About the Program

In the fall of 1999, Morgan State University became the nation's first Historically Black University to offer a doctoral degree in public health, and one of the few institutions to focus its program on the production of practitioners as well as researchers. The Public Health Program was approved by the Maryland Higher Education Commission and focuses on issues that plague urban communities - including drug abuse, violence, HIV/AIDS, obesity, men's health, and infant mortality. The MSU Public Health Program awarded its first four doctoral degrees in 2003.

In 2005, Dr. Earl Richardson, then President of Morgan State University, approved the plan to create the School of Community Health and Policy under which the Public Health Program is now located.