STONY BROOK, NY, August 20, 2013 – Stony Brook Medicine’s Program in Public Health (PPH), Long Island’s only accredited Public Health Program, has signed on as a founding member of the newly formed Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH).
ASPPH connects public health schools and programs accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).Officially launched August 1, 2013, ASPPH is the successor to the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), which represented the 50 CEPH-accredited public health schools and eight associate members.
“We are thrilled to have Stony Brook’s Program in Public Health as one of the founding ASPPH programs to represent the 121 accredited programs. As we approach our tenth anniversary in 2014, this is a major milestone for our young program to be among the leading schools and programs,” said Lisa Benz Scott, PhD, Associate Professor of Health Technology & Management, Preventive Medicine, Medicine, and Dental Medicine, and Director of the PPH.
“This is a seminal moment in CEPH-accredited public health education,” says Dr. Harrison Spencer, president and CEO of ASPPH. “Representing both accredited schools and programs of public health gives the association and our members an opportunity to strengthen public health education, research, teaching, and practice.”
Dr. Benz Scott said the ASPPH affiliation is a great opportunity for Stony Brook because as a founding member recent graduates will be eligible to apply for ASPPH-managed fellowship programs, such as positions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Other benefits of becoming an ASPPH member include one voice for accredited public health education, participation in the centralized application service (SOPHAS) to better market the Stony Brook program and data resources to look at national trends among member schools and programs.
Since becoming PPH Director in 2012, Dr. Benz Scott has led a dramatic increase in the number of core faculty and the student body. The program has added six new core faculty, to bring the total to 14. Faculty are experts in a variety of areas such as epidemiology, biostatistics, social and behavioral determinants of health, environmental health, healthcare disparities and health policy. The Masters in Public Health (MPH) program, the main academic program of the PPH, also continues to grow. This coming fall, 41 students will enroll, a program record. The PPH also offers an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Health Communication in partnership with the School of Journalism, and in Health Education and Promotion.
Caption: Pictured at the 2013 Program in Public Health (PPH) graduation are core and affiliated Stony Brook PPH faculty and the Nassau and Suffolk County Commissioners of Health.
