to diverse populations in urban, suburban and rural areas. The School addresses challenges in public health by building community capacity and partnerships, and making service a priority in the School.
SPH is celebrating its tenth anniversary as the nation’s first collaborative school of public health accredited by the Council on Education for PublicHealth. The School is sponsored by UMDNJ in cooperation with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (RU) and New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). In 2007, SPH was reaccredited by the Council on Education for Public Health for a seven-year term.
History1
The School’s inception goes back four decades. In the late 1970s, public health issues were on the rise in New Jersey and public health education was not available in the state. The State had the highest population density in the country. Poverty and related health problems were prevalent. The cancer mortality rate was high, and there were major health issues related to the environment. No in-state, public health-related graduate education existed for state and local public health professionals, and no single university alone could provide all the resources to address these issues.
These challenges, which were clearly recognized by UMDNJ and RU faculty and staff, set the stage for their cooperative development of a unique, creative solution to address it by maximizing the strengths at UMDNJ and RU to establish the first collaborative graduate program in public health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. The Piscataway/New Brunswick Campus of UMDNJ and RU in central New Jersey served as the base for the program between 1983 and 1998. The Master of Public Health (MPH) was the first graduate degree program to be offered, followed by the establishment of the doctoral program (PhD, DrPH) in 1989.
With the desire to expand the graduate program to serve the entire population of New Jersey, NJIT joined with UMDNJ and RU to establish the UMDNJ-School of Public Health in 1998 as a statewide resource. The Newark Campus in northern New Jersey opened in 1999, and the Stratford/Camden Campus in southern New Jersey opened in 2001.
Today, concentrations for the MPH degree are offered in Biostatistics, Dental Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Epidemiology, Health Education and Behavioral Science, Health Systems and Policy, Quantitative Methods, and Urban Health Administration; SPH also offers the Master of Science in Biostatistics. PhD and DrPH degree programs are offered in Biostatistics, Environmental and Occupational Health, Epidemiology, Health Education and Behavioral Science, and Health Systems and Policy.
Dual degree programs include:
- Doctor of Medicine/MPH with UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School
- Doctor of Medicine/MPH with UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Doctor of Osteopathy/MPH with UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine
- Doctor of Dental Medicine/MPH with UMDNJ-New Jersey Dental School
- Doctor of Psychology/MPH with RU-Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology
- Master of Biomedical Science/MPH with UMDNJ-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
- Master of Science in Community Health Nursing/MPH with RU-College of Nursing-Newark
- Master of Science in Nursing/MPH with UMDNJ-School of Nursing
- MPH/Master of Business Administration with RU-Business School Graduate Programs: Newark and New Brunswick
- MPH/Master of Science in Physician Assistant with UMDNJ-School of Health Related Professions
Articulated degree programs include:
- Bachelor of Science/MPH with RU-New Brunswick
- Bachelor of Arts/MPH with RU-New Brunswick
- Bachelor of Science/MPH with William Paterson University of New Jersey
SPH also offers certificate programs in Clinical Epidemiology; Environmental and Occupational Health; General Public Health; Public Health Preparedness; and Public Policy and Oral Health Services Administration. Credits earned by completion of these 15-credit programs are applicable to the MPH degree program.
UMDNJ-SPH has also established the following centers, institutes and programs within its structure that provide research and service opportunities for students:
- Tobacco Dependence Program and Clinic
- Center for Tobacco Surveillance and Evaluation Research
- Office of Public Health Practice
- Centers for Education and Training
- NY/NJ Public Health Training Center
- Center for School and Community Health Education
- Institute for the Elimination of Health Disparities
- New Jersey Center for Public Health Preparedness at UMDNJ
- Center for Health Economics and Health Policy
- Center for Global Public Health
Research Facilities
A number of campus research facilities are available to provide integral resources in support of students and faculty members in public health degree programs at UMDNJ, Rutgers, and NJIT. Research is frequently conducted with a number of institutes and centers located throughout New Jersey, such as:
- Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI)
- The Cancer Institute of New Jersey
- EOHSI Ozone Research Center
- Rutgers University Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research
- Violence Institute of New Jersey at UMDNJ
- UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School Global Tuberculosis Institute
The sociodemographic and environmental factors that combine to make graduate public health training in New Jersey timely and useful also form the mandate for the School’s research agenda.
