What is UGA's College of Public Health About?

In its six years of existence, the University of Georgia's College of Public Health has grown from some 200 students in 2005 to an expected total enrollment of about 900 undergraduate and graduate students in fall 2011. This despite annual budget cuts and the difficulties associated with operating at a half dozen locations on the UGA campus, spread from East Hancock Avenue downtown to the Ramsey Student Center on River Road.

Clearly, some very strong forces are at work in bringing about such growth, and they begin with the precarious health of Georgia citizens.

“We have serious problems in Georgia from a public health standpoint,” said Dr. Phillip L. Williams, Dean of the College of Public Health. “Obesity, high rates of infant mortality, cardiovascular disease, you name it.”

In fact, Georgia’s overall state health ranking is 36^th of the 50 states, up from 43^rd in 2009. Glaring problem areas, in addition to those mentioned by Dr. Williams, include 2010 U.S. rankings of 47^th in prevalence of infectious disease, 44^th in lack of health insurance, 40^th in the number of children in poverty, and 40^th in the availability of primary care physicians.

Emory University has operated its Rollins School of Public Health since 1990, but, according to Williams, “prior to our creation there was no public health curriculum within the University of Georgia system, no academic component addressing all of our state’s public health needs.”

Although the field of public health is not widely understood, it’s actually quite well-established. Public health as a profession was legitimized by the Depression-era Social Security Act. In 1935, the act gave funding to states to create public health services and hire employees with at least a year of public health training.

Educational offerings in the field were minimal initially but have progressed substantially. Today some four dozen U.S. colleges and universities offer undergraduate and professional degree programs in public health. In contrast to the medical model of health care, which focuses primarily on diagnosis and treatment, public health revolves around education, research and the promotion of healthy living to minimize illness and disease.

Six brief years have seen UGA’s College of Public Health quickly structure a formidable interdisciplinary approach. In addition to academic training emphasizing preventative health measures, the College is also involved with cooperative efforts in such areas as health-related risk behavior, disaster management and violence prevention. And through collaboration with UGA’s Archway Partnership Project, the College is helping to develop local public health programs in Clayton, Colquitt and Washington counties designed to serve as models for other localities across the state.

“We’re analogous to the Agricultural Extension Service model,” explained Williams. “And we’ve been very successful acquiring grant funding and local support for much of our research and outreach efforts.”

The College’s rapid development and expansion is mirrored by enrollment growth that has averaged 20 percent per year. Williams acknowledges that sustaining such a growth rate is problematic. “We’re discussing that right now,” he said. “We know we can’t continue growing at the rate of 20 percent each year when we’re seeing yearly budget cuts. But there’s a great demand and need for what we’re doing.”

At the end of 2011 and earlier in 2012 the College of Public Health began moving nearly all of its program components to UGA’s new Health Sciences Campus on Prince Avenue, former home of the Navy Supply Corps School.  The move will be staged. Williams says an exact schedule has not been established, but anticipation is running high.

“We’re now in six or seven different locations on campus and we’re not a real large college, so one can imagine the logistical issues we face,” said Williams. “The present situation limits us in that most issues of public health are complex and take interdisciplinary approaches.  But we’ve managed, and we’ve been able to grow remarkably in all respects. We’ll do even better when we have almost everything at one location.”