Hoping to boost California's capacity to meet the health needs of the state's fast-growing and increasingly diverse population, UC Davis is exploring the possibility of establishing a school of public health.

Provost Virginia Hinshaw has charged a committee to report on whether there is sufficient need for a school of public health at UC Davis and, if so, to describe both the vision and scope of a school.

Members of that committee, including faculty from a variety of disciplines across campus ranging from medicine, veterinary medicine and nutrition to economics and statistics, met Feb. 10 with leaders in the public health field for a full-day retreat in Sacramento. The group discussed California's need for training more public health professionals and UC Davis' ability to meet that need.

Emerging field

Unlike the field of medicine, which focuses on the immediate health needs of an individual, public health emphasizes disease prevention and the well being of whole populations. There currently are 37 accredited schools of public health in the United States, including four in California, located at UC Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego State University and Loma Linda University.

Retreat participants discussed the opportunity for UC Davis to parlay the campus's location in California's capital region and agricultural heartland, along with its existing academic strengths, to focus on critical public health issues such as rural and environmental health.

"It's amazing the richness of UC Davis," said Harrison Spencer, president of the Association of Schools of Public Health, after spending a day on campus. He noted that the campus's environmental programs are "exceptionally strong" and its multidisciplinary culture impressive.

"There is enormous potential for doing a school of public health here that very quickly could be very successful," he said, urging the faculty to avoid trying to "duplicate" the schools of public health at UC Berkeley and UCLA.

UC Berkeley adjunct faculty member Richard Jackson, who formerly served as California's public health officer and as director of the National Center for Environmental Health, noted that California's health-care challenges, including obesity and Type II diabetes, are growing rapidly along with its population. With the state's population projected to reach 50 million by 2054, California's health system is "headed for a train wreck," he said.

"And the fix cannot be medical," he stressed.

Environmental roots

The situation is compounded by increasing environmental problems, including air pollution and global climate change, Jackson said. As the state grapples with solutions to these problems, he urged that "public health needs to be at the forefront of all these decisions….including land use."

Helen Thompson, a member of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, noted that UC Davis is well positioned to meet the public health needs of Northern California counties.

"We have an enormous opportunity to create something different that takes advantage of all the wonderful assets of the Davis campus," she said.

Other retreat participants urged the campus to focus on developing both a diverse student body and faculty in any future school of public health, in order to meet the needs of the state's increasingly diverse population.

Nutrition professor Ken Brown stressed the importance of working with existing campus programs, including nutrition and veterinary medicine, which already have international links, in order to make sure that the school of public health would serve "a global community."

Communications, technology

Glennah Trochet, director of the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, suggested that the proposed school should include training in health communication and technology, and that distance learning programs would meet an important need in the public health profession.

Bette Hinton, director of the Yolo County Health Department, noted that UC Davis' undergraduate programs have been a "great boon" to the county, providing a supply of trained students who work in the county program before going on for graduate education.

"If we had a school of public health, that would be even a greater bonus," she said, adding that many health professionals in Northern California are eager to earn a master's degree in public health, but can't take time from their jobs to pursue an advanced degree.

Distance learning

Modern schools of public health truly have the ability through distance learning to overcome both location and time conflicts for working professionals, said Marc Schenker, professor and chair of the School of Medicine's Department of Public Health Sciences.

He told of one working nurse and single mother of four, who was able to enroll in a public health degree program because that particular school offered online courses, which she was able to take advantage of during her few hours of free time in the middle of the night.

Schenker, who is co-chairing the planning committee along with Jackson, reported that the campus has received funding from the California Endowment to conduct a public health training needs assessment in Northern California counties.

He and John Troidl, academic administrator for the effort, have visited seven schools of public health around the country and will soon visit the public health schools at UC Berkeley and UCLA. They also are in the process of meeting with the deans of UC Davis' various schools and colleges, as well as with department chairs, as part of an "information and fact-gathering" effort.

A survey will soon be sent to members of the academic senate and academic federation, soliciting their thoughts and interest in the exploratory process.

In September, the planning committee will submit a report to Hinshaw, offering recommendations on whether the campus should pursue establishing a school of public health. If a proposal for a school is approved, it then will be submitted to UC's graduate deans council and, eventually, to the UC Regents.

More information

Anyone interested in obtaining more information about the school of public health exploratory effort may contact Ruth Parcell in the Department of Public Health Sciences at (530) 754-4992 or raparcell@ucdavis.edu.