About Us
Our Mission
We advance the health of the public by investigating the causes, treatments and prevention of human health problems. We optimize our effect through teaching, collaboration, and service to the community.
Our Chairman
Jay Magaziner, PhD, MSHyg
Director of the Division of Gerontology and Co-director of the Center for Research on Aging, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health; Professor of Medicine and Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Dr. Magaziner's research focuses on three interrelated areas of aging: the consequences of hip fracture, health and long-term care, and methods for studying older populations. The major focus of this work is to identify ways of enhancing functioning and improving the quality of life for older persons. His work on hip fracture recovery has earned him two consecutive MERIT Awards from the National Institute on Aging.
As co-director of the Center for Research on Aging, Dr. Magaziner works with faculty and fellows in the School of Medicine and across the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Baltimore County campuses to foster interdisciplinary research and research training in geriatrics and gerontology. Dr. Magaziner's plans for the department include ensuring that the already strong educational and research programs continue to thrive, and that departmental faculty and staff have the intellectual environment and resources needed to grow professionally and advance the school's efforts in clinical translational science.
Our Vision
We are a multidisciplinary team dedicated to improving the health of the public by training medical students, graduate students, and health professionals, conducting research, and serving as a resource to the university, the state, and the broader community. We are distinguished by the following:
- Educational programs that prepare future physicians to provide health care based on scientific evidence.
- Graduate education that prepares scientists and health professionals for leadership roles in research, preventive medicine, and public health.
- Outstanding epidemiological research programs that have significant impact on people’s lives.
- Scholarly activities that disseminate important health information and shape public policy.
- Collaborative structures that integrate our strengths with those of other disciplines and institutions.
Our History
Dr. Maurice Pincoffs
The University of Maryland School of Medicine became the first U.S. Medical School to teach preventive medicine when Dr. Robley Dunglison (who had been recruited by Thomas Jefferson to be the founding faculty member of the University of Virginia School of Medicine) accepted the new chair of Materia Medica, Therapeutics, Hygiene and Medical Jurisprudence in 1833.
Dr. Dunglison published the first U.S. textbook of preventive medicine from this school in 1835. Preventive medicine continued to be an important part of the medical curriculum through changing department configurations.
Dr. Maureen Henderson
In 1954, Dr. Maurice Pincoffs became the first chairman of the new Department of Public Health and Rehabilitation. In 1958, Dr. George Entwisle succeeded Dr. Pincoffs as chairman of the department. Dr. Entwisle was in turn succeeded by Drs. Maureen Henderson, Irving Kessler and Paul Stolley. Dr. J. Glenn Morris became chair in 2000. He stepped down in 2007 to accept a position with the University of Florida at Gainesville. Jay Magaziner, PhD is now chair of the department.
The EPH pioneered the development of collaborative randomized clinical trials in the United States, and such trials have continued to represent a major methodological emphasis.
In 1972, the EPH became the first department in the country to accommodate both coordinating centers and clinical centers of federally funded collaborative trials.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Heatlh faculty in 1981
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health faculty in 1983