WVU :: School of Medicine :: Office for Public Health Practice

Office for Public Health Practice

Mission & Goals

Mission

The mission of the WVU Office for Public Health Practice is to bridge the gap between medicine and public health by identifying community-based learning opportunities which can serve as classrooms for a new generation of health science professionals.

Public Health’s success begins at the local level and requires a coordinated effort among academia and the local health departments.

The infrastructure for preventing disease and improving health includes having trained professional staff, disease tracking, information, and health care providers who are adequately trained to identify and resolve public health problems in rural Appalachia.

This will also assist in identifying and developing public health training programs for local health department employees.

Goals
To achieve our mission, we have set the following goals, which include the three core public health functions:

Assuring that all populations have access to appropriate and cost-effective care, including health promotion and disease prevention services, and evaluation of the effectiveness of that care.
To improve the practice and profession of public health.
To conduct research pertinent to the recognition, characterization, and resolution of health problems in human populations.
The ultimate goal is to nurture and strengthen opportunities that will help practitioners become competent in providing both individual patient care and population-based health care.