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About Public Health Sciences
Mission Statement | Brief History | Organizational Structure
Our Vision
The Department of Public Health Sciences in the School of Medicine works with clinicians and researchers to improve the health of individuals and populations. We aspire to be the hub in the School of Medicine for the generation, analysis, interpretation, and management of clinical outcome and population health data, and provide the infrastructure, research methods, and education to enable the highest quality of clinical and population health research in the School of Medicine.
Our Mission
The Department of Public Health Sciences’ mission is to provide excellence and leadership in research methods and education that advance clinical care, patient outcomes, and population health.
We foster collaborations with clinicians, researchers, communities, and policymakers to undertake innovative research, develop educational opportunities, and inform evidence-based, equitable decisions about clinical care and population health sciences.
Our Goals
Goal 1: Identify and generate sustained collaborations with SOM and external partners to advance SOM strategic priorities for clinical outcomes and translational research and education.
Goal 2: Excellence and Leadership in Clinical Outcomes, Population, and Translational Research
Goal 3: Excellence and Leadership in Education about Clinical and Translational Research, Public Health Sciences, and Health Policy.
Brief History
The Department of Public Health Sciences (DPHS) was originally established in 1995 as the Department of Health Evaluation Sciences. It was created to provide comprehensive and multidisciplinary scientific and analytical services to the University of Virginia Health System, as well as other components of the University. The initial business plan described the development of an infrastructure designed to initiate, expand and enhance clinical and translational research education and activities throughout the School of Medicine rather than the traditional investigator-initiated model.
In 2002 with the arrival of a new dean and vice president, the department re-energized. It added a new focus on public health while also continuing its ongoing clinical informatics and biostatistical and epidemiological activities. New senior leaders were recruited to head clinical informatics, biostatistics and epidemiology, and a new division of public health and a new MPH program were begun. In 2005 the Department of Public Health Sciences was adopted as the department's new name to reflect its emphasis on public health education, training and service. In 2007 the department successfully concluded a major two-year recruitment process with the appointment of Stephen Rich as a Distinguished Board of Visitors Scholar and the establishment of his new Center for Public Health Genomics at the University of Virginia.
DPHS is devoted to finding new research strategies and providing new educational offerings for health promotion, disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, as well as developing tools for genetic risk assessment, medical decision making, biostatistical and epidemiologic methods, and medical service delivery for individuals and populations. DPHS continues its original mandate to provide support for students and investigators throughout the School of Medicine and across University Grounds as they come together to learn about and develop: (1) improved ways to evaluate the efficacy of new and existing medical care and population health improvement practices, (2) the efficient and fair delivery of health services and (3) community interventions in public health practice and in health care policy.
Organizational Structure
The Department of Public Health Sciences, which is staffed by 35 primary, a large number of secondary academic appointments and a support staff of 13, is currently composed of four major divisions and one closely aligned Center:
- Biomedical Informatics: communications technology to support and analyze biomedical research and health data.
- Biostatistics: research and consulting on the application of statistical analyses to biomedical research data. Biostatistics and Epidemiology provides statistical support for many research projects at the University of Virginia.
- Patient Outcomes, Policy & Epidemiologic Research: teaching, research and community interventions in public health practice and health care policy.
- Translational Research & Applied Statistics: expertise to help develop, foster and lead discovery and innovation for translational science across the University of Virginia.
- The Center for Public Health Genomics: stimulates research in human genetics and expands the range of services available to the academic community of the University of Virginia.
