A note from Dean Galea
Dear students,
Thank you for your interest in joining this journey to build and become a part of an impactful School of Public Health here at Washington University. A key part of the school’s evolution — and of central import to prospective students — is ensuring that our school is accredited by the Council for Education for Public Health (CEPH).
In summer 2024, we applied to CEPH to transition WashU’s currently accredited Public Health Program within the Brown School to a separate School of Public Health (SPH). The application was approved in October 2024. At this time, we are an accredited program and an SPH applicant for accreditation. Our next step toward full accreditation is the delivery of preliminary and final self-study reports, due to CEPH in June and October 2025, respectively.
From Nov. 17 to 19, 2025, CEPH will conduct a three-day site visit that will include meetings with faculty, staff, students, alumni, and university leaders to gauge how we are operating as a school. In that spirit, we are starting to prepare a transition plan for public health students in the Brown School to become part of the SPH. While this will include changes to many student-facing functions and processes from admissions all the way through graduation, there will be no interruption or sequencing changes to students currently in programs of study.
As we effect this transition, the School of Public Health is maintaining many close ties to the Brown School, and we are working very intentionally with Dean Traube and the Brown School to ensure that all students remain supported throughout this transition. I am looking forward to meeting with and involving students in this process, including preparing students for participation in the site visit.
We anticipate a final accreditation decision by April 2026, and any MPH or PhD Public Health Sciences student graduating in May 2026 or beyond will graduate from the accredited SPH. While there is a village of colleagues working on all aspects of the school’s evolution, this is particularly true for this dimension, preparing our accreditation self-study and aligning us to ensure we can become a full, freestanding school in 2026.
I welcome you to contact me, or Dean Traube, with any comments, questions or concerns you may have. Your experiences and your voices matter. Thank you for being on this journey with us.
Warmly,
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the School of Public Health
Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health