About
Supporting the academic public health community since 1941
The Association for Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) represents more than 150 accredited schools and programs of public health, including a community of more than 103,000 deans, faculty, staff, and students. ASPPH is the voice of academic public health – we train the next generation of public health professionals, convene leaders, generate evidence, and advocate for policies that improve the health and well-being of everyone, everywhere. We are guided by the principles of social justice and are committed to dismantling racism in academic public health institutions. ASPPH envisions a world where all people live in thriving communities supported by the work of strong and prepared public health professionals.
VISION
Improved health and wellbeing for everyone, everywhere.
Mission
To advance academic public health by mobilizing the collective power of our members to drive excellence and innovation in education, research, and practice.
Values
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice
- Collaboration
- Excellence
- Innovation
- Commitment to Public Health
- Agility
Our Members
It is our members—all Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)-accredited—that enable ASPPH to be the voice of public health. They work tirelessly in their communities to improve health for everyone and elevate the challenges and opportunities to ASPPH so we can come together to advance change. ASPPH is committed to supporting our members through research, education, and practice; advocating for issues of importance to our members; increasing our members’ visibility to potential student applicants; providing professional development opportunities for practitioners; and bringing schools and programs together to advance initiatives to address our most pressing public health challenges.
ASPPH ANNUAL REPORT
Explore ASPPH’s impactful achievements of the past year in our latest annual report. Dive into the highlights and innovations driving academic public health forward.
What is Academic Public Health?
Public health protects and improves the health and quality of life for people and their communities. It is the backbone of community health, providing health education, disaster response, injury and disease prevention, environmental protections, and interventions for issues like infant and maternal mortality, climate change, and the spread of infectious diseases. Put simply, public health is all around us.
Academic public health is training the next generation of public health professionals to be resilient, competent, compassionate, forward-thinking, and visionary in meeting future challenges. Academic public health also works hand-in-hand with their partners on the frontlines of public health – those who work in federal, state, and local health departments, as well as in other sectors impacting the social determinants of health, including private and corporate partners, civil organizations, and foundations. At the same time, ASPPH encourages a lifelong learning approach to education for public health. This means inspiring educated, global citizens who can help create a healthier world, starting as early as the kindergarten years and lasting an entire lifespan.
Health care and public health are complementary and essential to achieving health and well-being for everyone. But they are not the same. Public health interventions address the root causes of health issues and promote overall community well-being, while health care involves treating individual illnesses or injuries after they occur.
- We work to identify the causes of gun violence and develop interventions to prevent injuries and deaths–such as requiring guns to be securely locked up.
- We create evidence-based programs to prevent premature births and ensure healthy babies.
- We collaborate with hospitals, OB-GYNs, nurse practitioners, midwives, and public health departments to redesign systems so no woman dies unnecessarily in childbirth.
- For people with HIV/AIDS, we focus on prevention efforts, such as promoting condom use and needle exchange programs to reduce transmission rates and educate communities about the virus.
- When rural hospitals are closing, we develop strategies, like telehealth, that can improve care and access in rural communities.
- We focus on the social determinants of health, such as education, poverty, and social isolation, by advocating for policies that improve access to the services people need.
- Mental health is public health. We work to improve access to mental health services for everyone, support recovery and reduce stigma so people can get the help they need.
- Companies come to us when they want to improve occupational health and safety in their factories or farms. Or when they want to make their workforce healthier, they ask us for impactful recommendations.
- We support tobacco control policies, such as implementing higher taxes on cigarettes and restricting tobacco advertising to prevent smoking initiation and encourage cessation.
- We collaborate with public health agencies and other partners to develop preparedness plans and respond to emergencies such as natural disasters, infectious disease outbreaks, and bioterrorism events.
- We train the next generation of public health leaders, researchers, advocates, and practitioners who will improve and protect people’s lives.
- We practice public health by partnering with organizations and businesses at the local level to translate research into solutions for healthier communities. We work with and within the community to positively impact its health.
- We develop the best possible evidence so policymakers can prioritize investments and policies that will achieve the best possible health outcomes for all populations and groups.
- We advocate for public health priorities and share evidence-based research to combat misinformation.
- We illuminate and address the structural inequities that create barriers to optimal health and well-being: racism, the burden of gun violence in Black brown communities, environmental injustice, disproportionate morbidity, mortality, and discrimination.
ASPPH COVID-19 STORYTELLING PROJECT
There is an enthralling, compelling story to be told, and each of our members have a role in telling it.
CEPH ACCREDITATION
The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) is the nationally recognized accrediting body for both schools of public health and public health programs. ASPPH collaborates closely with CEPH staff to promote high-quality accreditation standards. ASPPH achieves this objective by supporting both undergraduate and graduate criteria and procedures that not only fit school and program goals, but serve students’ learning, practice, and research needs while fulfilling their and societal expectations for excellence in education.
ASPPH IN Action
