The Department of Health Behavior and Health Education supports a thriving, intellectually challenging, collegial milieu where together we advance the health of the public through teaching, research and practice.

Founded in 1943, we are the oldest department of health education in the U.S. Our goal is to understand the social and behavioral determinants of health problems and then, to help solve these problems, and to develop interventions based on theory, evidence, and values of justice and respect for others.

To reach these goals, the Department advances research at all levels of the social structure, with strengths in adolescent health, cancer control, community-based participatory research, health communication, injury control and violence prevention, and community, school and clinic interventions.

Master’s and doctoral level curricula cover topics ranging from understanding the etiology of public health problems to designing, implementing, evaluating, and disseminating interventions responding to those problems. In fleshing out the Department’s curricular triumvirate of theory, methods and interventions, skill sets we emphasize include: needs assessment and assets mapping; the design of theory-based interventions; program planning and implementation; acquisition of research methods, and community competency.

The Department’s students bring great diversity to our programs. They have, for example, managed volunteer organizations such as Planned Parenthood, conducted health education outreach with the Peace Corps and other service organizations, and carried out research for the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health. Faculty have backgrounds as varied as their students’, with expertise in social psychology, medicine, medical sociology, international health, communications, and health behavior.

As you navigate the Department’s website, you will find contact names, email addresses and phone numbers of faculty and staff who would be delighted to answer your questions about our training programs, research, or our department.

Edwin B. Fisher, PhD
Professor and Chair