For more information contact: Boonshoft School of Medicine, Judi Engle, Office of Public Relations, (937) 775-2951

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2004

Ohio Regents Approve M.P.H. Program
at Wright State School of Medicine

DAYTON, OHIO--The Ohio Board of Regents recently approved a new graduate public health degree program that represents innovations in health care education for Wright State University and southwestern Ohio.

A Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree, administered by the Wright State School of Medicine through the School of Graduate Studies, will be the first program in the nation to incorporate a community-based, interdisciplinary educational program in public health with a unique combination of colleges and universities.

The program will include seven Wright State units: the College of Education and Human Services, College of Liberal Arts, College of Nursing and Health, College of Science and Mathematics, Raj Soin College of Business, School of Medicine and School of Professional Psychology.

"This program is responsive to the educational needs of some 2,500 working professionals in southwestern Ohio who serve more than 2.8 million residents, and is a visionary program for extraordinary leaders," said Richard Schuster, M.D., M.M.M., Oscar Boonshoft Chair, director, Division of Health Systems Management and developer of the M.P.H. program at the School of Medicine. In addition to traditional classroom instruction, web-based learning and video conferencing will play a key role. It has been designed for in-career professionals and can be completed in two years on a part-time basis of eight credit hours per quarter. Students may select from three concentrations: Public Health Management; Health Promotion and Education; and Public Health Nursing. All concentrations include a practice placement and an applied research project, which will give students the opportunity to apply learning directly within the community setting and provide "real world" experiences in public health.

Schuster emphasized that the program demonstrates the successful realization of Wright State's mission of fostering community-academic partnerships. This M.P.H. program is the result of the strengths of seven Wright State colleges and schools in collaboration with the University of Cincinnati and 30 health districts throughout a 16-county region. He said "our health commissioners under the leadership of William Bines of Montgomery County Combined Health District, Malcolm Adcock of the Cincinnati Health Department, and Jim Luken of the Miami County Health District were the driving force behind this public health community-academic partnership."

Plans for the M.P.H. program started three years ago. The need for a stronger public health infrastructure this program will deliver was made obvious by public concerns over anthrax and increased awareness of bioterrorism after the September 11 attacks. "Those events have dramatically increased the pressure on the national, regional and local public health workforce to meet extraordinary needs that can only be met by highly skilled public health leadership," said Schuster.

He added that the new program will address the current shortage of M.P.H. prepared professionals in southwest Ohio and is beginning at a crucial time due to projected retirements in the upcoming years, an expanding aging population, and rising uninsured rates.

With approval of the M.P.H. program, the medical school is developing a combined M.D./M.P.H. degree that will include traditional preparation as a physician with education in public health management or health promotion and education. The curriculum for the dual degree will be offered over a five-year period and integrated with the Boonshoft Physician Leadership Development Program that was announced last summer through a $2 million award from Dayton philanthropist Oscar Boonshoft.

The Boonshoft Physician Leadership Program will offer students management and leadership skills, plus knowledge of health economics and population-based medicine. "Medicine needs more highly trained, skilled physician leaders with a background in both public health and medicine. My expectation is that our future graduates will possess the combination of these skill sets and secure careers in health departments, federal agencies, health provider organizations, schools of public health and medicine, private practice, and international health agencies," said Schuster.

For more information about the program contact Petra Weaver, Program Coordinator, at (937) 258-5547 or visit our web site at www.med.wright.edu/mph/.

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