Welcome to the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences
The vision of the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences (PQHS) is the best health and well-being for all through science, community-engagement, and education.
Our mission is to advance science and improve population health. We will grow a learning community of scientists and practitioners and collaborate with others (in our institution, our community and beyond) to:
- create health relevant knowledge;
- invent methods, interventions and technologies; and
- evaluate strategies for implementing, sustaining, and disseminating proven approaches.
History and Future
The Department was founded by Catarina Kiefe, MD, PhD, Chair and Jeroan Allison, MD, MScEpi, Vice Chair. They arrived on the UMass Chan campus in June 2009. As of June 2019, Dr. Kiefe transitioned to Professor and Chief Scientific Officer and Dr. Allison stepped into the Chair role. Dr. Sharina Person, PhD serves as Vice Chair. Currently (Fall 2019), we have 40 faculty with a primary appointment in PQHS in our 4 Divisions; an additional 36 faculty members from other departments hold secondary appointments in PQHS. We project that we will reach a steady state of about 50 primary faculty by the Fall of 2020.
PQHS faculty are independent investigators, collaborative methodologists, or both. PQHS primary faculty are currently principal investigators on 75 active extramural grants and contracts amounting to a total funding of over $63 million. These include 3 federally funded research centers. During the academic year 2015/16, PQHS primary faculty published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts. The Quantitative Methods Core, a service unit for methodological research support and data management, is housed in PQHS. Since its inception in February, 2010 through September, 2019, the Core provided consultation on over 1,900 separate projects to over 650 investigators from 26 (all) Departments and 18 Divisions across the UMass Chan campus.
The doctoral program in Clinical and Population Health Research is housed in PQHS, as is the Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation. These two programs are part of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan; about 80 faculty across UMass Chan are affiliated with these teaching programs.
The Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences is currently housed in the new Albert Sherman Center. The center is an interdisciplinary state-of-the-art research and education facility that fosters interaction and collaboration among scientists across the entire spectrum of biomedical research.
9/2019