School of Public Health

Vision

Stronger Communities, Healthy People—Our Tradition

Mission

Texas A&M School of Public Health is committed to transforming public health through interdisciplinary inquiry, innovative solutions and development of leaders through the Aggie tradition of service to engage diverse communities worldwide.

Research Centers

• Center for Worker Health
• Southwest Rural Health Research Center
• Center for Community Health and Aging
• USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness
• Center for Health & Nature
• Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Research

Research

• New awards from 9/1/23 to 8/31/24 were $36.4 million.
• Researchers published more than 260 peer-reviewed papers in 2023 and have made impacts through public health interventions and/or research in all 254 counties in Texas.
• Research expenditures since the school's founding exceed $146 million, with funding from federal, state, local, nonprofit, and private sources.
• Researchers are national leaders in rural health policy, community health and aging, healthcare access and equity, emergency preparedness and response, health economics, program evaluation, occupational and environmental health, and behavior health.
• The Southwest Rural Health Research Center has been awarded a 4-year, $2.8 million cooperative agreement by Health Resources and Services Administration's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP). The award supports approximately four projects per year with interdisciplinary teams and graduate student support. Established in 2000 as one of six rural health research centers in the nation, the center has been continuously funded by FORHP since 2016.

Research Awards

• $12.6 million: Texas Health and Human Services Commission Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Renewal (10-year extension).
• $3.9 million: Department of Health and Human Resources-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is partnering with the School of Public Health to conduct epidemiologic investigations to assess the potential threat of HPAI A(HSN1) virus to humans in the U.S. and potential for infection of persons exposed to infected cows or contaminated materials.
• $1.3 million: Children's Hospital Association of Texas (CHAT) -A two-year study to ascertain the need for, and use of, inpatient beds for children and adolescents' acute mental health needs in Texas within the context of the continuum of care for mental health services.
• $1.1 million: Department of Health and Human Resources- Administration for Community Living - US Aging - COVID-19 and Influenza uptake initiative for older adults and people with disabilities.
• $929 thousand: Department of Health and Human Resources - National Institutes of Health - National Institute on Aging - Clairvoyant Networks, Inc.- Ultra wideband fall detection and prediction solution for people living with Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease related dementias.

FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS

• Mark Benden, PhD, elected to the National Academy of Inventors.
• Cory Cobb, PhD, received the Samuel M. Turner Early Career Award from the Society of Clinical Psychology.
• Benika Dixon, DrPH, named Kavli Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences.
• Alva Ferdinand, DrPH, JD, named to the Health Resources and Services Administration's National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Service.
• Jennifer Griffith, DrPH, received the Riegel man Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education from the American Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.
• Krystal Flores, DrPH, named a Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Faculty Fellow by the National MCH Workforce Development Center.
• Sherry Lin, PhD, received the Texas A&M Provost Academic Professional Track Faculty Teaching Excellence Award.
• Christopher Owens, PhD, received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Award.