Vision, Mission & Goals

The vision of the Graduate Program in Public Health is to improve the health of populations on Long Island and in the region, State, and nation through education, research, and community service that utilizes all of the scholarly resources of Stony Brook University in a collaborative and boundary-spanning manner.

The mission of the Program is to develop among students and professionals the values, commitment, knowledge, and technical skills necessary to advance the field of public health through application of population health principles.

The general goals of the Graduate Program in Public Health are to:

• Develop a nationally recognized, accredited, graduate educational program in public health (see Goals 1-4).
• Advance knowledge in the public health field by developing an active program of population health research among faculty and students in the Program and other health-related professionals at Stony Brook University (see Goals 5 & 6).
• Provide community partnerships of the highest quality that benefit the health of local, regional, and State populations (see Goals 7 & 8).

To achieve its general educational, research, and community benefit goals, the Program trains public health professionals who:

• Understand the multiple determinants of health and illness including the social, behavioral, environmental, demographic, occupational, policy, economic, genetic, and health care determinants; and
• Appreciate the need for interdisciplinary collaboration in order to understand population health problems and develop optimal strategies to address them; and
• Have the strongest analytical, conceptual, and communication skills in order to facilitate development and implementation of optimal strategies for addressing population health problems.

The specific goals and measurable objectives developed by the faculty of the Graduate Program in Public Health are listed here.

Program Values

The Graduate Program in Public Health embraces as a core value adherence to all ethical standards of conduct and academic integrity. The GPPH culture inherently values: beneficence, diversity, reduction of health disparities, protection of vulnerable populations, and the balance of public health with human rights. In support of the mission statement, the Program values the training of students as public health problem solvers with a population health orientation by a multi-faceted team of faculty and staff members.  The Program operationalizes its values through the following pillars upon which the Program stands: education, research, and service.

Education

The Graduate Program in Public Health values high-quality education that moves beyond the simple transmission of information to production of creative and critical thinkers who will be able to maintain public health's value to society in the future. This value is operationalzed through provision of the MPH Core and Concentration curricula leading to the MPH degree, which have as their cornerstones the development of analytical and critical thinking skills and an ecological approach to health improvement and disease prevention that will produce public health problem solvers with a population health perspective.

Research

The Graduate Program in Public Health values research that contributes to the health improvement of all populations and the elimination of health disparities. This value is operationalzed by facilitating interdisciplinary and collaborative research by the faculty and students in the Program's Center for Public Health and Health Policy Research (CPHHPR), which emphasizes health improvement through community-based participatory research (CBPR) and service; the Children's Environmental Health Centers of New York at Stony Brook (CEHCNYatSB), which emphasizes research, education, clinical evaluation, and treatment of pediatric patients with suspected environmental exposures; and the Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research (CHSOR), which focuses on the effective, efficient, and equitable provision of health and medical care.

 Service

The Graduate Program in Public Health values three types of service: Community; Professional; and University.

• Community: The Program values direct service to communities. This value is operationalized as advocating for improving population health and eliminating health disparities; and providing needs assessments and guidance for solutions to community health problems. The Program's three centers facilitate these activities.
• Professional: The Program values faculty members' contributions to organizations that advance their professional fields. This value is operationalized by the faculty promotion and tenure criteria and by expectations for annual performance evaluations.
• University: The Program values service to the University, which is operationalized as mentoring other faculty and serving as members or leaders on committees that advance the mission and goals of the University and the Graduate Program in Public Health.