County Supervisors Declare April 6 SDSU School of Public Health Day
The proclamation comes as the school celebrates its 40th anniversary.
“Over the last four decades, the School of Public Health made its mission to develop deep roots within our regional community.”
In recognition of the 40th anniversary of San Diego State University’s School of Public Health, and the program’s impact on the region, Tuesday, April 6, 2021 will be declared the SDSU School of Public Health Day across San Diego County.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors will make the proclamation during Tuesday’s virtual board meeting.
“From developing public health leaders to advancing medical knowledge to promoting health equity, SDSU’s partnership with the County of San Diego is invaluable,” said Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who presented the proclamation. “SDSU prepares almost 75 percent of the public health workforce in the County, including our very own Public Health Officer, Dr. Wilma Wooten. SDSU’s School of Public Health has been a steadfast partner during this pandemic and will continue to be one of the region’s most important institutions for decades to come.”
This year marks the 40th anniversary of SDSU’s School of Public Health (SPH). Founded in 1981, the school continues to grow in its program offerings in environmental health, epidemiology, health management and policy, health promotion and behavioral sciences to undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level students.
“Our School of Public Health continues to make a tremendous impact in the lives of the students we train and in the communities we serve while addressing the issues that impact us all. We are so appreciative of this proclamation and want to thank the Board of Supervisors for this honor. We are proud to be part of the greater San Diego community and look forward to many future partnerships,” said Eyal Oren, the interim director for SDSU’s School of Public Health, who was on hand during the virtual meeting.
Earlier this year, the School was named one of three finalists for the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) Harrison C. Spencer Award for Outstanding Community Service. The award honors public health programs that have demonstrated a major institutional commitment to addressing community needs through education, practice, and research.
Additionally, U.S. News & World Report recently ranked SDSU’s School of Public Health at No. 31 in its annual list of best graduate schools.
WIth the onset of the pandemic, researchers within the school worked to help combat the spread of COVID-19. Notably, over the last year, SPH has partnered with the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency to build a contract tracing program focused on reaching the county’s most underserved communities; collaborated as part of the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RadX) program; and helped launch the interdisciplinary CommuniVax initiative. All of these efforts continue to be utilized today.
“Over the last four decades, the School of Public Health made its mission to develop deep roots within our regional community. Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, our faculty were able to immediately leverage these relationships to directly improve the health and safety of our community,” said SDSU President Adela de la Torre. “By identifying equitable solutions to those who are often underserved by our health system and who were hardest hit by the pandemic, our public health faculty mitigated catastrophic losses in human life.”
