A Message from the Dean

Welcome to the VCU School of Public Health—our university’s 15th and newest academic school. The School unites four founding departments and offers degree programs in biostatistics, epidemiology, public health, social and behavioral sciences, and healthcare policy and research.

As founding dean, it is my honor to help build a School with a bold vision for improving health in Virginia and beyond through research, education and meaningful partnerships. We have made tremendous progress in a short time, and I invite you to explore some of our accomplishments from the past year here.

Guided by our strategic plan, we are committed to innovation, health equity and community impact—and inspired by VCU’s theme, “We Are the Uncommon.”

Our location within VCU’s robust health sciences campus creates extraordinary opportunities for collaboration. Together with schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and health professions—and an academic health system that is ranked number 1 in Virginia that includes a teaching hospital, children’s hospital, an NCI-designated cancer center and clinical and translational research infrastructure—we are uniquely positioned to reduce health disparities and advance data-driven public health solutions.

Our Master of Public Health program includes five concentrations: applied public health, health policy, epidemiology, health communications, and Virginia’s only program in cancer prevention and control science. And our downtown Richmond location—just steps from the Capitol—puts us at the heart of public health policymaking in the Commonwealth.

Whether you are a student, faculty or staff member, community partner, or supporter, I’m excited to welcome you. I look forward to working together to shape a healthier future for all—unequaled and uncommonly bold.

Sincerely,

Monica Swahn, Ph.D.
Dean, VCU School of Public Health
Charles W. & Evelyn F. Thomas Endowed Professor in Epidemiology
Director of Global Health, VCU Institute for Women’s Health