Tulane ranked high among schools in shaping nation’s public health workforce

Tulane University is ranked as one of the top schools in the nation for producing senior academic administrators who are shaping our nation’s public health workforce, according to a recent independent survey.

The survey is an examination of the academic leaders of American-based programs, schools and colleges of public health who are leaders in developing the next generation of practitioners, scholars and policymakers. In all, the study identified two dozen universities that significantly influenced this cadre of 21st-century thought leaders and decision makers.

“The Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine was the first school of public health in the country, and for over a century has been a leader in addressing the most pressing public health challenges facing our community. We are enormously proud of the many alumni who have gone on to impactful careers, including the many who stayed in academia to educate a new generation of public health professionals,” said Robin Forman, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.

In addition to Tulane, other universities on the list include Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Michigan, the University of California–Berkeley, the University of North Carolina, the University of Washington, the University of Minnesota, UCLA, Columbia University, Ohio State University, the University of Illinois–Chicago, the University of Maryland, the University of Alabama–Birmingham, the University of Texas at Houston, Yale University, Boston University, the University of South Carolina, Indiana University, Purdue University, the University of Florida, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, and Texas A&M University.

“It’s notable that the leadership of such a high-profile, heavily populated academic discipline would have such a narrow educational lineage, especially when the discipline has a geographic focus — and footprint — as broad as public health’s,” said Jeffrey G. Harris, MBA, founder and managing partner of Harris Search Associates, the global executive recruiting firm that produced the study.

“After all, public health is, by definition, a field with both a worldwide makeup and a worldwide mission.”

Harris said the study’s results are a testament to “the handful of colleges and universities that made the decision decades ago to make public-health education a priority — and to make the commensurate investment in faculty, facilities and programming.”