Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The year 2024 marks our 20th anniversary as a Program, and this milestone provides us with an opportunity to reflect on our journey and celebrate the many ways that we have grown and achieved our mission year after year. You will notice a new 20th year commemorative logo that will appear on promotional material for various events that will be hosted, sponsored, or collaboratively delivered by the Program in Public Health (PPH). We have many exciting activities planned this year to build community engagement, beginning with new student orientation and welcome events in the month of August, wellness activities in September and October (in collaboration with local partners such as the American Heart Association of Long Island’s annual Heart Walk; The Stony Brook Medicine’s Ronald McDonald House Walk), and a PPH community group attending a SBU home football game to support our student athletes. We also have several academic events dedicated to promoting awareness and action around big issues in public health and health care, as well as seminars led by our faculty, post-doctoral and pre-doctoral scholars, and alumni panels to showcase the work of our graduates in health and health care leadership locally, regionally, and nationally. We are launching the Climate Solutions and Health concentration in the MPH program this year, and have added several new courses that can be found in our Bulletin here. The MHA program has a re-accreditation review by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) in December 2024. The PhD program in Population Health and in Clinical Outcomes Research has its largest incoming class, with 7 new doctoral students joining PPH in the Fall. Across all programs we will welcome (or welcome back) over 230 PPHers who will take classes either in-person, on-line, or use a mix of learning modalities to complete a degree. Welcome all, we are excited to learn and grow together!
I am energized by the thriving academic public health programs, research enterprise, and community that is the Program in Public Health at Stony Brook University. I am inspired by the faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the many expanding academic programs, research and inter-professional education, and community engagement projects. Together with the faculty and staff, we wish every new and continuing student immense success. We also warmly welcome new faculty who will join us at various points throughout the 2024 - 2025 academic year.
The 2024 applicant pool yielded over 90 new students to the MPH, MHA, PhD and Advanced Graduate Certificate programs. The student body is full of talented, highly intelligent, curious, hardworking, and dedicated people from a large geographic span of places of origin, diverse life and work experiences, and prior training in clinical and non-clinical fields. I expect that students will lead and engage in thoughtful discussions, learn a great deal from one another, and develop friendships and collegial relationships that will last a lifetime.
Relationships start with the decision to be present, genuine, and ready to contribute to debates, group assignments, e-discussion boards, and attend social and networking events to the extent possible. We are very intentional about creating opportunities for connecting both in person and virtually, and work closely with our student organizations such as the Future Healthcare Leaders (FHL) and the Organization for Public Health Students and Alumni (OPHSA) to support events that are planned by and for students. The old adage, “you get what you put into it” could not be truer in graduate education whether the effort put forth is in the traditional classroom setting, a practice-based fieldwork experience, or an online program.
Our faculty, research scientists, and post-doctoral fellows continue to do research that is influencing the public’s health locally, nationally, and around the world; and, we are engaging our students in data collection, analysis, and dissemination of scholarly products. Our courses and practicum/experiential learning experiences provide cutting-edge evidence-based resources, engage leaders in the field of public health and health care administration practice, and focus on real skills that are transferable to tackle urgent and emerging problems.
The faculty and staff look forward to getting to know our new students throughout this year. We are available in person, by phone, email, and by appointment on Zoom or Teams. We will plan opportunities for informal ways to get to know one another outside of course instruction and encourage students to organize such opportunities as well.
We desire to continue to build a vibrant community where everyone is valued and wants to be a part of it. Together we will promote improvements in the public’s health, through our shared commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and service, and also a promise to support one another in meeting the challenges ahead.
There is so much to be done and not enough of us to do it. The public health, health and healthcare needs are great, and the opportunities to make an impact are endless.
Best wishes for a year of meaningful relationships, purposeful work and a commitment to your own health and wellness.
I share with you a dedication that together we will create and sustain a better world for all.
Sincerely,
Lisa A. Benz Scott, Ph.D.
Professor and PPH Executive Director
MHA Program Director
Creator and Director, The Stony Brook Medicine Healthy Libraries Program (HeLP)
