March 29, 2022

The Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University (DSPH) has ranked the best public health school and program in Philadelphia and the surrounding region once more by the 2022 U.S. News & World Report.

DSPH has ranked #19 nationally out of 195 public health schools and programs accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health.

Each year as more schools and programs are accredited, the rankings become more competitive. Since 2015, DSPH has been recognized as a top graduate school nationally.

“Our School continues to grow in research, educational programs, and policy outreach. I want to thank all our faculty staff and students for their continued commitment to generating meaningful evidence and sustaining the partnerships necessary to improving health and achieving health equity in our city and our world,” said Ana V. Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH, Dana and David Dornsife Dean and Distinguished University Professor of Epidemiology.

The rankings are released each year by U.S. News & World Report and are based on peer assessment surveys.

This recognition reflects the School’s commitment to improving the health of communities and populations through education and training programs, conducting research, and forging cooperative partnerships with other civic, business, and academic institutions who aim to solve health challenges across the globe.

DSPH has grown and expanded since the last release of rankings in 2021. This is reflected in secured transformative funding including: a 5-year, $14.4 million “Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation” (FIRST) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to hire, retain and support diverse, early career researchers; an 18-month, $300K grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Transform Academia for Equity, an opportunity for DSPH to continue to identify and challenge systems that have hindered the pace and innovation of health equity research; and more.

The School also launched two new centers: The Ubuntu Center on Racism, Global Movements and Population Health Equity and the Medical Cannabis Research Center, which is a collaboration between DSPH and Drexel College of Medicine.

Additionally, DSPH has expanded online program offerings and continued to adapt educational programs to meet the needs of public health professionals across disciplines.

“In a time when students and instructors alike face unprecedented challenges and distraction, we are committed to creating a future trajectory that can bring our efforts into alignment to foster innovation and inclusion in the field of public health,” said Gina Lovasi, PhD, MPH, Dornsife Associate Professor of Urban Health and Associate Dean for Education. “Ongoing efforts across the school include student-centered scheduling, online and in person academic advising designed to empower students, and an articulation and assessment of anti-racist learning priorities for each of our degree programs.”

As a leader in urban health and community engaged public health, DSPH continues to advance its founding commitment to health as a human right and to social justice as key to improving population health.

View U.S. News’ Best Public Health Schools Rankings

Learn more about Dornsife's public health undergraduate and graduate programs