By: Anthony D’Angelo, MS
Dr. M. Kristen Peek, PhD, is the Dean ad interim for the UTMB School of Public and Population Health and Chair ad interim for the Department of Preventive Medicine and Population Health. Her research focuses primarily on health disparities, specifically on stress, “how it gets under
the skin”, including in “inflammation, telomere length, cortisol, various stress hormones”. About 10 years ago, she became involved in educational leadership, first becoming the graduate program director of population health sciences
and working her way up to the Chair of Preventive Medicine and Population Health. I had the opportunity to interview her in mid-April about the new UTMB School of Public and Population Health, as well as her thoughts on One Health.
Historically, classes in public health have been managed through the Department of Preventive Medicine and Population Health, which granted various PhD and MPH degrees over the past twenty years. Topics during this time included aerospace medicine, general
preventive medicine, and a residency program. More recently, the Department started providing 4-year integrated MD/MPH programs for UTMB medical students, which has been incredibly popular and is entering its fourth year of operation (disclosure:
the author of this article is a second year MD/MPH student). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the growing Department of Preventive Medicine and Population Health was finally approved to become the new UTMB School of Public and Population Health, with
approvals provided in August 2021 and a site visit for accreditation scheduled for June 2023. As of April 2022, the UTMB SPPH is composed of the Department of Bioethics and Health Humanities, Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Department
of Epidemiology, Department of Population Health and Health Disparities, and the new Department of Global Health and Emerging Diseases.
When asked about the role of One Health in the new School of Public and Population Health, Dr. Peek states that One Health is incredibly important. While public health has historically looked at the interaction between people and the environment, the
interaction between people and animals has historically been left out. Dr. Peek states that she hopes to have tie-ins that focus on One Health in the new school, as well as connections with the One Health faculty at UTMB. One Health research at UTMB,
particularly zoonotic infectious disease research, is well placed to help in this regard. With this view in mind, the new School of Public and Population Health will undoubtedly play a major role in continued research and implementation of One Health
at UTMB.