Arizona State University (ASU) has launched the School of Technology for Public Health, a new initiative under ASU Health aimed at integrating technology and data into public health education. The school offers two graduate programs: a one-year Master of Science in public health technology and a two-year Master of Public Health.
Jocelyn Romero, part of the first cohort, shared her experience after completing her first semester. “We talk about all this really cool technology and apps and stuff that can better health outcomes, but sometimes these communities don’t have access to internet or a smartphone,” Romero said. “The classes I’ve taken have really helped me understand that we need to be inclusive and come up with things that are accessible by everyone. And that’s not something I was thinking about before going into this program.”
Marc Adams, interim program director of the Master of Public Health degree, explained the school’s mission. “The school is trying to reimagine public health for the 21st century,” he said. “We’re preparing the next generation of the public health workforce to tackle the problems that have always been around but with a different set of tools.”
The idea for this school began with an op-ed written by former United States Assistant Surgeon General Susan Blumenthal during the COVID-19 pandemic. She highlighted gaps in U.S. healthcare infrastructure and argued for combining biology and technology in public health efforts. “There was a crisis with COVID, and you couldn’t get data,” Blumenthal said. “It was ‘The Hunger Games.’ You couldn’t find where to get a vaccine, there wasn’t great availability, contact tracing was an issue, we didn’t have 21st-century masks.
“A new field needed to be created that brought biology and technology together.”
Blumenthal met with ASU President Michael Crow through their mutual involvement with New America, a public policy think tank. According to Blumenthal, Crow responded quickly: “He said, ‘Let’s just build it.’ He saw the idea, he saw its importance and saw it was about the future.”
The development process involved national industry leaders who examined current needs in public health. The effort was co-chaired by Blumenthal and Sir Malcolm Grant from the University of York.
“One of the things I saw and felt we needed in reimagining public health in the 21st century was a cadre of engineers, computer scientists and physicists who had not been exposed to public health,” Blumenthal said. “How could we get these individuals who are bilingual in technology and public health?”
Adams noted that both degree tracks focus on technology’s role in healthcare but differ in depth regarding traditional public health competencies. The programs attract students from diverse backgrounds such as biology, psychology, education, visual design, engineering, and computer science.
Jyoti Pathak serves as inaugural dean for the school. He described its approach as interdisciplinary: “I think our school is very uniquely positioned across the entire ASU Health umbrella to be highly interdisciplinary and highly collaborative,” Pathak said. “Because you can not be a good public health professional if you do not know how to communicate. You can not be a good public health entrepreneur if you do not know how to design a business model. You can not develop technology if you do know the foundations of computer science and information science.
“So, we need that. We need all of that.”
Students studied topics such as artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and drones within a public health context during their first semester.
For example, Adams described how drones could deliver medication to people living in remote areas after telehealth appointments: “We’re eliminating distance, eliminating time, eliminating cost from the perspective of the patient, and allowing access to vital medications,” Adams said.
Pathak emphasized developing solutions suitable for low-resource environments: “The technological solutions that we are creating today are not meant for a low resource environment where your broadband connectivity may not be there,” Pathak said. “You may not even have stable electricity to run these machines.
“So, I think that will certainly be one of the important (aspects) of our school. How do we develop technology for the public who are in under-resourced environments?”
Tiffany Lemon from ASU’s College of Health Solutions commented on why focusing on technology is essential: “I feel like if you don’t have an emphasis on technology, you’re behind the curve,” Lemon said. “I think (ASU) has a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of all these efforts that will no doubt lead public health into whatever that future looks like.”
Graduate student Leela Udupa explained her motivation for joining: “This program really helps me understand why so many people fall through the cracks and how we can design technological solutions that catch them,” she said. “I wanted a training that wasn’t just theoretical, and the program’s emphasis on applied projects, working within the Arizona community, the ethical technology design and working with real data sets is exactly what I hoped for.”
Blumenthal credited President Crow’s vision: “I think that underscores the innovation agenda of ASU,” she said. “Always looking over the horizon, always seeing new opportunities and trying to meet the moment and think about the future. That’s ASU’s signature.”
In related developments highlighting innovation at ASU, Arizona State University has been ranked number one in innovation by U.S News & World Report for eight consecutive years.
Additionally,the City of Phoenix Street Transportation Department is collaborating with Argos Vision, an ASU tech startup developing smart traffic cameras designed to collect data aimed at improving safety through advanced analytics.
