Nancy Turnbull has been named Assistant Dean for Educational Programs.

"Education paradigms and methodologies change over time," said James Ware, Dean for Academic Affairs. "We seek to enhance the School's ability to train the next generation of public health leaders and hope for vigorous input from our faculty, students, and administrators."

To that end, HSPH Senior Lecturer on Health Policy Nancy Turnbull has been named Assistant Dean for Educational Programs, effective August 1.

"Nancy has chaired our Committee on Educational Policy, has guided our effort to improve student advising, and has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in efforts at educational reform," said Dean Ware.

Serving as a guidepost for the School is the Institute of Medicine report Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? Educating Public Health Professionals for the 21st Century (http://www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=4307).

The report advocates an ecological conception of public health that stresses how factors at many levels combine to affect health.

The report also recommends eight "cross-cutting" areas to be included in graduate-level public health education programs: informatics, genomics, communication, cultural competence, community-based participatory research, global health, policy and law, and public health ethics.

As one facet of this effort, the School will explore the role of alternative formats and computer-based technologies, such as online classes, that may provide opportunities to expand curricula and to reach out to part-time and international students.

"We intend to examine what we do well and what we can do better," said Dean Ware. "Nancy's appointment is an initial step in developing plans to strengthen our educational programs."