San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
New UT School of Public Health is designed specifically for South Texas
As public health change agents, graduates will work to solve challenges that impact this region’s communities.
The University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio, a strategic collaboration of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and
The University of Texas at San Antonio, has begun accepting applications for the first cohort of students in the region’s new Master of Public Health (MPH) graduate degree program.
These future public health professionals will innovate community solutions to help people such as Leo, who with his wife, Margie, receives daily meals delivered by volunteers. Leo, who has a double-leg amputation as a result of type 2 diabetes, comes to the door in his wheelchair and is always happy to see the volunteers and chat with them for a moment.
What aspects of Leo’s environment or health care experiences could be improved by innovative public health policies and actions? What effective public health measures implemented in the region could give Leo and Margie more choices or more information to prevent what they, and others like them, have suffered for decades?
Master of Public Health-trained professionals will be thoroughly equipped to examine highpriority, evidence-based interventions that, with everyone working together, will have a major impact on public health program needs in South Texas. Public health professionals work to form partnerships and coalitions with public- and private-sector organizations to help solve health challenges and bring about changes needed to improve public health and well-being in the local and regional communities. These public health professionals work with the local communities, the health care community, decision-makers, elected leaders and the general public to drive effective action.
The MPH program is uniquely designed to serve the people of South Texas through:
Gathering information on structural and social determinants of health, including factors that influence living conditions such as poverty, education, economic opportunity, home location and access to health care.
Developing solutions to challenges that disproportionately impact the region, including heart disease; cancer; mental health; substance use disorders; Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias; obesity, poor nutrition and diabetes; and gaps in the health of mothers and children.
Providing high-quality, professional education opportunities in a rapidly growing job market that includes hands-on experiences with local and regional employers across South Texas.
Providing leaders to serve the public within local and regional health departments and myriad public health-affiliated agencies in the area.
San Antonio is a “majority-minority” city that, with its large and growing Hispanic population, reflects the demographic future of the nation. Many areas of the city and South Texas are identified as Health Professional Shortage Areas by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
The state of Texas, Bexar County and the city of San Antonio/Metro Health have invested in the new school of public health to provide help to people like Leo and Margie and improve their lives. The school’s first Master of Public Health students will begin classes in the fall of 2024. These graduate students will be the first in a new generation of public health “change agents” who will work with the community to develop solutions to public health problems in the region.
For more information about the Master of Public Health graduate degree program, visit uthscsa.edu/ mphforsouthtx. This program is pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
The University of Texas School of Public Health San Antonio is the newest of the graduate schools of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The School of Public Health was created by The University of Texas System Board of Regents to serve South Texas through its work to combat public health problems and alleviate disparities in health care.
As a collaborative undertaking with The University of Texas at San Antonio, this new school will provide a unique public health education by integrating advanced health research, offering new academic programs to benefit a diverse population, and educating public health leaders who are dedicated to serving the local and regional community to mitigate the greatest public health challenges.
The University of Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio (UT Health
San Antonio) is one of the country’s leading health science universities and is designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. With missions of teaching, research, patient care and community engagement, its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions, graduate biomedical sciences and public health have graduated more than 42,300 alumni who are leading change, advancing their fields, and renewing hope for patients and their families throughout South Texas and the world. To learn about the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit