Enrolling in 2024, The UT School of Public Health aims to improve human (and planetary) health and well-being and eliminate health inequities both locally and globally through excellence in research, instruction and practice, inclusion, and compassion.
The School of Public Health’s community, research and educational partnerships will enrich San Antonio's health care, public administration, and city planning economic sectors. Before its creation, San Antonio was the largest city in the U.S. without a school of public health. Because the demography of San Antonio illustrates what our nation will look like by 2050, San Antonio is an optimal setting for fostering and educating our future public health workforce.
Goals and Mission
The tripartite mission of the UT School of Public Health San Antonio is to provide:
- Education—that is practical
- Research—that matters
- Service—that counts
Goals:
- Educate and train the next generation of diverse public health leaders to formulate and implement scalable solutions to advance the state of health and well-being of the planet, its populations, cities, and communities
- Create an evidence-based educational experience to address public health challenges of the 21st century locally, regionally, and globally
- Promote rigorous public health scholarship that leads to evidence-based equity-driven solutions
Create an advanced, socially responsible, financially self-sufficient, state-of-the-art Hispanic-serving multiversity.
Our History
In November 2021, the University of Texas System Board of Regents approved plans and voted to authorize UT Health San Antonio and UTSA to develop a new public health school.
The Regents recognized that the region’s persistent disparities in key health outcomes require a public health approach. The UT School of Public Health San Antonio is a collaboration between UT Health San Antonio, and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Programmatic, operational and educational costs include renovation of existing spaces at UT Health San Antonio and UTSA.
Our inaugural Dean, Dr. Vasan Ramachandran, was hired in September 2022.
Our Campus
The new school is a strategic collaboration of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and is one of three schools of public health in The University of Texas System.
Located on the Greehey Campus of UT Health San Antonio will provide optimal access to the region’s major medical and academic health facilities.
Accepting Students in 2024
Through its coursework, the School of Public Health will provide a unique curriculum by integrating advanced health research, collaborating on new academic programs to serve a diverse population and building public health leaders who understand and are dedicated to finding positive interventions to mitigate our greatest public health challenges. A student census of almost 400 is planned within the first five years, with a Master of Public Health degree to be offered beginning in 2024 and plans for a Doctor of Public Health degree program are underway.
Departments of Study:
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Environmental and Occupational Health
The Master of Public Health (MPH) in Environmental and Occupational Health is designed to provide the skills needed to function as a practitioner in a variety of public health settings.
This department will contain faculty with a range of expertise including applied science, community-based participatory research, intervention research or health disparities research. Disciplines may be broad including, but not limited to, the fields of environmental and occupational health, environmental justice, industrial/occupational hygiene and safety, water and air quality, climate change and health, food safety, agricultural health, environmental risk assessment, environmental engineering or a closely related field. -
Health, Behavior, and Society
Students in the Health, Behavior, and Society MPH degree program will build the skills necessary to examine and intervene at the individual and community level to promote a healthy society for all.
Department priorities emphasize health in South Texas and our majority-minority Hispanic city, San Antonio. Through a health equity lens, health disparities in cancer, behavioral health and substance use, diabetes and metabolic disorders, sexual health and infectious diseases are emphasized. Scholarly and programmatic activity on structural and social determinants of health, community-based participatory research, implementation science, structural interventions, evaluation and health communication are encouraged. -
Health Policy and Health Services Administration
The Health Policy and Health Services Administration department will have scholars with interests spanning the full range of issues in health policy; access to and disparities in health care; the economics of health care; health insurance and health care financing; global health; health systems administration at federal, state, county and city levels; health care policies and organization of its services addressing current and emergent health care needs, the needs of an aging population and that of under-represented groups infant and children’s health; women’s health; and Hispanic health.
Disciplines within the department may be broad including but not limited to the fields of health economics, health care management, health services administration, and health policy.
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Quantitative and Qualitative Health Sciences
This program prepares students to put epidemiologic concepts and methods into public health practice, contribute to research studies, and interpret scientific evidence relevant to public health.
The program covers a variety of fields of study, including biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, and social epidemiology, as well as decision sciences, demography, and program evaluation.
Qualitative methodologic interests including anthropology, narrative inquiry, mixed methods, ethnographic studies, longitudinal data analysis, systematic reviews, meta-analysis, clinical trials, missing data, psychometrics, structural equation modeling, causal inference, and Bayesian methods are also topics in this unique program curriculum.
William L. Henrich, MD, MACP, president of UT Health San Antonio“Unique health challenges of our region include infectious diseases, diabetes, maternal and child health, mental health and substance use disorders, health care disparities, cancer and injury prevention. Our faculty will propose innovative public health solutions to these problems.”
Taylor Eighmy, Ph.D, president of The University of Texas at San Antonio“UTSA and UT Health San Antonio are urban serving universities that are deeply committed to meeting the unique public health needs of South Texas’ diverse population by preparing our region’s next generation of public health leaders and advancing transdisciplinary research and policy that ensures healthier communities.”
