The University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center announced the approval this week of a much needed new public health academic degree program. UCDHSC will partner with the University of Northern Colorado and Colorado State University to open the Colorado School of Public Health in 2008. The school will fill a void in the Rocky Mountain region by offering graduate degree programs, distance learning, continuing education, community outreach and public health research. There are no such schools in the nine-state region surrounding Colorado.
“Once formed, the Colorado School of Public Health will fill a significant regional void and no doubt play a vital role in the national public health arena,” said UCDHSC Chancellor M. Roy Wilson in a statement. “With the pressures facing our public health system, from skyrocketing health care costs to disease management to disaster planning, a strong public health school can go a long way toward addressing the more pressing health needs of our region.”
The school is the result of the efforts of the Colorado School of Public Health Initiative, which was created in 2002 with the goal of raising money and garnering support from the community and the three partner universities. The Initiative received $1.25 million in funding from the Colorado Health Foundation and $3 million from other sources including The Caring for Colorado Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, Colorado Public Health Association, the Hill Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, and Great West Life.
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