About Us
Established in 1971, the Department of Public Health Sciences (formerly the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care) is a basic science department within the UConn School of Medicine. The department serves the School of Medicine as the academic home of faculty in the social, behavioral, and public health sciences as well as health law and medical ethics. It consists of 24 full- and part-time faculty, 4 emeritus professors and over 25 support staff. More than 35 adjunct faculty have clinical and M.P.H. teaching appointments. Two senior faculty (Brugge and Chapman) hold endowed chairs in community medicine and medical humanities, respectively.
The department is the home to the M.P.H. and Ph.D. graduate programs in Public Health. With a current research portfolio representing a total funding commitment of approximately $10 million, the department’s research covers cancer epidemiology, substance use disorders, health services evaluation, health law and ethics, health behavior, public health dentistry, HIV/AIDS, and global health.
Mission
The mission of the department is to provide education, research, and service to the University and the State of Connecticut and the global public health community. The department offers educational opportunities for individuals pursuing careers in the patient-care professions, public health and the biomedical sciences. The department’s teaching activities and research programs have four interrelated goals:
- Provide educational opportunities for Connecticut residents pursuing careers in public health, medicine, and dental medicine.
- Advance knowledge through epidemiological, clinical, ethical, legal, behavioral, and social research.
- Develop and evaluate innovative health-care services and prevention programs; and
- Assist health care and public health professionals improve their effectiveness through consultation and continuing education programs.
Our Offices
The offices of the Department of Public Health Sciences are located in the 195 office complex situated at 195 Farmington Avenue (Route 4) approximately one mile from the Route 4 exit of Interstate 84 down the street from the UConn Health campus and John Dempsey Hospital. The department's main office, the majority of its divisions, and most faculty and staff offices are located in suite 2100. The physical infrastructure of the department consists of 7,817 square feet of offices and open space. The area includes 15 faculty offices, as well as office and open floor plan space for research assistants and administrative staff. Space is also allocated for document storage, student work stations, and a shared office for postdoctoral fellows. Additionally, the department encompasses a large classroom or conference room that can be used for seminars, departmental meetings and other functions, one smaller meeting room, and a kitchen.
Conference Rooms
Within the department's main area are one conference room and one smaller meeting room which are used by department members for meetings and appointments. All conference and meeting rooms are equipped with wired data ports to the UConn Health computer network. The large conference room includes audiovisual equipment, a networked desktop computer and projector plus conference phone. The smaller meeting room seats 7 and is equipped with a networked laptop, projector and telephone connection to facilitate conference calls. Department members can reserve the two conference rooms electronically through Microsoft® Outlook's resource scheduling capabilities.