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Behind the Door article: Behind the Door: Rollins School of Public Health
The first in a series of articles highlighting key institutions in the Clifton community
June 4, 2008
Source: Community Partnership Update/January 2008
What’s behind the door at 1518 Clifton Road? It’s not part of the CDC, but it provides critical manpower. It’s not a nursing facility, but sits next to one on Clifton Road.
Since its creation in 1990 as Emory’s newest school (and its first new school in over 70 years), the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) has emerged as an international leader in public health training and research. Currently the RSPH ranks seventh among U.S. schools of public health, according to U.S. News & World Report.
What is public health? It includes a wide range of research, education and professional practice in areas such as global health, environmental and occupational health, biostatics, epidemiology, and behavioral studies and health education. Public health practitioners grapple with issues such as HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, cancer, diabetes, smoking, injury control, nutrition and obesity, and the promotion of maternal and child health. The location of the RSPH makes it an ideal environment for hands-on research, collaborations with the world’s leading public health agencies and interdisciplinary work with national and international organizations.
Situated next door to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in the same city as CARE, The Carter Center, the Arthritis Foundation and the national headquarters of the American Cancer Society, RSPH is a part of what makes Atlanta the “Public Health Capital of the World.”
The Rollins School of Public Health employs 575 faculty and staff, and instructs 1,000 graduate students, most of whom also work locally part-time.
Last July, the Rollins family made a $50 million gift to the Rollins School of Public Health. That money will be used to fund an expansion of the school behind the current Rollins building at Clifton and Houston Mill roads.
Aside from its growing national stature, the school has quickly emerged as a cornerstone in public health locally.
“We recruit a large number of the best up-and-coming minds in this discipline. Most come from out of state or other countries and many of them stay in Georgia after graduation,” said Dean James W. Curran, MD.
One current student, Ben Gerhardstein, from Cincinnati, chose Rollins’ environmental and occupational health program not only because of the school’s rising national prominence, but because it offered “unique synergies” with local public health organizations. Gerhardstein, who lives in Decatur and bikes to school, hopes to stay in the region post-graduation.
Among the school’s 4,200 alumni, over 2,100 alumni live in metro Atlanta alone. “Effectively, Rollins is the school of public health for the state of Georgia,” added Curran.
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The first in a series of articles highlighting key institutions in the Clifton community"
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