College of Public Health Resources
Departmental Summaries
Department of Biostatistics
The Department of Biostatistics has faculty and staff offices in the General Hospital and the Clinical Trials Statistical and Data Management Center (CTSDMC). The CTSDMC is housed in the University Capitol Center (UCC) just across the Iowa River. The Center for Public Health Statistics is close to the General Hospital in the Westlawn Building, as is the Biostatistics Linux Computing Laboratory.
The Department of Biostatistics includes fifteen primary full-time faculty biostatisticians, ten secondary faculty, four adjunct faculty, and one emeritus faculty member. The methodologic expertise of the faculty includes: Bayesian statistics, clinical trials, linear models, time series analysis, model selection criteria, quality control, design of sample surveys, experiment design, survival analysis, nonparametric statistics, multivariate analysis, longitudinal data analysis, spatial statistics, missing data, data mining, health information systems, and categorical data analysis. Kathryn Chaloner, Ph.D., is Professor and Head of the department. The faculty are actively involved in statistical research, consultation, and collaboration with other researchers in: cardiovascular studies, neurologic disorders, diabetes research, transplant studies, cancer epidemiology, injury epidemiology and injury prevention, mental health epidemiology, cancer research, environmental modeling, nephrology, agricultural medicine, aging studies, HIV research and health care delivery, among others. Each year the department engages in approximately 1,000 consultations ranging from brief discussions to long-term involvement with ongoing studies. Staff resources include master's degree level statisticians, computer professionals, and clerical support personnel.
The Department has approximately 15 M.S. students, 24 Ph.D. students, and 2 M.P.H. students. Most students serve as part-time research assistants or teaching assistants. Some Ph.D. students are appointed as fellows on an NIH training grant in “Statistics, Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Bioinformatics”. The Department has a Biostatistics Computing Laboratory, operating a Linux network for use by the graduate students and faculty, as well as access to the Collegiate computing laboratory and resources which primarily operate Microsoft Windows.
Faculty in the Department have served as principal investigators on grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, National Security Agency, and the Iowa Department of Public Health. Biostatistics faculty collaborate with investigators in other Departments in the College and numerous investigators at The University of Iowa.
Department of Community and Behavioral Health
Headed by Dr. Linda G. Snetselaar, the Department of Community and Behavioral Health examines the relationship between human behavior and community health and focuses on creating effective strategies for health improvement.
The Department currently has 11 primary faculty members, one emeritus faculty, 23 adjunct and secondary faculty representing medicine, nursing, pharmacy, anthropology, global studies, education, pediatrics, sociology, social work and communication studies, one associate research scientist, two post doctoral scholars, 54 students and over 20 full and part time staff members supporting the academic and research missions of the Department. The faculty members come from a variety of disciplines within the social and health sciences; their common bond is an interest in health behavior and promoting healthy communities.
Areas of research and academic emphasis include smoking cessation and prevention, alcohol/drug abuse and dependence, health communication, mental health, community development and empowerment, obesity, public health program evaluation, and youth risk behaviors. Sources of funding and grants include DHHS, CDC, ASPH, Legacy, SAMHSA, ACS, Pfizer, Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Iowa Attorney General. The Department currently administers four centers of research and practice, and M.S. and Ph.D. programs, including a doctoral subtrack in health communications.
Department of Epidemiology
The Department of Epidemiology is an academic and public resource for assessment and improvement of human health. It strives to improve public and personal health by preparing students for careers that require specialized knowledge of epidemiologic theories, methods, and analytic techniques; by conducting innovative research in the magnitude, determinants, and prevention of disease and its consequences and in health promotion and evaluation; and by providing education, consultation and collaboration with public health and other programs. The Department of Epidemiology has maintained diversity and a multi-emphasis graduate degree program with faculty who have expertise in a variety of areas, with emphasis on those with public health importance to rural America. Academic degrees are offered through the MPH program, the MS in Epidemiology program, the PhD in Epidemiology program and the MS in Clinical Investigation program.
Dr. James Torner is Professor and Head of the Department. The Department currently has 16 full-time faculty, 52 secondary and adjunct faculty, 7 emeritus faculty and four research scientists. The research activities support nearly 210 research staff and graduate research assistants. Space for the academic department is available in the General Hospital for faculty and administrative staff. Research programs are located in the Westlawn Building, Old Capitol Centre, and Oakdale Hall on campus as well as satellite clinics of the Preventive Intervention Center at the Towncrest Center in Iowa City and in Des Moines. Research administration is done through the College of Public Health by dedicated personnel in the Department and Centers: the Iowa Cancer Registry, the Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders, the Preventive Intervention Center, Health Effectiveness Research Center, the Nutrition Research and Resource Center and the Lipid Research Clinic, and the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases. The Departmental faculty are also members of several University and College centers such as the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Center on Aging, the Injury Prevention Research Center, the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, the Center on Health Effects from Environmental Contaminants and the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. The Epidemiology Resource Core Protocol Development provides researchers and students with expertise in data management, statistical consulting, research budgeting, protocol and questionnaire repository, data archive and sample storage and cataloging.
