NMSU’s Department of Public Health Sciences, housed in the College of HEST, will receive $5 million over the next two years to help establish a comprehensive school of public health in New Mexico.
The one-time funding comes from the New Mexico Legislature as part of legislation to develop a school of public health that could be jointly operated by NMSU and the University of New Mexico.
Héctor Luis Díaz, interim head of NMSU’s Department of Public Health Sciences, says the funding will go toward faculty salaries, operations and building an infrastructure for the proposed school.
In late April 2022, Díaz and HEST founding Dean Yoshitaka Iwasaki, along with faculty from the department, initiated the planning phase for the new school.
“We could make a big difference in the promotion of health equity in the state,” Díaz says.
Díaz estimates the department could transition into the new school in roughly four years and would be able to offer more program concentrations for students at the master’s degree level.
“This would increase the image of NMSU,” Díaz says. “As of now, there is no school of public health in New Mexico.”
In addition to developing the new school, the department has launched a new joint Ph.D. program in health equity with the UNM College of Population Health and entered into a two-year contract with the New Mexico Department of Health that will provide $684,000 to support public health faculty research.
HEST founding Dean Yoshitaka Iwasaki, second from right, met with faculty from the NMSU Department of Public Health Sciences in spring 2022 at the Holy Cross Retreat Center. The group is planning a school of public health that could be jointly operated by NMSU and the University of New Mexico.
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