History of the Department
The University at Buffalo has long been a center for research and practice of epidemiology. In 1997, the University at Buffalo celebrated its 150th anniversary. As part of the celebration, SPM faculty, students and alumni gathered to remember the past and describe more recent accomplishments. The history of the department was described in the American Journal of Epidemiology, December 1997; Volume 146, Issue 11. See this complete article (pdf) and the entire journal issue containing the other papers.
Some highlights of the history are:
- Austin Flint was a founding member of the faculty of the University at Buffalo (UB). He published an early epidemiologic account of the outbreak of a fever in Western New York, published in 1845.
- Courses in public health, “hygiene,” sanitation and disease prevention have been taught at UB since the late 1800’s.
- The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (SPM) was formally developed in 1960, as part of the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
- In 2003, SPM became part of the newly designated School of Public Health and Health Professions.
- Some of the major leaders in epidemiology have been part of the programs at UB, some as former students, some as faculty here. They include Milton Terris, Walter Winkelstein, Robert Wallace, James Marshall, Maurizio Trevisan, Saxon Graham, Maria Zielezny, Phillip Nasca, and Germaine M. Louis.
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