Americans die sooner, are unhealthier, and have poorer quality of life than other high-income countries. The profession of public health continually strives to improve the health of communities and populations by preventing infectious and chronic disease, promoting and encouraging healthy behaviors, protecting against environmental hazards, preventing injuries, responding to disasters and assisting communities in recovery, and assuring the quality and accessibility of health services. In fact, the Bureau of Labor statistics projects that the workforce will add 15.6 million public health jobs by 2022.

The Public Health Program at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) focuses on the interplay of individual biological and behavioral factors with aspects of the physical, social, and policy environments in both clinical and community settings. The Public Health Program at UTMB offers a professional MPH degree with Epidemiology, Biology and Aerospace Medicine tracks. All students who enroll in the MPH degree program have completed, or are working toward, an MD or PhD degree. The Epidemiology and Biostatistics tracks are open to UTMB doctoral students, medical students, residents, fellows, faculty and external people. The Aerospace Medicine track is open only to Preventive Medicine residents. The Public Health Program provides this select group of students with the knowledge, skills, and values they will need to work in fields that combine preventive medicine and public health. The Public Health Program also offers an accredited PhD degree in Population Health Sciences which includes integrated research training in biostatistics, epidemiology, and social and behavioral sciences.

Epidemiology track

The public health program provides these students with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to succeed in careers that bridge medicine and public health. Graduates earn the Master of Public Health (MPH) Degree. Medical students complete the public health degree as part of a five-year MD-MPH dual degree program. Graduate students may integrate public health training into their doctoral studies to complete the PhD-MPH dual degree program. The mission of the public health program at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is to contribute to the protection and promotion of health in human populations by: 1. Preparing students to practice skillful and evidence-based preventive medicine and public health; 2. Preparing students to practice skillful and evidence-based preventive medicine and public health; 3. Providing interdisciplinary expertise in the service of academic, professional, and community-based public health organizations. Our established values, goals and objectives guide us in our efforts to accomplish our stated mission. We have developed broad goals and measurable objectives for the program and for each of its major functions; instruction, research, and service, as well as workforce development, resources and administration, and diversity.

Biostatistics track

This track of the public health program provides students with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to succeed in quantitatively oriented careers that bridge medicine and public health. Graduates earn the Master of Public Health (MPH) Degree. While the program is designed to be completed in two years, it can also be completed as an accelerated 1-year MPH. (UTMB Medical students complete the public health degree as part of a five-year MD-MPH dual degree program. Graduate students working towards the Ph.D. may integrate public health training into their doctoral studies to complete the PhD-MPH dual degree program.)

The mission of the Biostatistics track in the MPH program at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is to train our students to be leaders in contributing to the protection and promotion of health in human populations. This is done by: 1) preparing students to practice skillful and evidence-based preventive medicine and public health; 2) developing students’ skills in analyzing relevant public health data, and in interpreting published statistical analyses of these data; 3) providing interdisciplinary expertise in the service of academic, professional, and community-based public health organizations.

Biostatistical tools are widely applied in the practice of Public Health; they are used, for example, in quantifying the effects of interventions, conducting analyses of both primary and secondary data, translating and communicating results of analyses to broad audiences, and designing valid statistical hypotheses and study designs.

The Bureau of Labor statistics projects that the workforce will add 15.6 million public health jobs by 2022. Graduates of the Biostatistics will have a skill set attractive to local, state and federal government, non-profits organizations, academic research, and the pharmaceutical industry.