Are you fascinated by links among cells, society, and health? Do you want to be a champion for community health, health equity, and social and environmental justice?

Then the Joseph J. Zilber College of Public Health is ready to prepare you for your career! Our graduates pursue a wide variety of jobs including clinical exercise physiologist, community outreach and education coordinator, data manager/analyst, environmental scientist, epidemiologist, grant writer/coordinator, health educator, program manager/evaluator, personal trainer, public health analyst, risk assessor, and strength and conditioning specialist. 

We are home to a community of emerging student scholars and established faculty scholars from multiple health fields applying public health across the health continuum -- ranging from cells and physiology to societal issues and from prevention to treatment. Public health is concerned with protecting the health and well-being of entire communities and populations. It is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health and well-being through the organized efforts of society. Public health also works to eliminate social inequities in health – we address how the advantages and disadvantages that people experience based on their social circumstances influence population health. Whereas medicine mostly treats people once they become sick, those of us working in public health strive to prevent people from getting sick or injured in the first place. Thus, public health covers a wide range of factors that affect population health and well-being, such as economic and social policies, poverty, environmental hazards, access to quality healthcare, health-promoting behaviors, and genes. 

Our highly trained faculty are passionate educators leading research programs and engaging communities to improve public and population health issues. The Zilber College offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as certificates and pre-professional pathways, that are training the next generation of health professionals to respond to the increasing market demand for individuals with degrees in health fields. 

About the Zilber College of Public Health 

The Zilber College currently has 39 full-time faculty and instructors across seven public and population health areas (biostatistics/health informatics, community and behavioral health promotion, environmental health, epidemiology, kinesiology, nutrition, and public health policy). Our faculty are experts on critical issues like air pollution and autism, cancer, cardiovascular disease, health disparities, big data on health, infant mortality, mass incarceration, nutrition, tobacco and e-cigarettes, water health, and more. Our students obtain an education informed by multiple fields, that delivers concrete skills through hands-on learning, from one of the nation’s top universities for research and community engagement. 

The Zilber College is Wisconsin’s only college of public health accredited by the Council on Public Health Education (CEPH). It is also home to Wisconsin’s only MPH path to the Registered Dietitian credential accredited by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND). 

The Zilber College embraces its mission to advance population health, health equity, and social and environmental justice among diverse communities in Milwaukee, the state of Wisconsin, and beyond through education, research, community engagement, and advocacy for health-promoting policies and strategies. We educate current and future health professionals in the science, practice, critical thinking, and leadership skills necessary to promote population health and reduce health inequities. 

Programs

The Zilber College of Public Health offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs across seven public and population health areas (biostatistics/health informatics, community and behavioral health promotion, environmental health, epidemiology, kinesiology, nutrition, and public health policy). We also offer minors, certificates and pre-professional pathways.

Undergraduates who do not major in one of our three bachelor's programs may still take some of our health courses to satisfy university general education requirements: PH 101, PH 306, KIN 350, and KIN 351 meet the Social Sciences (SS) GER; KIN 230/NUTR 230 and PH 303 meet the Natural Sciences (NS) GER; KIN 270 meets the QL-B requirement; and CHPS 245 meets the Cultural Diversity GER.

Undergraduate

Major

Minor

Pre-Professional

Master's

Doctoral

Certificates

Fitness, Wellness and Sport Courses

Health Care Informatics Courses

Kinesiology Courses

Nutritional Sciences Courses

Public Health Courses

NameRankDegreeSchoolGraduate FacultyEmeritus Faculty
Chris Cho Associate Researcher, Statistician MS University of Illinois Chicago No No
Ron Cisler Professor PhD University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee No Yes
Stephen Cobb Associate Professor PhD, ATC Georgia State University Yes No
Margaret Duncan Professor PhD Purdue University No Yes
Chukuka Enwemeka Distinguished Professor, Dean PhD New York University No Yes
Christy Greenleaf Professor PhD University of North Carolina-Greensboro Yes No
William Gregory Professor PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology No Yes
Amy Harley Interim Dean/Assoc. Dean/ Associate Professor PhD, MPH, RD The Ohio State University Yes No
Barbara Hart Associate Professor PhD University of Massachusetts No Yes
Cynthia Hasbrook Professor PhD University of Illinois No Yes
John Holland Clinical Assistant Professor, BS Kinesiology Program Director MS, CSCS Minnesota State University- Mankato No No
Amy Kalkbrenner Associate Professor PhD, MPH University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Yes No
Chiang-Ching (Spencer) Huang Professor PhD University of Michigan Yes No
Kevin Keenan Associate Professor PhD University of Colorado Yes No
Lori Klos Associate Professor, BS Nutritional Sciences Program Director, MPH-Nutrition and Dietetics Program Director PhD, RD Cornell University Yes No
Susan Kundrat Clinical Professor MS, RD Iowa State University No Yes
Sara Luelloff Clinical Assistant Professor, Sport & Recreation Program Director MS University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee No No
Jake Luo Associate Professor PhD Queen's University, Belfast, UK Yes No
John Lynch Associate Professor PhD No Yes
Priya Nambisan Associate Professor PhD Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Yes No
Kristian O’Connor Professor, UWM Associate Vice Provost for Research PhD University of Massachusetts No No
Lora Taylor De Oliveira Clinical Associate Professor MPH, MBA University of Minnesota No No
Elise Papke Special Senior Lecturer DrPH University of Illinois Chicago No No
Erika Sander Associate Professor PhD University of California, Berkeley No Yes
Stephanie Send Clinical Assistant Professor MS, RDN, LDN, CNSC Rush University No No
Ann Snyder Professor PhD Ball State University No Yes
Scott Strath Professor, MS Kinesiology Program Director, PhD Kinesiology Program Director PhD, FACSM University of Tennessee Yes No
Ann Swartz Professor PhD, FACSM University of Tennessee Yes No
Ellen Velie Professor PhD University of California at Berkeley Yes No
Emmanuel Ngui Associate Professor DrPH, MSc University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Yes No
Keith Dookeran Associate Visiting Professor PhD, MBA, MD University of Illinois Chicago No No
Kurt Svoboda Associate Professor PhD S.U.N.Y at Stony Brook Yes No
Jinsung Wang Associate Professor PhD Arizona State University Yes No
Lance Weinhardt Professor PhD Syracuse University Yes No
Linnea Laestadius Associate Professor PhD, MPP Johns Hopkins University Yes No
Lorraine Halinka Malcoe Associate Professor PhD, MPH University of California at Berkeley Yes No
Min Wu Associate Professor PhD University of North Carolina Yes No
Meng Xiong Assistant Visiting Professor MPH, ABD The George Washington University No No
Michael Laiosa Associate Professor PhD State University of New York, Upstate Medical University Yes No
Musa Yahaya Teaching Faculty II PhD Southern Illinois University Carbondale No No
Nour Taha Lecturer MS Suffolk University No No
Paul Florsheim Professor PhD Northwestern University Yes No
Phuong (Phoenix) D. Do Associate Professor PhD The RAND Graduate School Yes No
Renee Scampini Teaching Faculty II PhD University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee No No
Rose Hennesey Garza Assistant Visiting Professor PhD University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee No No
Todd Miller Associate Professor PhD University of Maryland Yes No
Xiaobei (Shel-bay) Dong Assistant Professor PhD University of Maryland Yes No
Young Cho Associate Professor PhD University of Illinois Chicago Yes No