University of Minnesota School of Public Health

Mayo Memorial Building at sunrise with biker in the foreground
Mayo Memorial Building, main home of the School of Public Health
University of Minnesota School of Public Health
MissionThrough excellence in education, research and community engagement, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health advances health—from scientific discovery to public impact—by enhancing population health and preventing disease in the U.S. and globally.
TypePublic, public health
Established1944
DeanMelinda Pettigrew
Faculty123 primary
Students1,025
Location
Mayo Building
420 Delaware Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
,
U.S.
Campus
Websitewww.sph.umn.edu

The University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and it is fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. The school enrolls more than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students from countries around the world.

The school is principally located in the Mayo Memorial Building[1] on the east bank of the Mississippi River, though many of its divisions and centers are located elsewhere on the University campus and the University Research and Outreach Center. The school was built within the traditional homelands of the Dakota people and the School of Public Health has the enduring responsibility to respect and support the Dakota people's tribal rights.

In 2021 and in the wake of George Floyd's murder by police fewer than five miles from the School of Public Health, the school launched its Strategic Plan for Antiracism[2] (SPAR) to make diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and antiracism central to the school's operations, culture, and mission. Its guiding value is that health is a human right.

Minnesota is the birthplace of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and many of the nation's top healthcare organizations, including the Mayo Clinic. It also is a base for medical device innovators, such as Medtronic. There is a widespread current of health awareness and action across the state.

The School of Public Health is one of the only top ranked schools of public health between Chicago and Seattle. It has a close relationship with the Minnesota Department of Health and many Fortune 500 companies. It shares a campus with five other health sciences schools—nursing, dentistry, medicine, and veterinary medicine.

The school is home to more than 20 research centers, including:

  • Nutrition Coordinating Center
  • Rural Health Research Center
  • State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC)
  • Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH)

Recently founded centers include:

  • Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation (CHAI)
  • Center for Public Health Systems
  • Institute of Global Cancer Prevention Research

Reputation and rankings

The School of Public Health has been among the nation's top public schools of public health since U.S. News & World Report[3] began its rankings in 1984. In 2025, it ranked as the:

  • #5 public school of public health (#14 overall)
  • among the top 5% of schools and programs of public health
  • #3 Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) program
  • #9 Health Policy and Management
  • #11 Biostatistics PhD program

Academic programs, degrees, and divisions

The school offers a BA in Public Health[4] and many programs leading to MPH, MHA, MS, PhD, dual degrees, and degrees for working professionals, as well as certificates and postdoctoral training in various areas of public health.

The school is composed of four academic divisions:

  • Biostatistics & Health Data Science
  • Epidemiology & Community Health
  • Environmental Health Sciences
  • Health Policy & Management

National academic firsts:

  • Maternal & Child Health MPH program
  • Epidemiology PhD program
  • Graduate minor in Health Equity
  • Graduate minor in Sexual Health

History

In 1874, University of Minnesota (UMN) president William Watts Folwell named Charles N. Hewitt, a Civil War surgeon and secretary of the Minnesota State Board of Health, as the Non-Resident Professor of Public Health, likely the first U.S. academic appointment in the field. The UMN Board of Regents established the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health in 1922 as part of the Medical School. In 1931, it began offering public health correspondence courses free of charge to all Minnesotans. The department added biostatistics to its disciplines in 1936 and in 1940, it began offering an MPH degree.

In 1937, noted physiologist Ancel Keys founded the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health. The lab became an internationally recognized research center for human physiology and nutrition. It was notable for developing K-Rations ("K" because it was phonetically distinct from other rations with letter names) for the military. During World War II, it conducted the Minnesota Starvation Experiment in 1944–45 to shed light on the psychological and physical effects of starvation and best practices for rehabilitation.

In 1944, the University of Minnesota transformed the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health into the School of Public Health. Endowments from William and Charles Mayo in 1939 helped build the Mayo Memorial Building where the school is headquartered. Their endowments also funded the Mayo Professorship in Public Health in 1946, the first fully endowed professorship at the University of Minnesota.

Also in 1946, SPH became one of the first nine schools of public health to be accredited by the American Public Health Association. In that same year, the school became the first in the country to grant a master's degree in hospital administration. It was later expanded as a master's degree in healthcare administration (MHA), ranked as one of the best in the country. In 1948, the school established the Mayo Chair in Public Health with funds from the Mayo Foundation.

In the 1950s, SPH founded the nation's first doctoral program in epidemiology (1958) and began a series of major cardiovascular disease (CVD) studies. These included the U.S. Railroad Study,[5] the first nationwide study of occupational activity and heart attacks, and the Seven Countries Study, the first population comparison of diet, risk factors, and rates of heart attack and stroke. (See more below.) Ancel Keys designed and ran the Seven Countries Study. Because of the significance of its findings, Time magazine put Keys on its cover in 1961.[6]

As the school added faculty, it took on new research areas, including tobacco use, maternal and child health, infectious diseases, and healthcare administration. Beginning in 1973, clinical trial design was strengthened through the Coordinating Centers for Biometric Research (CCBR). In 2022, CCBR garnered more NIH research funding than any other entity at the University of Minnesota.

