The emergence of public health as an independent discipline dates back over a century, when the field was concerned mainly with the epidemic of communicable diseases and some facets of sanitation. Changes in socioeconomic conditions, lifestyle, and other factors have brought such issues as accidents, aging, air pollution, alcoholism, drug addiction, smoking, mental health, homicide, and sexually transmitted diseases to the fore as community health problems. In time the following general statement evolved -- "The mission of public health is to fulfill society's interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy."
Public health professionals can promote the health of the community through (1) research into the development of methodologies in biostatistics, epidemiology, demography, and techniques of prevention, (2) investigations into factors which influence health behavior, quality of and access to health care, health education, nutrition, environmental problems, and problems of special population groups such as mothers, children, and minorities, and (3) development of research into new areas that impact on the health of the community. Public health professionals are also responsible for translating knowledge of disease and health enhancement into resolution of health problems in the community. They are committed to the prevention of disease, promotion of health, and improvement in the quality of life.
To fulfill its national and international mission, the school (1) educates new professionals and leaders for the private and public sectors, (2) prepares researchers and educators of future professionals, (3) conducts research to define, protect, and improve conditions for a healthy public, and (4) contributes knowledge, expertise, and service to the community. It is the goal of the school to ensure that the protection and improvement of the public's health is accomplished by the most efficient and effective means, consistent with equity for all individuals in the state, the nation, and the world.
Biostatistics (M.S., Ph.D.)
Environmental Health Sciences (M.S., Ph.D.)
Environmental Science and Engineering (D.Env.)
Epidemiology (M.S., Ph.D.)
Health Services (M.S., Ph.D.)
Preventive Medicine and Public Health (M.S.)
Public Health (M.P.H., M.S., Dr.P.H., Ph.D.)
The School of Public Health offers graduate programs leading to both academic and professional degrees in five departments. The Department of Biostatistics develops statistical and analytical techniques for public health use. The Department of Community Health Sciences deals with five areas of study and program implementation, including behaviors which prevent disease and enhance health, health problems of high-risk groups (women, children, the aged, the poor, the disadvantaged, and racial and ethnic minorities), health promotion policy, community nutrition, and international health. The Department of Environmental Health Sciences elucidates health hazards in the general environment and in the workplace. The Department of Epidemiology is concerned with the nature, extent, and distribution of disease and health in populations. The Department of Health Services deals with the organization, financing, quality, and distribution of health care services. The school is also responsible for the administration of the interdepartmental degree program in environmental science and engineering.
Certain programs within the School of Public Health are not offered by the individual departments but are administered on a schoolwide level: the Master of Public Health; the Doctor of Public Health; the concurrent M.B.A./M.P.H. with the John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management; and two articulated M.A./M.P.H. degrees with African Area Studies and with Latin American Studies.
In addition to requiring that applicants hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited U.S. institution or an equivalent degree or profession--al title from an international institution, each department in the school has limitations and additional requirements. Detailed information can be found in the departmental listings in the Curricula and Courses section of this catalog. Help in deciding on a department is available in the school's Student Affairs Office.
For information on the proficiency in English requirements for international graduate students, see Graduate Admission in the Graduate Study section of this catalog.
Requirements to fulfill each degree objective vary according to the degree and the department. See the departmental listings in the Curricula and Courses section of this catalog for specific requirements and procedures.
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research was established in March 1994 to apply the expertise of UCLA faculty and researchers to meet national, state, and local community needs for health policy-related research and information. Building on the extensive health policy research of School of Public Health faculty, the center was established to accomplish three missions: (1) to conduct research on national, state, and local health policy issues, (2) to provide public service to policymakers and community leaders, and (3) to offer educational opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
The center, sponsored by the School of Public Health and the School of Public Policy and Social Research, provides a collaborative health policy research environment for UCLA's leading professional schools and academic departments. The center's staff assists faculty and other researchers to obtain extramural research and training funds, and it helps researchers manage and conduct research studies. Faculty from the Schools of Public Health, Public Policy and Social Research, and Medicine participate in center research projects and its public service and educational activities.
