Back when FAMU acquired the state legislature’s permission to establish an Institute of Public Health (IPH) in 1995, it was done with the understanding that this would be an incremental step toward the goal of building a full-fledged School of Public Health. FAMU’s administration and faculty now aim to achieve that objective no later than 2014. This change will be part of FAMU's restructuring process.“Elevating public health from an Institute (a dependent entity with a singularly focused goal and little or no autonomy) to a school (a free-standing unit with complex course offerings, and success in external research and related funding) will allow the School to enter scholarly realms that are currently closed to it,” President James H. Ammons wrote in FAMU’s restructuring plan. “As a School of Public Health, there will be more opportunities for addressing the health needs of our community and nation with the support of both local and federal agencies.”
IPH is already a huge magnet for federal research grants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently awarded it $750,000 over three years for its Environmental Health, and Toxicology Educational Research Program. School status will help the institute draw millions more, which will help fund faculty positions and academic programs.
Presently, Florida only has two public colleges of public health. They are located at the University of Florida and University of South Florida.
The FAMU IPH was created as the result of strong grassroots advocacy to address disproportionately affected populations experiencing adverse health outcomes such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, and environmentally-related conditions. Housed within the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, its mission is “to improve the health status of the poor and underserved through graduate training, research and service.”
The institute currently offers a master of public health degree and Florida’s first-ever doctor of public health. In 2007 and 2008, IPH’s students achieved a 100 percent pass rate on the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. national certification examination.
IPH is also fully accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
Cynthia Marie Harris (pictured), who has served as IPH’s director since 1996, is superbly qualified to lead the institute to school status. She earned her Ph.D. in the biomedical sciences from Meharry Medical College in 1985, with concentrations in the areas of nutritional biochemistry and toxicology. Since then, Harris has served as a member of the CEPH Board of Councilors and on the editorial board of the Harvard Journal of Public Health. Harris also played an instrumental role in planning and launching the MPH and DrPH programs.
In the near future, Harris wants IPH to offer a Ph.D. in Public Health that will cater to the need for public health professionals trained in analytical research.