What is Public Health?

Public health is the science and art of promoting and maintaining the health (both physical and mental) and well-being of all members of society, from unborn babies to the elderly, regardless of whether they are sick or healthy.

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Specifically, public health rests on the following three pillars: administrative functionality, to design the social systems requisite for people to live better lives; research, to generate evidence for that purpose; and practical activities, to enable all people to achieve better lives. The respective weight placed on these three pillars may vary with time and place, but all are indispensable.

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In our department, to ensure that these three pillars function properly in society as well as vigorously pursuing research, we also train medical students and nurture public health researchers to have a clear sense of the concepts of public health, and engage in social activities to make full use of the results of our research.  

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