Dear colleagues,
I’m writing to share the news of an upcoming change in leadership of the MPH program. Prof. Annie Gjelsvik has indicated that she will be stepping away from her role as the MPH Program Director once her three-year term ends in June 2023. Annie is eager to return to full-time teaching and to continue to contribute to the School’s mission through mentorship and advising.
During Annie’s tenure as MPH Program Director, she led the program through a period of significant change and growth. Our MPH applications and enrollment numbers grew significantly in response to both the COVID-19 pandemic and a greater overall interest in public health. Annie adapted to this increase in students by reorganizing and increasing the MPH staff and strengthening our systems to recruit and educate a larger cohort of students. In spite of the larger class size, Annie and her team continued to provide the level of care and personalization that students expect at Brown SPH.
In addition, Annie launched the Online MPH and worked on developing the Accelerated MPH for clinicians, which is currently enrolling its first class to start in the fall of 2023. She oversaw the creation of new concentrations in Mindfulness and Addictions, giving students the opportunity to deepen their studies in both areas and develop essential expertise for their public health careers.
Annie is known and respected as a highly gifted teacher, and I know that our SPH community will benefit from having her back in the classroom on a full-time basis. I am grateful for her steadfast leadership of the MPH program and her continued commitment to SPH and to public health education.
We have been working with Annie to outline the next steps. I’ve invited faculty to submit nominations for our new MPH Program Director and I’ve convened a review committee. I will keep you informed as the work of finding a new director proceeds. In the meantime, I hope you will please join me in thanking Annie for her leadership!
My best,
Ronald E. Aubert, Ph.D., MSPH
Interim Dean