A Message from the Dean

On behalf of the faculty and the staff, I want to welcome you warmly to the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH), one of the first to be accredited in the United States more than a century ago. While the science and practice of health promotion and disease prevention have evolved, populations here and around the globe are still faced with last century’s basic public health challenges, such as access to clean water and health care, safe communities, and emerging infectious diseases. Serious, growing, and often neglected challenges include the health consequences of global warming, overpopulation, addiction epidemics, obesity/diabetes, gun violence, promoting mental health, and refugee health, among others. Political discord inhibits a functional policy and legal response to many of these prevention challenges.

You have chosen the public health field to make the world a healthier place to live for the current and future generations. Your reasons to join Yale vary, but you will all share a world-class education.

Explore the YSPH centers and institutes in innovative social entrepreneurship, global health, mathematical modeling, child and environmental health, climate change and health, and many others. Challenge our faculty and staff with your ideas and your questions. Strive for excellence in your work and your contributions. Help us evolve the YSPH mission toward greater relevance and impact. Join us in promoting social justice, health equity, diversity, and sustainability.

Public health is inherently interdisciplinary. Yale University is a laboratory for innovation in your studies and projects. We encourage your exploration of Yale’s academic opportunities and its interdisciplinary centers. Our local and global internships, often nurtured through our alumni, offer an incredible array of opportunities. We want to help you bridge boundaries and support your experience in the classroom and the field through our newly revamped curriculum. The M.P.H. class of 2020 is a pioneering one, the first to embrace our new, rebuilt curriculum for the modern professional.

The faculty, staff, and administrative leaders look forward to working with you. We are a school because we have our students. We are here for you.

Sten H. Vermund

Dean, Yale School of Public Health

Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Public Health