In 1997, the school established Project EAT, a research study with the goal of learning more about the broad spectrum of eating and weight-related problems in young people to guide interventions. Project EAT has since become the largest, most comprehensive longitudinal body of research to examine a broad array of weight-related outcomes from adolescence through adulthood. The school founded the Center for Aging, now the Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation (CHAI), in 1994 and the Division of Health Policy and Management (HPM) in 2005. Between 2015 and 2023, a dedication to equity saw the formation of such entities as the Health Equity Work Group.

Health research

Since its inception, the School of Public Health has become known for top-ranked programs and seminal work in such areas as cardiovascular disease, nutrition, tobacco use and vaping, HIV/AIDS, injury and violence prevention, rural health, and structural racism.

The school has directed some of the most significant studies of heart-attack risk factors and prevention, with the first being the Seven Countries Study (1967–1978) whose findings disproved the notion that cardiovascular disease was a natural element of aging and is, instead, linked to lifestyle and diet, particularly a diet high in animal fat. Study findings were the basis for the Mediterranean diet, considered among the healthiest in the world.[7]

Clinical trials run from the school's Coordinating Centers for Biometric Research (CCBR) broke new ground in cardiovascular disease research. The Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT), for example, which ran from 1973 to 1982, tested whether lowering elevated serum cholesterol and diastolic blood pressure and ceasing cigarette smoking would reduce coronary heart disease mortality. Two CCBR trials in the early 2000s, SMART and START, focused on when to administer antiretroviral treatment for HIV and changed protocols around the world.

The school's work around tobacco use and vaping has had a significant impact on nationwide trends. Leonard Schuman played a key role in drafting the 1964 Surgeon General's Report[8] definitively linking smoking to cancer. By 1968, 78% of Americans believed smoking causes cancer, up from 44% in 1958. SPH research played a role in the 1990 legislation that banned cigarette vending machines in public places, discovered that smoking leaves an epigenetic "shadow" on one's genes[9] no matter when one quits, identified the risk of having an abdominal aortic aneurysm drops when smokers quit,[10] and found that a cancer-causing chemical forms in the bodies of people who vape,[11] research that influenced legislation on flavored vaping liquid. The school's Institute for Global Cancer Prevention Research continues to break new ground around cancer prevention, especially cancers related to tobacco. In 2015, the school began investigating high rates of illness and death among birthing people and that led to research into rural birthing opportunities, midwifery, and doula care. The work resulted in Minnesota legislation that allows Medicaid payment for services from a certified doula for pregnant people. The school's continues work into health equity for rural populations, including access to medical and mental health care, LGBTQ+ rights, transportation and housing.

Impact

  • National action related to rural hospital closures
  • Method to contain PFCs (now called PFAs) to protect drinking water and the environment (2018)
  • First association between e-cigarettes and cancer-causing agents (2018)
  • Lowering of suggested age for colonoscopies to 45 (2018)
  • Verification of new treatment plans for people with HIV, saving millions of lives[12]
  • Legislation that allows Medicaid payment for services from a certified doula for pregnant women in Minnesota
  • FDA-proposed restrictions of tanning bed use by people 18 years of age and younger (2015)
  • Discovery of an association between mining dust exposure and cases of mesothelioma (2014)[13]
  • First report card for quality of life in nursing homes (2010)[14]
  • Development of the Minnesota Model used nationwide to track foodborne illness outbreaks (year?)
  • First city-wide ban of cigarette vending machines in the U.S. (1989)
  • First comprehensive definition of childhood abuse and neglect (1984)[15]
  • Legislation that requires all new and remodeled buildings to be fully accessible to people with disabilities (1984)
  • First study to show high rates of concussions associated with youth football players (1983)
  • First model to predict probability of complications from radiation therapy (1981)
  • Mediterranean Diet (1980)
  • National Minor's Consent to Health Services Act of 1971
  • Development of the Minnesota Code, the most widely used electrocardiogram (ECG) classification system for epidemiologic studies (1960)

Leaders

Melinda M. Pettigrew (2023 – present)

Dean Melinda M. Pettigrew, PhD, became the eighth dean of the School of Public Health (SPH) in December 2023. Prior to joining the school, she was deputy dean and Anna M. R. Lauder Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. Dean Pettigrew is an expert on the epidemiology of respiratory tract infections, the microbiome, and the One Health threat of antibiotic resistance.

