RESOURCES AND RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT
The University of Georgia
The University of Georgia, a land-grant and sea-grant university with state-wide commitments and
responsibilities, is the state's flagship institution of higher education. It is also the state's oldest,
most comprehensive, and most diversified institution of higher education. The university was
chartered in 1785 and has a current enrollment of over 35,000 students. The University of Georgia
is classified as a Research I university based on its annual incoming external funding awards and
the strength and diversity of its graduate degree programs. The University of Georgia is tied for
18th in U.S. News & World Report’s 2011 list of the 50 top public universities in America.
The University of Georgia’s College of Public Health
The University of Georgia’s College of Public Health promotes health in human populations,
protects the environment, and prevents disease and injury in Georgia, the United States, and
globally through innovative research, exemplary education, and engaged service. The University of
Georgia’s College of Public Health, founded in 2005, has been awarded full accreditation by the
Council on Education for Public Health. With this announcement, the college became one of only
49 accredited colleges of public health in the nation and the only accredited college of public health
in the University System of Georgia. The college joins the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory
University as the only accredited colleges of public health in Georgia.
The UGA College of Public Health currently consists of four departments, two institutes, and one
center. The College of Public Health enjoys a research infrastructure that provides technologicallysophisticated classrooms, seminars rooms, and computing laboratories and research laboratories
to promote research in the areas of environmental health science, health behavior, biostatistics,
epidemiology, health administration, aging, and many others. All faculty and graduate student
offices are equipped with networked computers with direct access to e-mail, internet services,
statistical and other software, mainframe computing, and library resources. The research base of
the College continues to grow rapidly through grants and endowments. Skilled administrative
support is offered within the College for all accounting and reporting aspects of external awards.
Recent significant awards have come from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, and numerous other private and public sources.
The College consists of the following four departments, two institutes, and one center:
Department of Environmental Health Science. UGA’s Department of
Environmental Health Science studies biological, chemical, and physical agents in the environment
and their effects on human health and ecological systems. Investigators in the Department of
Environmental Health Science serve the general welfare by predicting which agents may cause
adverse health effects, how these adverse effects occur, and by developing and evaluating strategies
to minimize the deleterious effects of these events. Department faculty are actively involved in
safeguarding and improving the quality of our nation’s air, water, natural resources, food, and
shelter. The Environmental Health Science Building is approximately 7,500 square-feet in size.
Over one-half of this space is devoted to laboratory facilities with the remainder being divided
between classroom and office space.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. The Department of Epidemiology
and Biostatistics is one of the newest and fastest growing academic units in the College and consists
of experienced investigators who are current in (and who have helped to develop) state-of-thescience quantitative methods. The department’s mission is to train public health professionals and
researchers in the use of epidemiological principles and biostatistical methods and to conduct
innovative research to address existing and emerging public health issues. The department is
located in the newly refurbished B.S. Miller Hall, which is a 24,606 square foot facility consisting of
numerous classrooms, offices for faculty, research staff, and students, a computer lab, and several
conference rooms. Faculty members in the area of biostatistics are concerned with the
development and application of quantitative methods for collecting, summarizing, analyzing, and
interpreting biologic information in the presence of uncertainty. Faculty members in the area of
biostatistics are trained and experienced in the conduct of the following data analytic approaches:
multivariate methods; hierarchical linear models; causal modeling; longitudinal data analyses;
missing data problems in clinical trials; survival analysis; spatial statistics; spatial epidemiology;
ROC curve analyses; high dimensional data; point process models for event history data; medical
diagnostic testing; classifier development and validation; and nonparametric and semi-parametric
methods. Epidemiology faculty members study the distribution of disease in populations, focusing
on patterns of risk and preventive measures for disease. The following areas of expertise are
represented among the department’s epidemiologists: cancer epidemiology; spatial epidemiology;
clinical epidemiology; meta-analysis; cost-effectiveness analysis; point of care decision support;
epidemiology of zoonotic infections; occupational health; reproductive and developmental health;
molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases; comparative genomics; computational immunology
and virology; theoretical immunology; and mathematical and computational modeling of withinhost and between-host infectious disease dynamics.
