Research Impact

Because of public health’s focus on prevention, it’s easy to take its impact for granted. But the influence of the field can’t be overstated. Over the last 160 years, public health interventions have doubled life expectancy. Worldwide, diseases that once killed hundreds of thousands of people are now controlled through public health vaccination programs. Infections once commonly transmitted by contaminated water, such as typhoid and cholera, are now rare. Public health has led the way toward policies that have produced cleaner air and more drinkable water, raised food sanitation standards, ensured safer workplaces, reduced consumption of carcinogens such as tobacco, and promoted more walkable and bikeable cities.

UCLA Fielding School of Public Health research has contributed to many of the field’s key advances since the school’s founding in 1961. As hard as it is to believe today, experts once scoffed at the idea that nutrition, exercise, and whether or not one smoked were linked to longevity. FSPH research changed that mindset with seminal studies that ushered in a new era of health promotion. In the early 1980s, even before HIV had been identified as the cause of AIDS, a UCLA Fielding School epidemiologist initiated a cohort study that continues to this day, having prevented millions of new infections through its landmark findings. The discovery by FSPH researchers that tens of millions of people lacked health insurance, imperiling their health, accelerated efforts to reform the national healthcare system, ultimately paving the way for the Affordable Care Act. Research by UCLA Fielding faculty, students, and alums proved pivotal in policy changes that have led to dramatic improvements in the air quality of the Los Angeles basin over the last several decades.

Improvements to health and wellness resulting from FSPH research is considerable.

Public health research aims to effect positive, lasting change on the health of communities and populations. For UCLA Fielding faculty and staff, that means going beyond publishing in peer-reviewed journals to ensure that their findings are translated into action. It means engaging with policymakers, public health departments, community-based organizations, and experts in other sectors to design and implement sustainable changes that prevent disease, promote health, and upend the root causes of health inequities.