Areas of research and academic emphasis include aging epidemiology, birth defects epidemiology, cancer epidemiology, cardiovascular disease epidemiology, infectious disease epidemiology, injury epidemiology, neuroepidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, reproductive epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, nutritional epidemiology, and health services research and outcome epidemiology. Sources of funding for grants and contracts are from the NIH (NCI, Fogarty International Center, NIEHS, NHLBI, NIA, NIDR, NIDCD, NINDS, NIMH, NIAID, NIDDK), the NLM, CDC, NHSTA, NIOSH, HCFA, DoD-GEIS, CDRF and AHRQ; various foundations (Wellmark Foundation, Arthritis Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson, Cancer Research Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, W. K. Kellogg Foudation, Principal Financial Group Foundation, and National Pork Board); associations (American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, American Dietetic Association, American Emu Association); private industry (Merck, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Merck/Schering-Plough, Pfizer, Hoffman LaRoche, GlaxosmithKline, USAA, Daiichi Sankyo, Sanofi-Aventis, Abbott Labs, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Quidel, MITRE); center grants, and institutional grants.
Major research studies include the Agricultural Health Study, the Women’s Health Initiative, the Iowa Cancer Registry, the Iowa Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, National Down Syndrome Project, Muscular Dystrophy Surveillance Tracking and Research Network, Iowa Stillbirth Surveillance Project, the Study of Fluoride and Other Factors in Childhood Bone Development, the International Study of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms, the University of Iowa Older Adults CERT, Lung Cancer Care Outcomes/Surveillance Consortium – Iowa (CanCORS), Adolescent Diet Hormones and Breast Cancer Susceptibility, Promoting Health and Reducing Obesity in Children: A Community-Based Pilot Project in Iowa, Nutrition Experiences in Cancer Prevention, Pharmaceutical Case Management and Living Well with a Disability, National Surveillance for Emerging Adenovirus Infections, Transcriptional and Genetic Profiles in HNSCCs, the Multicenter Knee Osteoarthritis Study , Domestic Abuse in Pregnancy and Adverse Birth Outcomes, and Maternal-Fetal HLA Sharing and Risk of Preeclampsia.
Department of Health Management and Policy
The Department of Health Management and Policy offers a Master of Health Administration (MHA) degree, a M.P.H. in Policy degree, and a Ph.D. in health services and policy. The M.H.A. program has over 1000 alumni. The doctoral program is the oldest in health care management in the United States. Dr. Barry Greene is Head of the Department. Thirteen faculty have primary appointments in the department. Included on the faculty are specialists in health services research, health policy, health systems planning, strategic management, health economics, quality management, outcomes assessment, aging and mental health policy, and leadership. Joint appointments and regular collaborations involve physicians, nurses, geographers, epidemiologists, organizational sociologists, and economists. HMP faculty carry out the bulk of their research in four centers and institutes: Center for Health Policy and Research, Institute for Public Health Practice, Center on Aging, and the VA-based Center for Research in the Implementation of Innovative Strategies in Practice (CRIISP). HMP faculty fill a number of leadership positions within the University including Dean, Associate Deans, and Director of the State Hygienic Laboratory.
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health
The Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, directed by Peter Thorne, Ph.D., M.S., comprises faculty from a wide variety of disciplines including occupational health, industrial hygiene, injury epidemiology, biomechanics and ergonomics, toxicology, and aerosol physics. This diverse group of faculty members brings in $12,000,000 in extramural funding each year. Funding comes from a wide range of federal and state agencies, as well as from private foundations. Lead funders include the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
The Department of Occupational and Environmental Health is housed in the Institute for Rural and Environmental Health (IREH). When it was founded in 1955, the IREH was the first multidisciplinary research institute in the Western Hemisphere dedicated to evaluation, assessment and control of health effects arising from agricultural and rural exposures, and it is known nationally and internationally for its agricultural health research. Located on the University’s Oakdale research campus, the facility provides substantial office, information systems, and laboratory support for the Department’s 19 primary faculty, 70 staff, and 40 students. The 13,697 net square feet of laboratory space at the IREH includes Industrial Hygiene Laboratories, Toxicology Laboratories, a Biomechanics and Ergonomics Facility, and an Inhalation Toxicology Facility.
March 2010