06-02-95 Trustees Create School of Public Health

OHIO STATE CREATES SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

     COLUMBUS -- A new School of Public Health at The Ohio 
State University will fill a void in Ohio since no 
university in the state has a school that combines public 
health and health management studies.

     The school, which was approved Friday (6/2) by the 
university Board of Trustees, will increase Ohio State's 
ability to meet the health needs of the people of Ohio and 
the United States by helping reduce illness and death from 
preventable diseases. The school also will focus on the 
financing and delivery of health care services in the state.

     Faculty will address issues in environmental health, 
epidemiology, biostatistics, health care management policy, 
maternal and child health, and other areas.

     "The school will take us (the College of Medicine) to 
the year 2000 and beyond, and also will meet the state's 
needs," said Ronald St. Pierre, associate vice president for 
health sciences and academic affairs.

     The medical college plans to merge the Department of 
Preventive Medicine with the Division of Health Services 
Management and Policy.

     The School of Public Health will have four divisions: 
environmental health, epidemiology and biometrics, health 
behaviors and health promotion, and health services 
management and policy.

     Even if the Republican-controlled Congress cuts federal 
research spending, there are likely to be funds for public 
health studies and health policy at the state level and in 
the private sector, said Stephen Loebs, chairperson and 
associate professor of health services management and 
policy.

     "Other new schools, such as the University of Illinois 
and St. Louis University, have been very successful in 
obtaining funding from the private sector," and their 
success "augurs well" for Ohio State, Loebs said.

     The department's and division's academic and research 
programs are very interdisciplinary, said Randall E. Harris, 
chairperson and professor of preventive medicine.  The 
faculty conduct collaborative research with colleagues from 
throughout the university.  Relevant elective classes can be 
found in biostatistics, business, law, public policy and 
management, health education, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, 
veterinary preventive medicine, toxicology, and some 
clinical departments of medicine.

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Contacts: Randall E. Harris, Preventative Medicine, (614) 
293-3913, or Stephen C. Loebs, Health Services Management 
and Policy, (614) 292-6458.
Written by Gemma McLuckie.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Mon, 5 Jun 1995 10:52:05 -0400]
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