The MSU Division of Public Health focuses on population health from its home base – the College of Human Medicine’s Flint campus. Being embedded in the Flint community allows our faculty and researchers to understand the assets and needs of the community while studying Flint’s most pressing public health issues.

Spartans work side-by-side with community partners and healthcare providers in a community-identified and community-participatory public health focus model to:

Encourage healthy behaviors, mitigate chronic diseases, identify environmental health risks, and examine social factors that influence community health
Prepare graduate students to become competent public health professionals to meet the needs of communities across the globe
Engage agencies, professional organizations, and community-based partners on collaborative projects to improve health care delivery that will lead to reductions in health disparities in the community, the state of Michigan, and beyond.

Division of Public Health News

Mott Foundation Grants $25 Million to MSU to Expand Public Health Initiatives in Flint

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation has granted $25 million to expand the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine’s public health presence in Flint. The grant will create an endowed fund to increase public health faculty, academic research and community health collaborations.

How to Increase Awareness and Uptake of Antibody Testing in Flint

A team of MSU researchers seeks answers to understand the barriers to COVID-19 antibody testing and vaccinations in Flint. A research team collects data to understand which public health communication strategies are most effective. Volunteers from the Flint Registry drive up to a “Root beer stand-style” testing station; MSU will compare antibody status to COVID-19 exposure and vaccination rates among Flint residents using a salivary testing tool.

Online Master of Public Health: Information Webinars

The Master of Public Health virtual information webinar gives prospective students the opportunity to learn more about MSU's online program. Prospective students can explore the benefits of joining over 670 Spartans in public health and the importance of becoming a part of public health in action. Upcoming sessions:

MSU Study Seeks to Reduce Children’s Lead Dust Exposure

Lead exposure from contaminated water has gotten much justifiable attention lately, but another major source lurks in the dust of countless older homes.

That is why Masako Morishita, PhD, an associate professor of family medicine in the MSU College of Human Medicine, is heading a study of whether portable air filters can mitigate lead exposure and reduce lead levels in the blood of children who live in older houses. Robert Wahl, DVM, MS, an assistant professor in the MSU Division of Public Health, Master of Public Health Program, is co-leading the study.

R2D2 Scholarship Application Open

Research to Reduce Disparities in Disease Program (R2D2) is seeking first-year College of Human Medicine student scholars. Opportunity to earn $10,000 and satisfy the College of Human Medicine’s 3rd-year research requirement. Scholars will create a strong transdisciplinary bridge between medicine and public health while investigating the role of race, ethnicity, gender, and implicit/explicit bias in medicine.

APPLY BY DECEMBER 12, 2021.