TN: SRM Varsity opens school of public health

Chennai, Mar 20: In a pioneering initiative, the SRM University has launched the School of Public Health in collaboration with the prestigious Harvard and Oxford Universities.

The School was opened at the SRM University Campus in suburban Kattankulathur by Dr Richard A Cash of the Harvard University and Dr Premila Webster of the Oxford.

Though such schools had been established by a couple of institutes, this was for the first time in India that a University had taken the lead in establishing it, University Vice Chancellor P Sathyanarayanan told UNI yesteray on the sidelines of the launch function.

He said the school would have state-of-the-art facilities in terms of infrastructure, conducive learning environment, access to latest happenings and developments in public health with global linkages aimed at creating competent professionals with skills in all facets of public health for placements in international agencies, multinationals, public and private health systems and research institutions.

Prof Sathyanarayanan said the school set up with an investment of about one million US Dollar spread over three years would start functioning from academic year 2007-08 and offer Master's in Public Health with focus on research.

''It will be an inter-disciplinary course,'' he said.

UNI