Our department teaches and practices epidemiology with an eye toward active engagement in public health. So while we focus on the basic methods and philosophy of the discipline, we also try to emphasize practical public health benefit. This is evident in all of our major research programs. We've chosen several, below, to illustrate this point.

• The benchmark public health event of our times is the HIV pandemic, and specifically, the devastation it has wrought on sub-Saharan Africa. The department is the home of a major effort to respond to this public health crisis, including the prevention and treatment in the context of developing countries, the development of vaccines, the use of antiretroviral treatments regimes, modified breast-feeding practices, and modes of transmission.
  
  
• The most dramatic local (i.e. NYC) public health event in recent times was the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. The department has taken a leading role in documenting the massive impact of this event on the mental health of New Yorkers, and in helping the city to develop treatment models and standards for preparedness, including mental health services.
  
  
• Emerging infections such as HIV, West Nile virus, and SARS, have become a threat to global health. Scientists with expertise in molecular and genetic epidemiology are essential for dealing with these new diseases. The department’s faculty play a central role in the identification and control of new pathogens (including preparedness for bioterrorism).
  
  
• The Injury Prevention program at Harlem Hospital (part of the Injury Free Coalition for Kids and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) is a model of how a successful local program has become a nation-wide example for child injury prevention. It is also an example of how our department, Harlem Hospital, Columbia University, and the state and city departments of health, worked together along with a wide range of neighborhood groups, to create significant change.
  
  
• Our department has numerous ties to the Department of Health of New York City, working together on the aftermath of the WTC disaster, bioterrorism and preparedness, mental health, HIV/AIDS and public health, anti-smoking initiatives, and long-standing programs such as the Injury Prevention program mentioned above.