Message from the Chair
Social and behavioral science approaches are crucial to addressing today’s complex public health problems. At NYU GPH, our interdisciplinary department draws from psychology, sociology, anthropology and political science to better detect, understand, and address key problems in public health. This requires drawing upon cutting-edge social and behavioral science theory, methods and interventions, which our faculty are experts in.
Our passionate and welcoming faculty are now working on several initiatives that will maximize our departmental impact in several areas of public health. This includes the development of an “Intervention Science” initiative that will teach students to evaluate and implement interventions based on evidence-based practices. A second initiative is focused on “Harm reduction”, which per SAMHSA, is a transformative approach that incorporates community-driven public health strategies (e.g., prevention, risk reduction) to empower people who use drugs with the choice to live healthy, self-directed, and purpose-filled lives. A third initiative focuses on “Health and Society”, which utilizes a social justice lens to address the health inequities faced by disadvantaged groups.
These initiatives, and other ongoing work by our faculty, will provide you the opportunities to expand your capabilities to act on public health issues both locally and globally. I invite you to join us to develop and enhance your skills so that you can make a true difference in communities locally and around the world!
Dr. Lawrence H. Yang, PhD
Chair and Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences Associate Director, Global Center for Implementation Science Founding Director, Global Mental Health and Stigma Program