Department of Health Policy and Management. The mission of the Department of
Health Policy and Management (HPAM) is to advance the health of the public through excellence
in research, instruction, and outreach by developing leadership and management expertise and an
evidence-based approach to policy making. HPAM consists of a group of interdisciplinary faculty
members who have widespread research interests in the areas of public health, health services
research, economic evaluation, health economics, child and adolescent health, aging, scientific
workforce diversity, and emergency preparedness. These faculty members have extensive
experience leading and co-leading interdisciplinary grants and contracts to better inform
healthcare policy making and healthcare management decisions. HPAM occupies 4,465 square feet
in the historic Bank of America building located just one block from the University of Georgia. This
current space has 11 finished private offices, 2 large staff areas, 2 conference rooms, and a private
library for faculty and student research. This location also provides ample space in which to
maintain all paper and electronic copies of data, including transcripts and surveys that are archived
in secure data storage files in private, locked offices. All HPAM faculty and research staff are
provided office space equipped with state of the art Dell or Apple desktop workstations, Xerox
Phaser 8620 color printers, telephones, photocopiers, scanners, and 13 Windows or Mac OS based
workstation type laptops. In total, HPAM currently employs a Mac OS X based department server,
one network attached storage device and 31 user systems (desktop, laptop, and tablet personal
computers). The servers host web systems, database server, and e-mail systems. The server systems
are upgraded every other year; the hardware is on a four-year recycle plan.
Department of Health Promotion and Behavior. The Department of Health
Promotion and Behavior, through its teaching, research, and service initiatives, generates
knowledge about the social and behavioral determinants of health and applies that knowledge to
the design, delivery, and evaluation of disease prevention and health promotion programs. Faculty
in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavior are currently conducting research that spans
the public health spectrum, including expertise in multiple health areas (e.g., HIV prevention, rural
health, violence and injury prevention, reducing health disparities, telemedicine, promotion of
physical activity and healthy eating, cancer screening, and sexual health), diverse health settings
(community, school, family, and worksite health), and all age groups (children, adolescents, adults,
and older adults). Some of this research is coordinated through the following multidisciplinary
research groups located within the department:
o The Workplace Health Group conducts research on workplace health and
organizational effectiveness. This work is fostered through multi-disciplinary
collaboration with business and industry. The Workplace Health Group recognizes
the huge potential of the workplace as a setting for reaching large numbers of people
with public health messages and programs about health lifestyles and personal
health issues. The Workplace Health Group also explores quality of work life and the
contribution of structural and organizational factors to worker health and
productivity. The group enjoys active collaborative relationships with faculty and
graduate students in the Terry College of Business, industrial/organizational
psychology, and human resources development. Participating researchers include
specialists in both quantitative and qualitative methods.
o The Youth Violence Prevention Group conducts research on the study and
prevention of school violence and bullying and the promotion of positive and caring
school environments. The group also works with the Pan American Health
Organization in the evaluation and adaptation of family programs for Latinos living
in the United States. The goal of all programs is to reduce violence and other highrisk behaviors by enhancing positive family relationships. The group collaborates
with faculty and graduate students in the College of Education, the School of Social
Work, and the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, as well as educators
and health professionals working in the field.
o The Traffic Safety Research and Evaluation Group consists of a working
group of scholars and practitioners dedicated to reducing the morbidity and
mortality caused by traffic accidents through interdisciplinary research, identifying
effective program strategies, and best practices for highway safety planning. The
Traffic Safety Research and Evaluation Group collaborates with state, federal, and
local stakeholders with interests in traffic safety, including the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway
Safety (GOHS), the National Safety Council, and the Georgia Network for Substance
Abuse Prevention in Higher Education to conduct research on effective health
promotion interventions and to assess and document program outcomes.
Center for Global Health. The Center for Global Health identifies best practices of
health care throughout the world and supports their dissemination, adoption, and cultural
adaptation to improve health care for all. The Center for Global Health conducts research in global
health systems and supports the research of others in the college and throughout the university in
global health. It includes faculty from throughout the College of Public Health and the University in
multi-disciplinary research endeavors. The Center is housed in Wright Hall on the Health Sciences
Campus. It currently occupies 3,000 square feet of office, teaching, and video conferencing space.
Institute for Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense. The mission
of the Institute for Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense is to reduce the casualties
and social disruption resulting from natural disasters and man-made events (including weapons of
mass destruction) through engagement in planning, mitigation, risk analysis, professional training,
and the development of response capabilities and infrastructure. The Institute for Health
Management and Mass Destruction Defense is housed in Barrow Hall. It currently occupies 4,400
square feet of contiguous laboratory, office, and EOC space on the first floor.
Institute of Gerontology. The Institute of Gerontology serves as the hub for the
coordination and conduct of the University of Georgia’s education, research, and outreach services
related to the study of aging. The Institute of Gerontology is housed at 255 E. Hancock Avenue, a
short walk from the university campus in downtown Athens. The Institute of Gerontology building
comprises approximately 7,800 square feet of offices and supply and copy rooms and 662 square
foot of classrooms and conference rooms.
