School of Public Health Opens As Workforce Shortage Looms

On Friday, SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn is launching a new school of public health with a curriculum that will focus on addressing health disparities in Brooklyn and elsewhere. Billing the program as the first public school of health in New York City, SUNY Downstate is seeking to enroll 300 students once the program is fully accredited. Currently, there are 115 students pursuing master's degrees in public health at SUNY Downstate.

Plans to launch a school of public health had been in the works for several years, the school's dean, Dr. Pascal Imperato, a former New York City health commissioner, said. Citing a looming shortage in the public health workforce, he said, "We knew there was a need to train public health specialists."

He said the school and its students would seek to address health disparities in Brooklyn through the students' fieldwork with community health organizations.

"There has been recognition over the last decade that the health and well-being of the population of the United States cannot be uniquely addressed through simple medical care, after the fact," Dr. Imperato said.

School officials said the annual tuition is about $15,000.

Nationwide, there are 39 schools of public health, including three in New York, according to the Council on Education for Public Health. In the past five years, there has been a 35% increase in the number of schools and programs seeking accreditation, the group reported, resulting in one new school of public health each year.

According to the group's executive director, Laura Rasar King, public health concerns and the threat of bioterrorism have fueled interest in public health education. "Universities are responding to the demand," she said.

In New York, the three schools of public health include Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health; SUNY Albany's School of Public Health, and New York Medical College School of Public Health in Valhalla, N.Y.

In 2006, the City University of New York also announced its intention to establish a school of public health, at Hunter College in Manhattan. CUNY officials, who said they anticipate the school opening in 2010, outlined a curriculum focused on urban health issues.

"The goal is really to work to eliminate urban public health disparities," CUNY's executive vice chancellor and provost, Selma Botman, said. "This is so important because by the year 2030, three-quarters of the world's population will live in urban areas."