Fielding School of Public Health

Fielding School of Public Health
Name	Fielding School of Public Health
Established	1961
Type	Public
City	Los Angeles
State	California
Country	United States
Parent	University of California, Los Angeles

Fielding School of Public Health is a public health school within the University of California, Los Angeles. It educates practitioners and researchers for careers related to population health, policy, and health equity while engaging with partners in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and global health settings. The school participates in interdisciplinary initiatives alongside units across campus and with external organizations.

History

The school traces origins to public health training programs associated with University of California, Los Angeles and ties to public health responses shaped by events such as the 1957 influenza pandemic and the 1960s civil rights movement. Early faculty included scholars influenced by work at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and collaborations with the California Department of Public Health and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. During the 1970s and 1980s the school expanded amid national policy debates involving the National Institutes of Health, the Surgeon General of the United States, and the passage of federal statutes like the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973. In later decades, the school deepened research links with institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley. Leadership transitions reflected affiliations with figures who worked on global health initiatives with World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization, and response efforts following the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Academic Programs

Programs include professional and research degrees connected to public health practice, policy, and epidemiology. Degree offerings align with curricular models used by institutions like Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Yale School of Public Health, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Students pursue MPH, DrPH, and PhD pathways with concentrations comparable to programs at Brown University, Stanford University, and University of Michigan School of Public Health. Joint degree options mirror collaborations seen with UCLA School of Law, UCLA Anderson School of Management, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and professional schools such as UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Practical fieldwork partnerships include placements with Veterans Health Administration, Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Unified School District, and international placements with Médecins Sans Frontières and Partners In Health.

Research and Centers

Research themes span epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health sciences, health policy, social determinants of health, and community-based participatory research. The school houses centers and programs that partner with entities like National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and GAVI. Collaborative research occurs with laboratories at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, analytic units at Pew Charitable Trusts, and policy centers such as the RAND Corporation and Brookings Institution. Research outputs have informed responses to crises including the H1N1 2009 pandemic, the COVID-19 pandemic, and disasters like the Northridge earthquake. Centers engage in global projects funded by United Nations, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and bilateral agencies such as USAID.

Departments and Faculty

Academic departments reflect disciplinary structures similar to those at University of Washington School of Public Health, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, and New York University School of Global Public Health. Faculty have held appointments or collaborated with organizations including the National Academy of Medicine, the Royal Society, the American Public Health Association, and advisory roles to the White House and state capitols such as California State Capitol. Scholars have published in journals like The Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, American Journal of Public Health, and Nature Medicine. Faculty expertise spans infectious disease modeling with connections to groups such as Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, environmental exposure assessment linked to Environmental Protection Agency, and health economics research interfacing with World Bank projects.

Campus and Facilities

Facilities are located on the UCLA campus near centers for biomedical research and public policy, adjacent to entities such as the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, and the UCLA Behavioral Health Research Center. Research infrastructure includes wet labs, biostatistics computing clusters, and community engagement offices used in collaborations with Los Angeles County Museum of Art community programs and local public health departments. Proximity facilitates joint seminars with units like the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health peer professional networks, clinical training with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and cooperative space-sharing seen with universities such as USC and institutes like Northridge Research Consortium.

Rankings and Accreditation

Accreditation follows standards similar to those set by national bodies such as the accreditor commonly used by peer schools exemplified by Council on Education for Public Health programs at Johns Hopkins University and regional accreditation like that held by University of California. Rankings by outlets that also assess schools such as U.S. News & World Report, Times Higher Education, and QS World University Rankings place it among notable public health programs in the United States. External reviews have compared performance metrics to schools including Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Michigan, and international comparators like London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Student Life and Alumni

Student organizations mirror networks across public health student bodies found at Yale University, Princeton University, and Brown University. Students engage in internships with agencies like Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, advocacy with Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and research fellowships with foundations such as the Kresge Foundation. Alumni hold positions in institutions including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, GAVI, City of Los Angeles, California State Legislature, and private sector roles at companies like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and GlaxoSmithKline. Notable alumni and affiliates have served in leadership at United Nations,Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and municipal health departments comparable to New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Category:University of California, Los Angeles