The center publishes its health policy research findings in a series of Policy Briefs, making policy-relevant information directly accessible to policymakers, public health and health care leaders, the media, and the general public. The center also publishes more extensive findings in a series of Policy Research Reports. In addition, the center sponsors lectures and seminars on health policy-related topics for students, faculty, and staff. For additional information, call (310) 825-5491.
Established in July 1991, the center is a joint endeavor of the UCLA Schools of Public Health and Medicine. The five full-time faculty members have their primary appointments in one of the clinical departments in the School of Medicine such as obstetrics, surgery, medicine, or pediatrics and, depending on their training, joint appointments in an appropriate department in the School of Public Health such as community health sciences, health services, or epidemiology. Within the School of Medicine, faculty members are involved in clinical activities and teaching, especially in the course on doctoring. Within the School of Public Health, they are engaged in teaching and research. Faculty research activities are wide-ranging and involve studies on the quality of life of men with prostrate cancer, manpower requirements for the care of those with HIV infections, community interventions for asthma control in Latino children, systems for smoking cessation used by physicians caring for Latino patients, etc.
The center, through its members, has ties with a variety of local and national organizations concerned with managed care, as well as with the Veterans Administration and several other hospitals and professional organizations. It serves as the UCLA site for the activities of the Southern California AIDS Education and Training Center. The center is also responsible for overseeing the Preventive Medicine Residency Program.
In 1977 a group of chemical workers in California became sterile after exposure to the pesticide DBCP, which now is known to be a carcinogenic and reproductive toxin. That incident prompted the California State Legislature to mandate the formation of occupational health centers in the northern and southern regions of the state. The purposes of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) are training occupational and environmental health professionals, conducting research, and providing patient services through consultation, education, and evaluation. The centers constitute the first state-supported institutions to provide occupational and environmental health leadership in the U.S.
UCLA's COEH is housed in the Center for the Health Sciences and involves the Schools of Public Health, Medicine, and Nursing. Active collaboration also occurs with the UCLA Center for Labor Research within the Institute of Industrial Relations and with faculty from the Schools of Engineering and Applied Science and Public Policy and Social Research.
Specific COEH programs within the School of Public Health include the following specialties and services:
Occupational hygienists are environmental specialists concerned with evaluation and control of the workplace environment for exposure to potentially dangerous agents, physical stresses, biologic agents, and ergonomic effects. Occupational hygienists provide insight into these problems based on their knowledge of the health effects of exposure to the substances involved and the physics and chemistry of the environment. These specialists work as part of interdisciplinary teams with epidemiologists, physicians, nurses, and toxicologists.
Occupational and environmental epidemiologists conduct research to establish causal links between environmental exposure and adverse health outcomes. The study of exposure-response relationship is central to the role of the epidemiologists.
Occupational ergonomics is the science of designing a work environment compatible with the capabilities and needs of the workforce. The primary goal of the program is to improve the design of the work environment for the prevention of occupational illnesses and injuries. Current research areas include static and dynamic strength modeling, task analysis, and identification and qualification of risk factors for cumulative trauma disorders.
A joint occupational medicine residency between UCLA and USC provides specialty training for physicians in occupational medicine. The program leads to a master's degree in public health and board eligibility in occupational medicine. The first year of the program involves taking courses at the UCLA School of Public Health leading to an M.P.H. degree. In the second year, students participate in clinical and field rotations under the supervision of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at USC. A similar joint residency program in occupational medicine is offered with the UC Irvine COEH.
The center has the task of providing expertise in occupational and environmental health to the community. Available services and opportunity for student activities include (1) consultative assistance to physicians, nurses, and occupational hygienists, (2) faculty evaluation of the work environment with potential occupational health hazards and surveillance of industrial workers exposed to hazardous substances, and (3) continuing education opportunities for professionals, and educational programs for workers exposed to potential occupational health hazards.
The Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) was established at the UCLA School of Public Health in 1981 to increase the representation of American Indian, African American, and Latino minorities receiving graduate degrees in public health. The objectives of HCOP are threefold: (1) to increase the number of qualified and well-prepared underrepresented minority applicants, (2) to increase the number of American Indian, African American, and Latino applicants accepted and enrolled in the school, and (3) to develop and maintain an effective retention program.
Eligibility for HCOP services is based on the population parity model consistent with the State of California, Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. In this model, a group is considered underrepresented if the percentage of a specific racial/ethnic group in the health professions is less than that group's percentage in the total population of the state. Thus, under the population parity model, culturally sensitive underrepresented minorities must meet all three of the following criteria to be HCOP-eligible at the UCLA School of Public Health: (1) must be African American, Latino, or American Indian, (2) must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and (3) must have graduated from high school and an undergraduate college in the U.S.
The UCLA School of Public Health is nationally recognized for its successful program. HCOP has the largest enrollment of underrepresented minorities in a school of public health in the country. The activities associated with this comprehensive minority preparation, recruitment, enrollment, and retention program include the following:
(1) Applicant and counselor conferences covering all aspects of the admission process.
(2) Minority Peer Counseling Program for School of Public Health applicants. Sensitive and concerned minority students currently enrolled in the school serve as role models to potential applicants and give specific information about the course of study at the school.
(3) Summer Enrichment Program in the biomedical sciences for undergraduate minorities to enhance their academic and research skills and to assist in the successful completion of their undergraduate work.
(4) Alumni counseling and networking by graduates of the school to give insight into the various fields of public health.
(5) Public Health Leadership Conference for students enrolled at targeted colleges and universities.
(6) Summer Prologue Program for incoming underrepresented minority students which includes academic courses in the areas of writing, epidemiology, biostatistics, research, and computer skills.
(7) Student Mentor Program, matching enrolled first-year HCOP graduate students with second-year students to provide a student support system.
(8) Minority resource bank of fellowships and internships for enrolled graduate students.
(9) Minority High School Student Summer Research Apprentice Program for rising juniors to stimulate an interest in pursuing careers in research and the health professions.
The HCOP Office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to assist HCOP-eligible students with applications to UCLA and preparation for a career in public health (310-825-7449).
The School of Public Health plays a unique role in community-based health promotion and disease prevention. To coordinate this important function, the school established the Office of Public Health Practice in 1992. The goals of the office are to (1) establish firm practice links with local and state departments, (2) strengthen the curriculum with innovative community-based public health practice experience, (3) assist policy development affecting public health, (4) develop model interventions to address the leading public health problems of our diverse and multiethnic communities, and (5) develop continuing education programs, including an M.P.H. degree for working professionals. For additional information, call (310) 794-7028.
Injuries kill more people under the age of 45 than all other causes of death combined. The Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center (SCIPRC) is one of eight centers in the U.S. that focus on the problem of intentional (homicide, suicide, abuse) and unintentional (motor vehicle crash, drowning, falls) injuries through three phases of injury control -- prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation -- addressed through its research, training, and community service components.
The theme of SCIPRC is to research intentional and unintentional injuries among ethnic/racial minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged persons, and other underserved populations. Highly focused, multidisciplinary community-based research projects are undertaken with the collaboration of public health scientists, clinicians, social scientists, and human factor engineers affiliated with the University of California (Los Angeles and Davis), University of Southern California, King/Drew and Rancho Los Amigos Medical Centers, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Edward R. Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology, and California State Office of Traffic Safety and Departments of Health and Industrial Relations.
Graduate students can affiliate with SCIPRC through academic coursework in injury, research experience with ongoing investigations, and support for independent graduate student research.