SPH has four major academic divisions and over 20 centers and programs; these are distributed across multiple locations on the University of Minnesota campus. Dean Pettigrew encourages closer working relationships among faculty and staff and is building a cohesive student services model. Her work at the school also includes elevating the education and teaching mission, while growing and deepening the school's world-class research efforts.

She is adamant in her support of health equity, justice, and antiracism and the school's robust research mission.

Timothy J. Beebe, interim dean (2022–2023)

Dean Timothy J. Beebe, PhD, was the interim dean of public health for 18 months after John Finnegan's retirement, stepping into the role from his position as head of the Division of Health Policy and Management. His expertise is in survey methodology and testing new data collection methods. Dean Beebe also founded the UMN Center for Learning Health System Sciences, an SPH and Medical School collaboration to help health systems modify, scale, or adopt changes to maximize value in healthcare.

In his service as interim dean, Dean Beebe was deeply involved with all aspects of the school to position it at its best for a new dean. Under his leadership, the school began several innovative academic programs, including the undergraduate major in public health and the MPH in Public Health Data Science. He was also instrumental in securing funding to launch the SPH Cannabis Research Center.

John Finnegan (2005–2022), interim dean (2004–2005)

Dean Emeritus John Finnegan, PhD, was the school's seventh and second longest serving dean. Dean Finnegan joined the school in 1980 as a UMN mass communication PhD student, writing and producing community health promotion campaigns. He became a faculty member in 1986 and developed a teaching and research program in public health communication. He served as associate dean of education from 1998 to 2003.

During his leadership as dean, the school expanded its education offerings, adding dual degree options across the health sciences and beyond, and initiating a baccalaureate minor in public health in collaboration with the College of Liberal Arts. The school made major investments in e-learning and student recruitment and admissions. It also became the first school of public health in the country to require a course in the ethics of public health. Dean Finnegan renewed the school's international presence through collaborations across the health sciences in partnership with USAID and public health leaders in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Under his leadership, the school developed its influential Strategic Plan for Antiracism as central to its mission, operations, and outreach, expanding its focus on diversity and equity.

Dean Finnegan served on the board of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), as its board chair (2013–2015), and on many national, international and Minnesota committees and boards. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, the school's prior investments in online learning made it possible for its students to continue their education uninterrupted.

Mark Becker (2001–2004)

Dean Mark Becker, PhD, joined the school from the University of Michigan as its sixth dean. As a well-known health sciences biostatistician, he was a strong believer in the power of research and an advocate for data-driven analysis and decision making.

During his tenure, school-wide improvements in strategic and financial planning helped to establish clearer priorities, projections, outcomes, and accountability. Dean Becker was also a firm supporter of cross collaborations in the health sciences in both research and education. During his tenure, school enrollment grew as did funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He also established a professional communications and advancement unit at the school, and this, along with increased NIH funding, enhanced the school's visibility and reputation both locally and nationally.

Following his time at SPH, Dean Becker went on to serve as provost at the University of South Carolina, president of Georgia State University, and president of the American Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU).

Edith Leyasmeyer (1996–2001), interim dean (1993–1996; 1982–1985)

Dean Edith Leyasmeyer received her PhD in hospital and healthcare administration from the University of Minnesota in 1968. She joined the SPH faculty in 1971. From 1972 to 1981, she worked in the Area Health Education Center at the University, first as the associate director and then as director. In 1980, she joined the SPH dean's office as interim dean, associate dean and executive officer, and dean (beginning in 1996).

Dean Layasmeyer renewed the school's focus on research and that led to increases in federal and state funding. Under her leadership, the school remained among the top five state schools of public health in the country, made initial investments in online learning, and expanded dual degree options and the faculty. She retired from the University in 2001.

Stephen C. Joseph (1991–1993)

Dean Stephen Joseph, MD, MPH, served as SPH dean from 1991 to 1993. During his leadership, SPH became the first of the 26 schools of public health at the time to be re-accredited for an unprecedented seven-year period. Prior to his time at SPH, Dean Joseph served as commissioner of health for New York City from 1986 to 1990. During the HIV/AIDS epidemic, he was well known for his prevention work, especially in preventing the spread of the disease among active drug users. He wrote the book Dragon Within the Gates: The Once and Future AIDS Epidemic about the history and circumstances of the AIDS epidemic.

Robert Kane (1985–1990)

Dean Robert Kane, MD, was an internationally renowned expert in geriatrics, aging, and long-term care. He joined SPH as professor and dean following the retirement of Dean Lee Stauffer and a two-year search for his successor. Under Dean Kane's administration, the school's current organizational structure took form. Smaller freestanding public health programs (e.g., Nutrition, Maternal & Child Health, Physiological Hygiene, etc.) were combined into larger divisions. This permitted a more streamlined and sustainable organizational structure.

