Mission
The focus of the Division of Health Promotion Sciences (HPS) in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) is on the biological, psychological, societal, cultural, and organizational factors that are risk factors for disease or injury and using this knowledge to promote health risk factor reduction and improve health status. Our strength is our diversity of approaches to achieve a common goal — optimal health for the public.

Faculty
The Health Promotion Sciences division represents a diverse group of faculty members who engage in teaching, service and research on the many different areas of health promotion and disease prevention. Their research, for example, ranges from bench science to translational research in health promotion.

Right: HPS Interim Division Director, Ron Watson (left) is shown with members of the UA research team that is studying how to slow immune dysfunction. Ronald Watson , Elham Vali Khojeini, Douglas Larson, and Sherma Zibadi. More . . .

Current areas of emphasis include: nutrition, physical activity, tobacco, alcohol, and substance abuse, women's health, child health, minority health, international health, violence against women, cancer prevention, AIDS, health education, prevention science, program evaluation, quality of care improvement, patient empowerment, chronic disease self-management, and quality of life assessment. View faculty directory.

Sections
Each division is sub-divided into sections that are aligned with academic areas.  The division of Health Promotion Sciences consists of two sections:

     Family and Child Health
          Chair:   Nicolette Teufel-Shone, PhD

     Health Behavior and Health Promotion
          Chair:  Lisa Staten, PhD

Educational Programs
The Master of Public Health (MPH) degree at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health offers different concentration areas, two of which are in the division of Health Promotion Sciences.

The MPH in Family and Child Health (FCH) offers a curriculum that allows students to gain an understanding of the history and current status of the socioeconomic, cultural, political and physiological issues that affect families and children. Students entering FCH must choose to work in one of two specialized areas: maternal and child health (MCH), and international health. All students in Family and Child Health will take a set of courses that focus on maternal and child health issues, government policies affecting women and children, adolescent health, and nutrition, as well as follow an individualized plan of study for his/her specialized area of study.

The MPH in Health Behavior and Health Promotion (HBHP) is founded on a philosophy of disease prevention, health education, and promotion to improve the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities. HBHP focuses on training practitioners of health education in the social, cultural and psychological factors that influence health and health behavior and the scientific and theoretical bases for planning, implementing, and evaluating effective public health promotion and disease prevention programs.

The UA Zuckerman College of Public Health also offers an undergraduate degree in health education leading to the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences (BSHS) degree.  Students who major in health education will choose one of two options. The community health education option provides students with competencies necessary to work in public, voluntary, private, clinical, and worksite, health settings. The school health education option prepares health education majors to become certified teachers for elementary, middle, and secondary schools.

View more information about the Academic Programs at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health.

Research
The research by our multidisciplinary faculty ranges from bench science to translational research in health promotion and includes: nutrition, physical activity, tobacco, alcohol, and substance abuse, women's health, child health, minority health, international health, eating disorders, violence against women, cancer prevention, AIDS, health education, prevention science, program evaluation, quality of care improvement, patient empowerment, chronic disease self-management, and quality of life assessment.

View our current grants.