Welcome to the Department of Health Promotion!
We have a mission to promote and sustain health for all groups by integrating community-engaged public health research, exceptional training of public health leaders, and evidence-based outreach. For prospective students, we offer 2 MPH degrees—Health Promotion and Maternal & Child Health—and one doctoral program in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research.
We have some process steps to achieve our mission—doing community-engaged public health research, training current and future public health leaders in methods to achieve, measure, and report on closing and eventually eliminating health disparities, and by conducting evidence-based outreach.
Faculty and students in our department have completed research and applied practice experiences that support community infrastructure, partnerships, and capacity—and these activities set the stage for local policy changes that were enacted to improve the sexual health and education of children in our communities. We have other examples related to physical activity, dietary intake, substance abuse, tobacco prevention and cessation, chronic disease prevention and self-management, and more.
We focus our teaching on pragmatic issues that train future public health leaders to identify and use evidence-based approaches to promote health and where no evidence exists we train our students to create new evidence through rigorous planning and evaluation. Our faculty and students integrate teaching, outreach, and research activities so that we can understand the impact of our courses, community work, and contributions to science. We also balance experiential service learning opportunities, in-person lectures, discussion, and debate, with online services and technologies to make the content and experiences more accessible.
Our department conducts research that is practical and informed by partnerships with schools, federally qualified health centers, departments of public health, healthcare, and community organizations. Our goal isn’t scientific introspection, it is measureable, research-facilitated improvements in public health. To demonstrate the high quality of the research we do—faculty and students have received grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and multiple local and state organizations and agencies.
Welcome to our department and let’s work together for sustained and equitable health!!
Eleanor Rogan, PhD
Interim Chair and Professor
Department of Health Promotions
UNMC | College of Public Health