The UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health is the graduate school of public health at UCLA, and is located within the Center for Health Sciences building on UCLA's campus in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health has 690 students representing 25 countries, more than 11,000 alumni and 247 faculty, 70 of whom are full-time.[2]
UCLA was named the No. 1 U.S. public institution by U.S. News & World Report for the third consecutive year.[3][4]
UCLA began offering undergraduate instruction in public health in 1946. For the next fifteen years, public health instruction at UCLA was within a system-wide University of California public health school. In 1957, UCLA started a program that led to an advanced degree in public health. The UCLA School of Public Health was created on March 17, 1961, and Lenor S. (Steve) Goerke was named the first dean.[5] In June 1993, UCLA announced that it was planning to merge the School of Public Health into the School of Public Policy. UCLA rescinded the plan in March 1994.[6]
In 2003, the School of Public Health began awarding an undergraduate minor in public health.[7]
On February 16, 2012, the school received a gift valued at $50 million from the Fielding family, the largest single donation the school has received since its creation in 1962. On March 22, 2012 the school was officially named the UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health and the new sign on the building was unveiled.[8]
The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health has students from 27 countries. The school has five academic departments — Biostatistics, Community Health Sciences, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology, and Health Policy and Management — and offers three degree types: MPH, MS and PhD. Additionally, concurrent and articulated degrees and certificates enable students to gain specialized knowledge in areas such as global health, population and reproductive health, environmental health, and health care management and leadership.[2]
The school also has 19 Memoranda of Understanding with institutions in countries that include Cambodia, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany, Mexico and the Philippines.[2] The schools of medicine, law, nursing, business, dentistry, engineering and more are all located on the Westwood campus of UCLA, named the No. 1 public university in the United States in 2018.[3] Additionally, UCLA ranked ninth in the world in research and teaching according to the 2018 Times Higher Education World (University) Reputation Rankings.[9]
UCLA Fielding School of Public Health faculty and students are involved in projects that span bench science, applied research, policy analysis, and community-based local and international projects. Examples of research areas include: access to healthcare, environmental quality, reproductive health, cancer, health disparities, children's health, as well as newer areas of strength in genomics, global health and emerging infectious diseases. Research throughout the school is supported by generous federal, state and private funding, a testament to the merit of the school's faculty and the quality of their research.[12]
The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health research centers include:[12]
Biobehavioral Assessment Research Center (BARC)
Bixby Center on Population and Reproductive Health
Center for Cancer Prevention and Control Research
Center for Environmental Genomics
Center for Global and Immigrant Health
Center for Healthcare Management
Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities
Center for Occupational and Environmental Health
Center for Public Health and Disasters
Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health
Southern California NIOSH Education and Research Center
Ron Brookmeyer — Interim Dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health (2018–present)[16]
E. Richard Brown — Former president of the American Public Health Association[17]
Roger Detels — Dean of UCLA School of Public Health (1980–1985); Demonstrated how HIV-related immune deficiency is transmitted among homosexual men[18]
Gladys Emerson — Conducted research leading to the isolation and discovery of the nutritional value of vitamin E[19]
Lenor Stephen (Steve) Goerke — Dean of UCLA School of Public Health — (1961–1972)[24]
Sander Greenland — Professor of epidemiology and statistics, co-author of "Modern Epidemiology", one of the most widely used textbooks of advanced epidemiology (now in 3rd edition)[25]
Michael Goldstein — Author of international bestseller "Alternative Health Care: Medicine, Miracle, or Mirage?"[26]
Matthew J. Mimiaga — Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, and inaugural director of the UCLA Center for LGBTQ+ Advocacy, Research & Health[27]
Jack Needleman - Professor of Health Policy and Management, and elected member of the Institute of Medicine[28]
Milton Roemer — Internationally known health systems researcher. "Roemer's law" refers to the observation that in a fully insured population, any hospital bed that is built will be filled[29]
Ruth Roemer — Former president of the American Public Health Association[30]
Linda Rosenstock — Dean Emeritus of UCLA School of Public Health (2000–2012)[31]
Paul R. Torrens — Author of widely used health policy textbook[32][33]
Eleven current faculty are elected members of the prestigious National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine[34]
Ninez A. Ponce — Director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Principal Investigator of the California Health Interview Survey, and Chair and Professor of the Department of Health Policy and Management Professor at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health [35]