SUNY Downstate’s School of Public Health Receives Full Five-Year Accreditation
Dec 23, 2010
The School of Public Health at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University has received full accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health for the maximum period of five years. While the Council had previously accredited the school’s five Master of Public Health degree programs and four Doctor of Public Health degree programs, this is the first accreditation for the school itself.
Pascal James Imperato, MD, MPH&TM, founding dean and dean of the School of Public Health, said, “The accreditation of our school is a major milestone for Downstate, Brooklyn, and New York City. With an emphasis on urban and immigrant health, the school has already had a major impact on improving the health and well being of the people of Brooklyn through its numerous collaborative community-based health promotion and disease prevention programs.”
The SUNY Downstate School of Public Health is the first accredited school of public
health in the history of Brooklyn, and only the second such school in New York City.
It is also the first accredited school of public health at a publicly supported university
in New York City.
The multi-phase accreditation process for the school began in 2008 with the initiation
of a self-study process that involved many internal and external stakeholders. An
accreditation site visit took place in late June 2010, following the submission of
an extensive self-study document.
The School of Public Health began in 2001 as a Master of Public Health Program offering
one degree and admitted its first 12 students in 2002. Over the subsequent years,
the program's degree offerings and enrollment greatly expanded. With this growth,
the Master of Public Health Program became the Graduate Program in Public Health in
2008 and the School of Public Health in 2009. The school currently has an enrollment
of 125 students and over 100 alumni.
As an accredited school, the SUNY Downstate School of Public Health joins the ranks
of only forty-seven such schools nationally accredited and becomes eligible to compete
for millions of Federal dollars restricted to such schools. The school is now also
eligible to use the common application process for students that is sponsored by the
Association of Schools of Public Health, a privilege restricted to nationally accredited
schools.
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About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn is one of four academic health centers (AMCs) in The State University of New York (SUNY) 64-campus system and the only SUNY AMC in New York City dedicated to health education, research, and patient care for the borough’s 2.7 million residents. Its flagship hospital, University Hospital at Downstate (UHD), is a teaching hospital and benefits from the expertise of Downstate’s exceptional medical school and world-class academic center research facilities. With a staff of over 800 physicians representing 53 specialties and subspecialties, Downstate offers comprehensive healthcare services to the community.
UHD provides high-risk neonatal and infant services, pediatric nephrology, and dialysis for kidney diseases and is the only kidney transplantation program in Brooklyn. Beyond its clinical expertise, Downstate houses a range of esteemed educational institutions, including its College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies, and School of Public Health. Downstate fosters innovation through its multifaceted biotechnology initiative, the Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, which support early-stage and more mature biotech companies.