Important Elements of SPH Collaborative Model
- The Collaborative Model maximizes state resources.
- Cooperative arrangements enable UMDNJ-SPH to provide academic programs at campuses in northern, central and southern NJ.
- Partner schools identify faculty for SPH faculty appointments (reviewed/approved by SPH Appointments and Promotions Committee).
- Partner schools’ faculty approved for SPH appointments hold full title, co-terminous faculty appointments with SPH.
- Physical classroom space is shared by partners.
Opportunities
The benefits of the collaborative model include the availability of intra- and inter-institutional, inter-disciplinary research, teaching and service among RU and NJIT schools as well as UMDNJ’s other seven schools, and among immediate partners and external partners (local, state, national, international). Students have access to:
- A variety of articulated and dual degree programs as well as certificate programs.
- Increased opportunities for students in other degree programs to enroll in SPH courses.
- A wider variety of public health research and service opportunities.
- Breadth of partner institutions’ faculty expertise.
- Greater variety of course offerings through partner institutions.
- Diverse community service opportunities.
- Expanded library holdings of three universities.
- Articulation of undergraduate degree programs with SPH’s Master of Public Health degree program.
SPH Alumni/ae
The contributions to the public health workforce by our School of Public Health is represented by over 1,300 masters and doctoral graduates who are serving in leadership positions at local, state, federal and international settings in private industry and non-profit and governmental organizations, such as: American Cancer Society; Bristol-Meyers Squibb; Cancer Research Prevention Center-University of Rhode Island; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; City of Philadelphia Dept. of Public Health; Colgate-Palmolive, Inc.; Columbia University; Iowa State University; Johns Hopkins-Bloomberg School of Public Health; Kaiser Permanente; L’Oreal USA; Lennox International, Inc.; Merck Research Laboratories; Nassau County, NY, Health Dept.; National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions; National Cancer Institute; National Institutes of Health; NJ Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers University; NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection; NJ Dept. of Health and Senior Services; NY State Dept. of Agriculture; NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene; Pfizer, Inc.; Princeton Regional Health Commission; Sanofi-aventis, Inc.; SAP Labs Canada; UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs; US Army; US Dept. of Labor-OSHA; US Environmental Protection Agency; US Food and Drug Administration; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-U.S. Public Health Service; and Zimmer, Inc., to name a few. Our alumni/ae serve as mentors and provide a rich source for student fieldwork placements.
Summary
As part of UMDNJ, recognized as the nation’s largest health sciences university, which numbers eight schools on five campuses and includes a network of nearly 300 healthcare and educational affiliates statewide, the UMDNJ-School of Public Health provides world-class education to practicing and future public health professionals, healthcare professionals and scientists, physicians, dentists, researchers, nurses, and allied health professionals. Our commitment to excellence continues to be the foundation for a future of greater opportunity and better health for all.
References
1Greenberg MR, Gotsch AR, Rhoads GG, Schneider D. Building and Sustaining a Multiuniversity and Multicampus Program or School of Public Health. Am J Pub Health 2008;98(9):1-3. Note: From the perspective of establishing a collaborative school of public health, leaders from SPH recently published this article, which addresses some of the issues highlighted in this member profile.
Neal Richard Boyd, EdD, MSPH, CHES
Associate Dean for Education and Assessment
boydnr@umdnj.edu
Wayne H. Dietterick
Marketing and Communications Coordinator
diettewa@umdnj.edu
UMDNJ-School of Public Health
683 Hoes Lane West
Piscataway, NJ 08854
P: (732) 235-9700
F: (732) 235-9755
http://sph.umdnj.edu
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