Drexel University School of Public Health Professor Nathalie Bartle retired this summer. Dr. Bartle served as a professor in the Department of Community Health & Prevention and was a member of the core faculty group who developed the School of Public Health. She was responsible for much of “the essence” of the school.

“Her passion for public health and for maternal child health issues is palpable,” said DUSPH Dean Marla J. Gold. “Her caring guidance and teaching for our students leaves a legacy of public health leaders among our students and alumni.”

In 2010, Dr. Bartle was honored by Abilene Christian University as a Distinguished Alumnus. At the event Dean Gold noted that,

“Dr. Bartle spearheaded the very founding principles of the school. Her deep belief in bettering communities was applied to creating a school dubbed early on as the “school without walls” because it was seamless with the surrounding region; because the public health students would perform their senior projects in, and with the community; because this school would do more than hand out degrees—it would be designed to make a palpable difference every day, on real streets, in real people.”

Dr. Bartle holds a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Northeastern University and a doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Harvard University. She has held an appointment as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Medical School where she taught behavioral health to medical students and pediatric residents and was made Director of the Division of School Health & Community Pediatrics. Dr. Bartle has extensive experience in the fields of maternal and child health, adolescent health, and community health, including as a senior research associate of the Harvard Health Policy, Research and Education Division, a member of the Harvard University Working Group on Early Life and Adolescence, and a consultant to the Carnegie Foundation. She also developed a training program for public health students and primary care residents at the Department of Health & Hospitals in Boston.

In June of 1996, Dr. Bartle received a book contract from Houghton Mifflin Company to publish her dissertation. In 1998 she published her book titled “Venus in Blue Jeans: Why Mothers and Daughters Need to Talk About Sex.” The book has since received national and international attention. It was published by Houghton-Mifflin in 1998, Dell in 2000, an e-book in 2012 and has also been published in Spanish and Greek.

During her 18 year tenure at the DUSPH, she has been a mentor and advisor to many graduate students and young faculty. She has served in numerous leadership positions at DUSPH, including Associate Dean for Student Affairs (1999-2005) and currently as the school’s Chair of the Maternal & Child Health (MCH) Working Group. Additionally, she has been a primary investigator for three MCH research studies. Dr. Bartle has assumed numerous leadership roles at The Institute for Women’s Health & Leadership at Drexel’s College of Medicine and in the community. In 2003 she was promoted to the rank of full Professor.

Dr. Bartle and her husband, Harvey Bartle, look forward to spending time with their five children and their spouses as well as their 12 grandchildren. Please join us in thanking Nathalie for all she has given to our school, our students, all of us and to the field of public health.