With the New Public Health Major, Saint Mary’s is Equipping the Next Generation of Health Care Professionals

At a time when the need for health care professionals is soaring, Saint Mary’s is equipping the next generation of compassionate, capable caregivers. This effort includes the new Nursing Program, which welcomes its first cohort in the Fall of 2025. It also includes a new major: the Bachelor of Science in Public Health, which will officially launch this August.

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Housed within the School of Science, the Public Health major is primarily designed with future nurses in mind. For the first two years, the program will provide incoming students with the curriculum necessary to seamlessly transition to the Nursing Program, if they choose. Otherwise, the major can stand alone, offering a comprehensive study of public health and preparing its graduates to create and shape policy and practice.

“For any traditional undergraduate student who comes to Saint Mary's and is interested in nursing, Public Health is the major for them,” says Chi-An Emhoff, the interim director of Health Sciences. At the same time, she notes, nursing isn’t for everyone. “Sometimes students realize, somewhere along the line, Oh, the medical field isn’t for me at this time. So the Public Health major can also offer a related but adjacent path.”

Those who major in Public Health will explore the field from every vantage point. Over the course of two or four years, students will delve into biology, chemistry, and anatomy, examine the sociocultural factors that inform large-scale health issues, design and implement policy, and use statistical reasoning to assess and analyze outcomes. 

"It’s vital to have leaders who understand the value of equitable, accurate information and care... Saint Mary’s is well-positioned to prepare those future leaders.”

— Chi-An Emhoff, Interim Director of Health Science

Just the Beginning

For Chi-An Emhoff, what excites her most about the new program is the opportunity for expansion. “This degree is just the beginning,” she says. “Public health could branch into so many different sub-disciplines that will be really exciting to grow.” 

In time, Emhoff envisions Public Health students being able to focus on a concentration of their choice, be it organizational management, immunology, or even physical activity—something Emhoff, a professor of Kinesiology, received a Fulbright grant for research in 2023. “Those concentrations will equip our students to continue on to graduate study—potentially even here at Saint Mary’s,” she says.

The first concentration being developed for Public Health students: food justice. On July 1, the School of Science welcomed Michelle Riley, a new tenure-track faculty member with a background in medical nutrition sciences, to teach in the Public Health program. “We’re thrilled to have Michelle here to help grow this program, particularly from the standpoint of food systems and food justice,” Emhoff says. 

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Above all, she sees the new Public Health program as something that aligns with students’ interests and Saint Mary’s mission. “Understanding disparities, learning how to serve communities—that is the goal of public health. It’s also core to Saint Mary’s.”

In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all experienced, on a visceral level, the necessity of public health. “It’s vital to have leaders who understand the value of equitable, accurate information and care,” Emhoff says. “And I think Saint Mary’s is well-positioned to prepare those future leaders.”

Hayden Royster is Staff Writer in the Office of Marketing and Communication at Saint Mary's. Write him.