Nine new faculty members, a budget that includes more than $5 million in extramural funding and proposals to develop new Ph.D. programs highlight the developments at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health (COPH) in its first 15 months of existence.
And with fund raising underway to construct a COPH building, continued recruitment of outstanding faculty and plans to roll out more educational programs, the future for UNMC’s newest college looks bright.
“It’s been a busy 15 months,” said Jay Noren, M.D., the college’s founding dean. “With the support we’ve received from across the University of Nebraska system and the enthusiastic, motivated faculty we have on hand, the college looks forward to continuing growth and productive collaboration with our public health agency colleagues in Nebraska and beyond.”
On Friday, the college received formal approval from the University of Nebraska Board of Regents to develop five departments, a new Ph.D. program and a new center.
The new departments are Biostatistics; Environmental, Agricultural and Occupational Health; Epidemiology; Health Services Research and Administration; and Health Promotion, Social, and Behavioral Health.
The new Ph.D. program is environmental health, occupational health, and toxicology, and the new center is the Center for Environmental Health and Toxicology.
UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., said the faculty has built a strong foundation in the college’s first 15 months.
“Dr. Noren and the college’s faculty have hit the ground running in terms of establishing the college as a viable and thriving institution,” Dr. Maurer said.
The college, which was approved by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents in July 2006, will allow Nebraska to better address a variety of critical health-related issues such as emergency preparedness, emerging and pandemic diseases, health disparities, obesity and substance abuse.
There are only 38 public health colleges currently in the United States and the UNMC college is the only one in a large region bordered by Washington, Iowa, Oklahoma and Minnesota.
When the college went into full operation in January, its faculty included 20 full-time members at UNMC. Since then the college added nine new full-time faculty members.
During the next two years the college will recruit 11 additional faculty.
In terms of education, the joint UNO/UNMC Master of Public Health Degree program has served as a solid platform for the college to build upon. The program launched its sixth year this fall with 100 students enrolled.
This fall the program recently added a new concentration in biostatistics-epidemiology to go along with the health administration and community health education/health promotion concentrations it already offered.
Aside from the new environmental health, occupational health, and toxicology program, the college also has developed proposals for Ph.D. programs in health services research, health policy, and health administration; and health promotion and disease prevention research.
Proposals for these programs will be submitted for consideration by the Board of Regents early in 2008.
On the research front, the college currently boasts more than $5 million in extramural funding that supports a broad range of research and training activities. The funding composes more than half of the current budget.
The number one priority on UNMC’s capital plan is the construction of an on-campus building to house the college.
The estimated cost to construct a College of Public Health building is $15 million. A campus location for the building has been selected and preliminary construction plans have been drafted.
Early plans call for the building to provide space for 40 faculty, laboratories, conference and seminar rooms and distance education capability.
“During its first 15 months the college has enjoyed the support of all partner colleges on the UNMC campus as well as much interest and collaboration from all three of the other NU campuses,” Dr. Noren said. “While the college has thus far taken only the initial steps towards its ultimate goals, this support provides the basis for continued growth and development.”
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $80 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.