Press Release

For Immediate Release

Touro College’s New Master of Public Health Program Will Focus on Health Disparities and Community Health

Growing Need for Qualified Health Professionals

New York, N.Y., – December 1, 2009 - Touro College’s School of Health Sciences will offer a new master of public health (MPH) program in the fall of 2010 at its main campus in Manhattan. The program will focus on community health, with particular attention to health disparities. Graduates will be able to develop, implement, and assess public health interventions and social policies aimed at improving the health of communities and eliminating health inequities.

“Policymakers, government agencies, and officials within the field of medicine recognize that over the next few decades the best means of improving health in America, including among minority and disadvantaged populations, will be through population-based health promotion and disease prevention,” said Dr. Louis H. Primavera, dean of the graduate School of Health Sciences. “This has led to a growing need for qualified public health practitioners with backgrounds and training in community health and to new and varied opportunities for health professionals.”

“Additional opportunities will also be created due to the anticipated decline in the public health workforce over the coming years resulting from retirement. Growing shortages of professionals at local, state, and federal levels, particularly in government agencies, are expected,” Dr. Primavera added.

Public health professionals occupy a broad range of positions such as administrators, educators, evaluators, researchers, and advocates. They work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, relief agencies, crisis centers, community outreach programs, and for advocacy groups.

“Our new program’s mission is informed by the recognition that the achievement of health equity requires a commitment to social justice, and broad-based, organized, and collaborative community efforts to tackle underlying problems in concert with public health education, research, policy development, and innovative interventions,” said Dr. Audrey Jacobson, director of the new MPH program.

The program is designed to serve the needs of students from diverse backgrounds, including working health professionals and recent college graduates. Classes will be held in the late afternoon, evening, and on Sundays.

The MPH requires completion of 45 credits. In addition to the 36 credits of required course-work, students may choose nine credits of electives to pursue areas of interest. The program can be completed in two years of full-time study or five years of part-time study. All students will be required to participate in fieldwork as part of their training.

The School of Health Sciences was organized as a division of Touro College in Long Island, New York in 1972, with the creation of the physician assistant program. The School’s offerings have grown to encompass a wide array of disciplines ranging from undergraduate programs that prepare students for health sciences careers, including nursing, to graduate programs in multiple fields of allied healthcare, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and public health. The School’s programs serve more than 900 students at campuses in Bay Shore, Long Island and New York City. Current programs are growing in size and new programs are soon to be added. Two recent additions to Touro’s professional degree programs in the health field include the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM) and the College of Pharmacy, both located in Harlem.

Touro College has experienced phenomenal growth since its founding in 1971, and is currently educating approximately 17,500 students at locations in New York, California, Florida, Nevada, Jerusalem, Moscow, Berlin and Paris. Touro College continues to have a profound impact on the lives of its students and on the Jewish and general communities. For further information on Touro College, please go to http://www.touro.edu/media/ .

Touro College
27 West 23rd Street
New York, N.Y. 10010
www.touro.edu