School of Health Professions


People attending an event at the school of medicine

 Department of Public Health

Message From the Chair

Dr. Gilbert Ramirez
Chair, Department of Public Health


Dr. Gilbert RamirezThank you for your interest in UT Tyler and the Department of Public Health. The department includes eight full-time faculty members dedicated to the study of how and why health varies across communities and populations. The department includes faculty and students at two UT Tyler campuses and remote.

We serve approximately 200 undergraduate students (BAAS Health Care Management, BAAS Health Occupations, and BS Health Sciences) and 50 graduate students (MPH Public Health). Graduates of our programs have moved into careers in: state and local health services operations; clinical/hospital, non-profit and program management positions, and research.

In addition to their teaching and service duties, faculty are active in research and scholarship. Thus, students (both graduate and undergraduate) have opportunities to learn about, and potentially participate, in research projects. Active areas of research are diverse and include:

Cancer prevention and screening; Cognitive decline in Texas; Community based participatory research; Community health workers and access to health services; COVID-19; Delay of discharge in chronically ill children; Developmental delays in children; Environmental health literacy; Environmental policy; Health behavior and education; Health disparities among rural populations in Kenya; Hispanic populations; HIV; International student anxiety; Kenyan healthcare system performance and management of chronic diseases; Nurse microbiome knowledge; Population health: mortality, morbidity, and health disparities; Prostate cancer treatment decision factors and decision aids; Public health informatics; Quantitative methods; Religion, politics and population health; Rural and private water systems; Sleep and sleeping behaviors; Smoking risks among HIV individuals in Brazil; Systematic reviews and meta-analysis; US-Mexico border migrant populations; and Water quality and water treatment technologies.


The Department of Public Health uses its passion for helping others to prepare students to tackle challenges that affect the health and well-being of our communities. Using evidence-based scientific approaches, you will become competent to work in in the field of public health locally, nationally and internationally.

The Department of Public Health is part of the UT Tyler School of Health Professions and offers two bachelor’s programs and one master’s program. Click below to learn more about each program:

Programs

Undergraduate


Graduate