Degree Programs in the University of Georgia’s College of Public Health
The College of Public Health currently consists of 50 full-time faculty members across the following
departments: 13 faculty members in Health Promotion and Behavior, 9 in Environmental Health
Science, 8 in Epidemiology, 8 in Health Policy and Management, 5 in Biostatistics, 3 in the
Institute of Gerontology, 3 in the Institute of Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense,
and 1 in the Center for Global Health.
These 50 faculty members and numerous support staff enable the College to offer the following
degree programs:













Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health (B.S.E.H.)
Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion (B.S.H.P.)
Master of Public Health (M.P.H.)
Master of Science in Environmental Health
Master of Science in Toxicology
Ph.D. in Health Promotion and Behavior
Ph.D. in Toxicology
Ph.D. in Epidemiology
Ph.D. in Environmental Health Science
Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.)
Graduate Certificate in Gerontology
Graduate Certificate in Disaster Management
Graduate Certificate in Global Health
Dual Degree Programs:




DVM / MPH (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine / M.P.H.)
MD / MPH (Doctor of Medicine / M.P.H.)
MSW / MPH (Master of Social Work / M.P.H.)
PharmD / MPH (Doctor of Pharmacy / M.P.H.)
University of Georgia Facilities Available to Facilitate the Planned Research
The Survey Research Center. The Survey Research Center is part of the Institute for
Behavioral Research at the University of Georgia and provides data management services and
related assistance. The Center provides consultation and services related to survey design and
sampling, data collection and management, and data analysis and reporting. The Center’s
capabilities include: computer-assisted telephone interviewing, web-based surveys, and touch-tone
data survey methods; training programs for interviewers and field workers; statistical consultation
and analysis; and overall supervision and quality control services for both large and small projects.
The Public Health Evaluation Studies Group. The Public Health Evaluation Studies
Group is directed by Dr. Marsha Davis. The group, drawing on expertise from the College of Public
Health and the University of Georgia, collaborates with state and local community agencies to
evaluate and assess their public-health policies, activities, and programs across a variety of areas
and works with federal agencies on funded grant and contract projects. The Public Health
Evaluation Studies Group provides technical and programmatic assistance in formulating logic
models, focus group training, and developing questionnaires and data collection protocols, the
analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, and report writing.
The College of Veterinary Medicine. The University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary
Medicine (CVM) is an integral component of life science and biomedical research at UGA. Its
faculty members include internationally recognized experts on diseases of domestic animals,
wildlife, poultry, fish, and human public health. Within the CVM, the Departments of Infectious
Diseases and Population Health are responsible for the majority of infectious disease research and
education programs. Research and teaching areas focus on respiratory virology and vaccine
development in humans and animals (including SARS and influenza), bacterial pathogenesis,
cellular immunology, immunoregulation and vaccine development in animals and humans
(including tuberculosis, tularemia and Burkholderia), and epidemiology of wildlife infectious
diseases. In addition to thousands of square feet of newly renovated BSL2 research and animal
space, CVM infectious disease investigators currently occupy nearly 10,000 sq. ft. of BSL3
laboratory space and 30,000 square feet of A-BSL3 and BSL3-ag high-containment animal
research space. All high-containment research is regulated by federal guidelines, as well as by
oversight from the UGA Office of Biosafety and the Institutional Biosafety Committee, with input
from an advisory group composed of members of the university and the Athens community. The
CVM maintains an active federally funded research operation. In early 2007, the NIH awarded the
CVM a $7.4 million contract to collaborate with Emory University through its new Regional Center
for Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance. The CVM has partnered with the Georgia
Research Alliance to launch a new statewide initiative for vaccine development. The CVM
comprises over 130 faculty members, with research strengths that include influenza, tuberculosis,
respiratory syncitial virus, parasitic diseases, wildlife diseases, and avian medicine.
The Institute for Evidence-Based Health Professionals Education. The goal of
the Institute for Evidence-Based Health Professionals Education (EBP) is to provide a mechanism
for faculty from the College of Education (COE), the College of Public Health (CPH), and other
units at the University of Georgia to focus interdisciplinary research attention on health
professional education and develop new professional education programs based on evidence-based
practice. The Institute serves as a source of expertise and training for professional education
programs in public health, medicine and other health professions and is a platform for national
engagement in this expanding area of study and pedagogy.
