The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health is pleased to announce two new undergraduate majors in Public Health BA and Public Health BS. The next application cycle for continuing UCLA first- and second-year students will open in late Winter 2024, with primary consideration given to second-year students who complete Public Health 50A in Winter 2024 and enroll in Public Health 50B in Spring 2024. Public Health 50A will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00am to 11:50 am, with a scheduled onehour discussion section in Winter 2024. Students who are unable to enroll in Public Health 50A in Winter 2023 may apply for admission to the major, but are strongly encouraged to speak with a School advisor first. Applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The undergraduate minor in Public Health will also accept applications from continuing UCLA students in late Winter 2024.
What is Public Health?
The field of public health is experiencing extraordinary levels of interest for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic; however, public health researchers and practitioners have long sought to improve population health by understanding the behavioral, biological, economic, environmental, and social factors that impact the health and wellness of communities — both local and global. The field has long combated pandemics, sought education and policy solutions to reduce mortality and disease (morbidity), and advocated to reduce barriers to healthcare access. In the past 40 years, major public health initiatives have demonstrated links between smoking and disease and the impacts of poor air, food, and water quality on health outcomes; and has slowed global pandemics like such as HIV/AIDS, and epidemics like such as Ebola, H1N1, MERS, SARS and Zika. The number of achievements expands well beyond this list. The next generation of public health professionals will face these and new challenges — climate change, environmental degradation, emerging epidemics, food insecurity, growing health disparities, homelessness, and violence, among others.