Tulane department rebrands as Health Policy and Management
Effective today, the Department of Global Health Management and Policy at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (SPHTM) will rebrand as the Department of Health Policy and Management.
“The name change recognizes our long history in education and research around healthcare management, but also highlights our increasing recognition of the important role policy plays in healthcare,” says department chair Mark Diana, who also serves as the chair of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. “Many of our graduates, including some of our earliest, have continued on to significant health policy careers. We chose a name that reflects that reality while also paying homage to the long and venerable history and tradition of our department.”
The department has gone by the name Health Systems Management for most of its existence, from 1973 to 2010. Health administration at Tulane SPHTM, however, goes back even further to the launch of what was the Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Services and Hospital Administration. That program was launched in 1969 thanks to grant funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and became accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) upon graduation of the first cohort in 1971. The degree later became the Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA), and previous graduates had the option to convert their existing MPH degree to the MHA.
The department has also gone by the name Global Health Systems and Development and, most recently, Global Health Management and Policy.
In 2019 the department will celebrate fifty years of healthcare administration and management education at Tulane.
“While we are extremely proud of our global impact, I agree with the department’s faculty who selected the new branding as a better reflection of the local nature of healthcare management and policy, which is different nation-to-nation, and state-to-state, says Dr. Thomas LaVeist, who became dean of the school in July and is on faculty in the Department of Health Policy and Management. “The name change does not suggest that our students do not conduct global work, and in fact, there are students studying in this department from other countries outside of the U.S.”
“Even as we look back to celebrate our long tradition, we must also look forward to meet the challenges of the future.”
—Mark Diana, HPM Chair
“Even as we look back to celebrate our long tradition, we must also look forward to meet the challenges of the future,” Diana says. “Our faculty are making significant contributions to the knowledge base around critical issues of health policy and management in the U.S., including vaccine policy, the opioid epidemic, healthcare reform, quality and patient safety, health disparities, the social determinants of health, and many other areas of access, cost, and quality.
Plans for the 50th anniversary celebration will be announced later this fall. In the meantime, the rebranded department is eager to welcome the CAHME Accreditation Council to the school for the council’s annual meeting later this month.
