March 21, 2002-Vol33n22: Q&A

VOLUME 33, NUMBER 22

THURSDAY, March 21, 2002


	TREVISAN

Maurizio Trevisan is interim dean of the School of Health Related Professions and professor and chair of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Now that you've settled in as interim dean, what is your assessment of UB's School of Health Related Professions? Strengths? Weaknesses? How do we compare academically to other schools of Health Related Professions?
The School of Health Related Professions has a distinguished record. Our founding dean, Dr. J. Warren Perry, was one of the leaders in establishing the allied-health professions—another term used to represent health-related professions. Because of Dr. Perry's leadership, our School of Health Related Professions was the first school of its kind within the SUNY system and New York State, not to mention one of the first half-dozen allied-health schools in the country. The major strength of the school clearly is its dedicated faculty and staff. This dedication is reflected in the excellent national ranking that the school enjoys—both in terms of its teaching and research missions. A particular strength of the School is the Center for Assistive Technology (CAT). The center is aimed at finding solutions to many of the day-to-day problems that challenge the life of one of the most vulnerable segments of our society—individuals with disabilities, those with special needs and our aging population—and in doing so, they often greatly improve the independence and the quality of life of these individuals. With regard to weaknesses, we need to consider both general weaknesses of the allied-health field and those specific to the school here at UB. Allied-health schools are plagued, at least in my opinion, by two major weaknesses, both of them related to the fact that these schools are formed by a combination of diverse training programs in the health professions. This diversity threatens these schools' identities and imposes high operating costs to teaching programs faced with accreditation needs of separate professional organizations. The major weakness of our school is the relatively low morale of faculty and staff due to the continued lack of permanent leadership. I am the sixth in a long series of interim deans since the last permanent dean retired in 1995 (This does not include Dr. Frank Brady, who was hired as permanent dean in 2000 but died suddenly after only two months in office). These interim deans have been devoted to the school and have been good gatekeepers, but they did not have the opportunity, due to the nature of their job, to provide long-term vision and planning.

Are you still serving as chair of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine?
Yes, I divide my time between my "permanent" job as department chair and my "interim" position as dean of HRP.

Isn't this a rather unusual arrangement?
This is clearly an unusual arrangement, and one that could not be sustained in the long term. The reason I have maintained both jobs and have accepted the "interim" leadership of the school is due to my plan and vision for future HRP public health here at ub

What are your plans for HRP?
The most immediate plan for the school is to merge the departments of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy into a new Department of Rehabilitation Sciences. We have just received approval from the university for this merger, and are starting the search for the chair of this new unit.

There's also been talk of UB creating a School of Public Health. Where does this stand?
The plan is to expand the mission of HRP and create a School of Public Health and Health Professions. We have just started the process and are exploring options.

Can you provide any details about how the school might be organized? A timetable?
While the plans still are being defined and refined, the current thinking is to have a number of departments—those currently in HRP and new ones that will cover the public-health disciplines like public-health practice and health policy, social and health behavior, biostatistics and epidemiology. But most importantly, the school would be organized around interdisciplinary centers that would focus on areas of public-health relevance and would build on the strength of the UB faculty, both within and outside the school (e.g., environmental health, chronic diseases, maternal and child health, obesity, etc.). It is a bit too early to provide an exact timetable, but I have received enthusiastic support from both the faculty and the administration at UB and we now are in the process of looking at the details of the implementation plan and at sources of funding.

What is the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) program?
The Master of Public Health Program (M.P.H.) is a new professional degree program we initiated last fall in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine aimed at training public-health and other professionals in the public-health areas. Traditionally, M.P.H. focuses on five concentration areas—epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, health behavior and health administration. The UB program offers opportunities in only three of these areas—health administration, epidemiology and biostatistics—but we are working to expand our offerings.

What types of careers would this degree prepare a student to pursue?
The M.P.H. degree offers a broad range of career opportunities. These are linked to the concentration area chosen by the student, but include working for county or state health departments, hospitals and other health-care providers, federal and non-federal agencies, pharmaceutical industries, health-research institutions, international health organizations, etc. In addition to representing a professional terminal degree, the M.P.H. program represents an opportunity for health and non-health professionals to acquire the skills and knowledge to advance their careers in the health arena. Our plan is to create an M.P.H. program that will be able to serve other professionals and have in place joint programs through which students pursuing a professional education can pursue additional training in public health. We have in place M.D./M.P.H. and J.D./M.P.H. degree programs that allow medical and law students to expand their training to incorporate public health, and we are exploring other such opportunities.

What question do you wish I had asked, and how would you have answered it?
I wish you would have asked me about recent successes of HRP. For example, HRP received the prized SEFA Chair's Cup for the 2001 campaign. Last fall we inducted the first class of the newly established doctoral program in physical therapy. We are in the process of developing of a new professional program at the graduate level in occupational therapy. New York State has accredited our biotechnology program, which offers opportunities for internships in biotech companies. Our B.S./M.S. program in exercise science (athletic training) has been approved by the state Department of Education. These are all clear indications of HRP's growth and quest for excellence.