By Eric Dahl
ecd@ovpr.uga.edu

The University Council will consider a proposal to create a College of Public Health at UGA at its Sept. 23 meeting. Columns talked to Vice President for Research Gordhan Patel about the background to this proposal and what’s at stake.

Columns: How did the Public Health Initiative get under way?

Patel: UGA’s long-standing involvement in public health was recognized when the Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute was created with a Division of Public Health. The institute has been an incubator for this initiative.

Columns: What has already been done?

Gordhan Patel

Patel: The master of public health degree program was developed by a group of faculty led by Stuart Fors. It was approved by the University Council and the board of regents last year. About 20 students are enrolled in the M.P.H. program this fall.

Columns: What will it take to create a complete college of public health?

Patel: We already have two of the necessary concentration areas intact: environmental health science and health promotion and behavior. We could cover the remaining needs efficiently with one more department that included faculty in epidemiology, biostatistics and health administration.

Columns: Will UGA have to hire new faculty in these areas?

Patel: Yes, as the budget climate allows. But they are faculty we need to hire one way or the other or we will lose many other opportunities. I just had a faculty member explain that one of our large grant proposals in microbiology did not get funded because UGA did not have the necessary epidemiology component. Establishing the college will make it easier to attract the needed faculty, and they will be more productive once they get here.

Columns: What about the timing of this project, given the current budget situation?

Patel: UGA is a major university with a statewide mandate, and we will weather the current situation. During the previous recession in the early ’90s, Georgia was the first state to recover. UGA should not base long-term, strategic decisions on the crisis of the moment. The reality is that we increasingly need to rely on sources other than the state. An accredited college will bring in more grants and indirect costs, and this helps support the whole university.

Columns: How will creating this college affect the university’s budget?

Patel: In 2003, the CDC awarded about $45 million for public health research, including $20 million related to homeland security. It could only be accessed by faculty in accredited schools of public health. We have the people and lab capability to compete for these funds, but not the right academic configuration. At UC–Berkeley, faculty average about $1 million each in annual extramural funding. UGA has experienced reduced support from the state in recent years and this downward trend is likely to continue.

Columns: But where will the near-term resources to create a college come from?

Patel: We will have about 50 students in the M.P.H. program next fall, so there is tuition revenue already. The most expensive component is the $10 million in environmental health science labs, but we have these facilities in place already. Our faculty in that program definitely understand grantsmanship, and I think an accredited college of public health at UGA can bring in $20–25 million in external research funding per year with related indirect costs.

Columns: So UGA should do this to bring in more funding?

Patel: Yes, that’s a very good reason, and it will help many other programs on campus, such as nutrition, pharmacy, health communication, gerontology, the colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, and Public Service and Outreach. But funding is not the only reason, or even the main reason to do this. Georgia is perennially among the top five states in the country in all the worst diseases. Not just obesity, cancer and heart disease, but infant mortality, maternal mortality in childbirth and more. Creating a college of public health within the state’s only comprehensive, land-grant university is the right way to address these problems.

Columns: How would the college relate to programs at Emory and MCG?

Patel: Emory has an excellent program in public health. We have met with them and expect to collaborate. Our relationship with MCG is even closer. People ask how we can build the college without a medical school at UGA. The School of Public Health at Berkeley does not have a medical school. They have a close relationship with the medical school at UC–San Francisco. Our situation with MCG is similar, and the MCG president supports this initiative.

Columns: How will this impact students?

Patel: We will offer an excellent graduate program to in-state students at a very affordable tuition. This kind of program also attracts a relatively high percentage of minority students. For example, the new school of public health in Kentucky enrolls about 20 percent minorities in a state that is only about 10 percent minority.

Columns: Why a college rather than a school of public health?

Patel: Several of the newer programs nationally are called colleges rather than schools. At UGA we typically use “college” for programs with separate departments.

Columns: Anything to add?

Patel: The most compelling reason to go ahead at this time is that we understand our responsibility to the people of Georgia and this is the right thing to do. I feel very strongly about this. In terms of the new research programs we have built at UGA in recent years, and particularly the developments in health-related fields, this could be one of the most significant—maybe a crowning achievement—for a major research university like ours.