Executive Director
On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the new School of Public and Allied Health (SPAH). I am ecstatic about this moment because Prairie View A&M University is the first Historically Black College and University in Texas to launch a new BS/BA degree in public health. This move marks the first step in bringing a glaring gap in health care that University and health officials alike say became fatally obvious during the COVID-19 pandemic. The worldwide eruption highlighted the racial disparities in public health when Blacks and people of color were twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than their White counterparts.
Public health-related occupations can expect a strong job outlook in Texas and also globally. Local demand for public health professionals is robust and will now go a long way to help a student’s future career. Reducing health disparities is one of the major goals of public health, therefore, it is incumbent upon PVAMU to produce highly trained public health professionals with the core competencies in public health to develop and implement strategies to address the fundamental environment, social and economic causes of health inequities in Texas, the country and globally. The new public health program will also address the needs of transfer students from area community colleges with an associate’s degree in public health who are seeking a bachelor’s degree.
In short, thank you for joining us for this historic event. There is no better place for students to learn and acquire the skills needed for the following area of disciplines in public health at Prairie View A&M University: biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health, health policy/management, and social and behavioral sciences. This program will launch a new beginning of basic epidemiological principles such as identifying public health concerns and the skills to address them, disease surveillance, program development and implantation, and data analysis. Excellence Lives Here in the School of Public and Allied Health.
Angela Branch-Vital, Ph.D.