At Dornsife School of Public Health, we believe health is a human right. In the Department of Health Management & Policy (HMP), our team of faculty, staff, and students is committed to this principle, striving to reduce health inequities and improve population health through partnerships with communities, bold research ideas, and a curriculum laser-focused on health in all policies and anti-racism.
The HMP department is home to the Center for Hunger-Free Communities. We also have faculty members who collaborate with the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel Urban Health Collaborative, and Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, among others. Our faculty includes professors with backgrounds in health services research, policy analysis, medicine, law, epidemiology, sociology, finance, administration, and community health. This unique mix of expertise allows us to explore the impact of health and social policies and programs on health outcomes at multiple levels – individual, community, society, etc. This is important work, but we can’t do it alone. We work with partner organizations at the national, state, and local level to co-develop and evaluate programs and policies that address complex public health problems and provide a foundation for bidirectional knowledge transfer. Through these relationships and educational opportunities for our students, Drexel continues to become ‘the most civically engaged university in the United States.
Students who join one of our degree programs will gain critical thinking and practical skills in health management and policy principles, frameworks, and methods that apply to health care delivery and public health practice, broadly defined. We pride ourselves on a holistic interpretation of public health that includes partners from other governmental sectors such as housing, education, criminal justice, food and agriculture, and urban planning. Furthermore, students at the Dornsife School of Public Health are afforded many opportunities to engage in learning outside the classroom including advocacy and applied practical experiences, and the HMP department is no exception.
The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the deep-seated health inequities that exist in the United States. It also made clear our need for better public health preparedness to handle infection control, guidance development, data sharing, risk communication, policy framing, and many other elements that ensure a robust public health infrastructure and response that the public trusts.
If you are a social justice-minded student or scholar that aims to make a difference tackling these complex problems from a policy or management perspective, our department may be right for you. We aim to offer all persons who walk through our doors, physically or virtually through our online programs, a supportive environment to thrive and achieve your career goals. On behalf of the department, I welcome you to contact us to learn more about what we have to offer and how you can be a part of our growing community.
Sincerely,
Jan M. Eberth, PhD
Professor and Chair
Health Management and Policy