Population & Family Health
The Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health focuses on the health needs and rights of diverse populations in both settled and displaced communities across the globe. Concentrating on underserved populations, we prepare students to work in public health programs as well as advocacy and policy initiatives that facilitate the development, testing, and adoption of best practices in the field.
Our faculty members are recognized national and international leaders in the fields of:
- Reproductive and sexual health and sexuality
- Humanitarian assistance/Forced migration
- Child, adolescent, and family health
- Global health
- Human rights
- Demography and population sciences
The Department considers the areas of education, research, and service delivery to be highly interdependent; we have a long, proud history of service-based research, including translational and applied research. Our faculty and students work in numerous locations in the U.S. and globally - in our Upper Manhattan neighborhood, throughout the nation, and in more than 60 countries worldwide. Students interact closely with faculty and staff, learning from their extensive expertise in research, healthcare services, health education programs, and analyses of the impact of social policy and human rights violations on global health.
By providing our students with a robust academic experience that combines theoretical understanding of the complex factors that affect local and global health with skills-based training, we prepare our graduates to “hit the ground running” in their roles as researchers, practitioners, policy advocates, and evaluators and, quite often, to become leaders in their field. (Learn about the Department's work experience requirement.)
Degrees
Student Perspective
Andrew Lewis, MPH '12, explains how the MPH program, including a practicum in Indonesia, equips him to do humanitarian work more effectively.
Department Contacts
Our faculty are engaged in research projects and applied programs around the globe. See some examples below. View a complete list of department faculty.
An authority on adolescent health, Dr. Santelli is a recognized leader in insuring that adolescents are appropriately included in health research.
Dr. Csete's research and teaching focus on the health and human rights of marginalized populations, including people who use illegal drugs and others vulnerable to HIV.
On the frontlines of war and natural disasters, Dr. Boothby has spent more than 20 years helping displaced children whose lives have been devastated.
- Food and Nutrition in Complex Emergencies
- Eliminating Pediatric AIDS: Towards a Global Approach
- The Globalization of Motherhood
- Current Issues in Sexuality and Health
- Investigative Methods in Complex Emergencies
- Law, Policy, and Human Rights
- Protection of Children in War and Disaster
- Quantitative Data Analysis
- Psychosocial and Mental Health Issues in Forced Migration
Each student takes part in a practicum, an essential component of the program that enables participants to gain valuable hands-on experience related to her or his area of study. Below are a few of the organizations that have recently hosted practicums.
- Care and Protection of Children in Crisis-Affected Countries
- Learning Network
- Centers for Disease Control
- The Fuller Institute
- Ghana Health Services
- International Family AIDS Program in La Romana, Dominican Republic
- International Rescue Committee
- National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
- NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Planned Parenthood
- Population Council
- Save the Children
- UNICEF
- Women’s Refugee Commission
Graduates of the Department of Population and Family Health are uniquely positioned to become leaders in their fields, as clinicians, researchers, evaluators, practitioners, and advocates. Recent examples of positions held by graduates include:
- Resident Physician, Women and Infant's Hospital, Brown University
- Allen Rosenfield Global Health Fellowship, Tanzania Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control
- Deputy Director, CUNY Institute for Health Equity
- Clinical Research Manager, Family Health International
- Evaluation Coordinator, ICAP at Columbia
- Research Analyst, National Center for Children in Poverty
- Director of Research & Prevention Programs, NYC Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence
- Social Services Manager, Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership
- Medical Education Associate , Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health
- Associate, Rockefeller Foundation
- Program Manager, Global Health Technical Assistance Projects, USAID