Dean Kane continued building the school's growing reputation for research excellence and he increased funding from federal agencies and state contracts. Dean Kane's efforts and support resulted in SPH being named a center for the Community Programs for Clinical Research on AIDS (CPCRA), a national and influential clinic-based effort to evaluate various means of combating AIDS. During his tenure, Dean Kane was named the endowed chair in Long-Term Care and Aging. After his deanship, he continued his research and teaching in aging and long-term care until his death in 2017.

Lee Stauffer (1970–1982)

Dean Lee Stauffer, MPH, played a key role in the school's emergence as a highly funded research powerhouse. With the growth of NIH and the increasing availability of substantial federal funding for public health research, Dean Stauffer recognized new opportunities not only for faculty specialists, but also for the school's mission of teaching and learning. For example, under his leadership the school's maternal and child health program grew and diversified, with increasing emphasis on public health issues, such as child abuse.

During Dean Stauffer's leadership, healthcare delivery began to take a more prominent position at the school. There was an increased clinical focus in public health nursing, including the development of nurse practitioners; a strengthening of the healthcare administration program; and a pioneering program for training chemical dependency counselors. Important advances also were made in understanding the underlying causes and prevention of heart disease through national and international collaborative studies.

Gaylord Anderson (1944–1970)

Gaylord Anderson, MD, PhD, was an internationally known epidemiologist when the University named him to lead the new independent School of Public Health in 1944, only the seventh public health school in the U.S. Dean Anderson had been head of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health in the Medical School, which formed the core of the new school. At the time of the school's founding, he was serving as director of medical intelligence in the U.S. Army Medical Corps (1942–1946). Ruth Boynton led the school in his absence.

Dean Anderson returned as dean in 1946 and was named Mayo Professor of Public Health, the University's first permanently endowed professorship. In the post-war period, the school's enrollment grew rapidly drawing people newly returned from the war and ready to pursue careers. Many medical, nursing, and social work students combined public health with their training. The school soon had one of the largest student bodies of any public health school in the country.

Dean Anderson emphasized interdisciplinary collaboration among public health programs and encouraged a national and global public health perspective. In 1954, he served as a U.S. Department of State special consultant to develop a school of public health at Seoul National University in Korea, which continues to thrive. Dean Anderson was a public health consultant for other nations and the World Health Organization. He served as president of the American Epidemiological Society (1951) and the American Public Health Association (1952). He retired as dean and professor emeritus in 1970, and died in January 1979.  The Gaylord Anderson Memorial Lecture series has been a School of Public Health tradition since 1981.

Ruth Boynton, acting dean (1944–1946)

Acting Dean Ruth Boynton, MD, became the first leader of the newly formed School of Public Health in 1944. She served as dean on behalf of Gaylord Anderson, whom the University had chosen as the first dean of the school, but who was on active duty in World War II. Dean Boynton was also head of the Student Health Service, which now bears her name. She built it into one of the best and most complete student health services in the country.

Faculty and past faculty

References

  1. ↑ "Mayo Building & Additions | Campus Maps". campusmaps.umn.edu.
  2. ↑ "Strategic Plan for Antiracism - Diversity & Inclusion - School of Public Health - University of Minnesota".
  3. ↑ U.S. News & World Report
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ http://www.epi.umn.edu/cvdepi/study-synopsis/u-s-railroad-study/ ]
  6. ↑ https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19610113,00.html ]
  7. ↑ Blum, Dani (January 6, 2023). "The Mediterranean Diet Really Is That Good for You. Here's Why" – via NYTimes.com.
  8. ↑ https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/nn/feature/smoking ]
  9. ↑ https://www.sph.umn.edu/news/study-shows-smoking-leaves-imprint-dna/ ]
  10. ↑ Health, School of Public (November 16, 2016). "Pinpointing Risk Factors for Largely Fatal Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms - School of Public Health - University of Minnesota".
  11. ↑ Health, School of Public (July 31, 2018). "Cancer-causing Chemical Formed in E-cigarette Users - School of Public Health - University of Minnesota".
  12. ↑ (2006, 2015)
  13. ↑ http://taconiteworkers.umn.edu/news/documents/Taconite_FinalReport_120114.pdf
  14. ↑ "MN Nursing Home Report Card". nhreportcard.dhs.mn.gov.
  15. ↑ ten Bensel, Robert W. (July 1, 1984). "Assessing The Dynamics of Child Neglect and Abuse". Juvenile & Family Court Journal. 35 (4): 33–39. doi:10.1111/j.1755-6988.1984.tb01270.x – via Wiley Online Library.
  • Lehmberg, Stanford E. and Pflaum, Ann. The University of Minnesota, 1945-2000, U of Minnesota Press, 200

44°58′21″N 93°13′58″W / 44.972394°N 93.232864°W / 44.972394; -93.232864

This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.