$12.5M establishes Transforming Public Health Education Initiative Fund

A major effort underway at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) to redesign its educational strategy has received significant new support of $12.5 million from the Charina Endowment Fund and Richard L. (MBA ’59) and Ronay Menschel of New York City.

The Transforming Public Health Education Initiative Fund will support development of innovative materials, technologies and approaches required to redesign the master’s degree program for health professionals and to develop a new leadership doctorate in public health.  The innovations will also benefit other graduate degree programs at the School as part of an overall effort to better prepare 21st century students to achieve maximum impact in their careers.

The $12.5 million will underwrite efforts by the HSPH faculty to infuse the educational experience at HSPH with more case-based and field-based “real world” learning opportunities. It will also accelerate efforts at the School to develop “flipped classroom” experiences, in which lecture-style material is delivered increasingly online before class, while classroom time is spent by students and faculty actively engaging together to develop strategies for solving the types of problems students will encounter in their careers.

The fund will support the development of revised and enhanced master’s level curricula to be made available to students in 2015, and a new Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree that the School will offer for the first time beginning in 2014.  Both degrees will continue and strengthen the HSPH tradition of preparing students for leadership careers in public health.