The Complex Carbohydrate Research Center. The Complex Carbohydrate Research
Center (CCRC) includes a U.S. Department of Energy-funded Center for Plant and Microbial
Complex Carbohydrates and a National Institutes of Health Resource Center for Biomedical
Complex Carbohydrates. The Center's scientists study the structures and functions of the complex
carbohydrates of plants, microbes, and animals to determine the role of carbohydrates in growth
and development, host-pathogen interactions, and disease processes. The CCRC's 78,000 sq. ft.
building is specifically designed for the interdisciplinary and equipment-intensive nature of
carbohydrate science. CCRC scientists investigate the chemistry and the physiological,
developmental, and molecular biology of complex carbohydrates having biological importance
using advanced analytical techniques, including mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) spectroscopy, computer modeling, artificial neural networks, tissue culture, monoclonal
antibodies, chemical and enzymatic synthesis, and recombinant genetics. The CCRC provides
analytical services to scientists, conducts four annual extramural hands-on laboratory training
courses, and develops computer software to assist the study of complex carbohydrates. CCRC
personnel are presently engaged in more than 170 collaborations with scientists in North and South
America, Europe, and Japan.
The William A. & Barbara R. Owens Institute for Behavioral Research. The
Institute for Behavioral Research (IBR) is a multi-disciplinary research organization, the purpose
of which is to encourage a pooling of the expertise of faculty members and graduate students from
various departments to address significant social and behavioral problems at both basic and
applied levels. Faculty members are assembled from a variety of departments from the College of
Public Health, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, College of Family and Consumer
Sciences, and other schools and colleges across the UGA campus. Faculty members hold a joint
appointment with their respective departments and the Institute. Many hold external research
grants or contracts. Current activities include research on health care delivery, prevention, family,
workplace, community, as well as basic research on connections between biological systems and
behavior. The IBR serves as an “umbrella” for several centers: the Center for Research on
Behavioral Health and Human Services Delivery; the Center for Family Research; the Center for
Integrative Conservation Research; the Center for Gene-Social Environment Transactions; the
Center for Contextual Genetics and Prevention Science; and the Center for Gambling Research. In
addition, the following workgroups have formed to collaborate: Neuroscience Behavior and
Cognition; Race, Class, Place, and Outcomes Group; the Violence Group; and the Behavioral
Economics and Neuro-economics Work Group.
Library Services. The University of Georgia’s libraries are composed of five major oncampus libraries; the Main Library, the Science Library, the Miller Learning Center (MLC); the
Richard B. Russell Library, and the Law Library (administered by the School of Law). Several small
collections include the Curriculum Materials Library (Education), the Veterinary Medicine reading
room, and various lab collections. The UGA library system also includes libraries at the experiment
stations in Griffin and Tifton and the marine stations at Sapelo and Skidaway. The UGA library is
the largest library in the state of Georgia and serves as the Regional Depository for federal
government publications. It is a member of the prestigious Association of Research Libraries
(ARL) consisting of the largest research libraries in North America and ranks in the top third of
these libraries. The libraries contain more than 3.9 million books, serials, and documents, plus
many other items, including manuscripts, photographs, drawings, music scores, audio/video
materials, and newspapers. Collections support the University’s instructional, research, and public
service activities and are available to users on campus and across the state.
Particularly relevant to public health, the University libraries offer a huge number of electronic
databases. The GALILEO system provides access to more than 300 databases, including indexes,
abstracts, full-text journals, electronic books, government publications, reference sources, and
links to additional Internet-based resources. GIL, the library’s catalog, can be accessed in the
library and remotely through a web connection. Thus, faculty members and students can access
thousands of journal articles from their office or home. Statistical and government databases are
available through the Data Services unit.
An outstanding feature of the Main Library is the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
which consists of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Georgiana Collection, and UGA
Archives and Records Management. Subject interests include Georgia, Book Arts, Theater, Music,
History, Literature, Journalism and Genealogy. The Hargrett Library Rare Book unit contains
approximately 120,000 rare books on a variety of subjects. Special emphasis is placed on rare
books, maps, broadsides and other printed material dealing with the State of Georgia and the
Southeast United States. The manuscripts area of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library
is the repository for over 6 million individual items including family papers, diaries, letters,
theatrical papers, corporate and organizational papers. The Georgiana Collection documents the
ongoing history of the state of Georgia, its people and culture. It houses approximately 100,000
books by Georgians and about Georgia. UGA archives preserve over two centuries of the history of
the University of Georgia in the form of official records, images, correspondence, plats, plans,
publications, and artifacts.
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection holds over 90,000 titles and 5
million feet of news film, making this one of the largest broadcasting archives in the country. This
Archive comprises moving image and sound collections that focus on American television and
radio broadcasting; and the music, folklore, and history of Georgia. The Archives contain over
51,000 television programs and over 40,000 radio programs, in addition to audio folk music field
tapes and home movies from rural Georgia.
The Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies is the only repository in Georgia
directed solely toward support of scholarly research in modern political history, and it is the first
repository to document modern politics and policy development in the Southeast. Given the scope
and content of its collections, the Library arguably exceeds the importance of presidential libraries,
and it has long served as a model for others collecting congressional collections. Some of the
significant holdings, in addition to the collection of Senator Russell, are the papers of Secretary of
State Dean Rusk; Undersecretary of Agriculture J. Phil Campbell; U. S. Senators Herman E.
Talmadge, Mack Mattingly, Hoke Smith, and Thomas Hardwick; U. S. Representatives Dudley M.
Hughes, Howard H. "Bo" Callaway, Williamson S. Stuckey, Sanford Bishop, Johnny Isakson; as
well as governors, state legislators and officials, and political activists and commentators. The
Library is also the repository for the records of the state Democratic and Republican parties, the
Georgia Public Policy Foundation, Leadership Georgia, and the ACLU Chapter of Georgia. These
highly regarded collections from individuals and organizations involved in politics and public
policy are widely used by local, national, and international researchers.
Computing Facilities. The Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) is the
central information technology organization at the University of Georgia. The organization
supports faculty, students, and staff at the University of Georgia. The goal of EITS is to help the
UGA community utilize technology as a tool to enhance teaching and learning, research, and public
service at the University of Georgia. EITS offers this support through collaborations with colleges,
departments, and individual clients. In 2001, EITS was formed from the union of several
information technology units on campus. Today, EITS is an organization of approximately 240
full-time staff and 60 student workers. The organization has personnel in several buildings across
campus including the Computer Services Annex, Boyd Graduate Studies, Miller Learning Center,
Stegeman Coliseum, Business Services, Electronics Shop, and Franklin House.
The Research Computing Center (RCC) at UGA was established in late-2003 as a partnership
between the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Office of the Vice President for
Research (OVPR). The RCC has a fulltime technical staff of six, specializing in Linux/UNIX system
administration, storage administration, computational computing, virtualization, and database
administration, in support of researchers using the RCC-managed resources. The RCC provides
better than 99.99% uptime to its users of computing and storage resources and serves over 100
principal investigators and over 400 total users. RCC has several computing clusters with tens to
hundreds of nodes.
The University of Georgia has site licensed numerous software packages primarily for Macintosh or
Windows desktop operating systems. These software packages, many of which are directly relevant
to the research activities of College of Public Health researchers, can be downloaded and used by
faculty, staff, and students both on campus and at home and include: Microsoft Office,
Dreamweaver, Nvivo, Systat 13, Stata, SAS, SPSS, BMDP, HLM, JMP, Fathom Dynamic Data,
Endnote and Refworks, and Harvard Graphics.
The Georgia Biobusiness Center. The Georgia BioBusiness Center (GBBC) works with
indigenous and recruited start-up bioscience companies with research and technology ties to the
University of Georgia. Conveniently located on UGA’s Athens campus, the GBBC enables start-ups
to accelerate their early growth through access to space, state-of-the-science equipment, and
support services. GBBC programs encourage the commercialization of UGA faculty, staff, and
student discoveries in the fields of medicine, agriculture, bioinformatics and environmental
science. The academic competitiveness of UGA is enhanced by an increase in Industry/University
collaboration and student research and employment opportunities. The GBBC provides an
economic stimulus to the Northeast Georgia region as companies provide jobs and solve unmet
community needs by translating University research into products and services.
Research Facilities in UGA’s College of Public Health are HIPAA Compliant
The College of Public Health works closely with its faculty members, research staff, and graduate
students to ensure that all office and lab space involved in university-sponsored research conforms
to the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Several
safeguards implemented in the lab space of all College of Public Health investigators to ensure
HIPAA compliance include: (i) password-protected computers; (ii) screensavers on computers that
initiate automatically after 60 seconds of non-use; (iii) all computers are configured in positions
and angled so that casual observers cannot read computer screens; (iv) all computers contain the
most current virus and security software and receive regular software updates; (v) all data
collection materials (i.e., surveys) are stored in locked filing cabinets in locked offices and access is
limited to the Principal Investigator and/or Project Coordinator; (vi) in addition to study data
being stored on the research lab’s main data entry computer, all data are backed-up on secure
department or college servers and a copy of the database is kept on one or more USB drives that are
stored off-campus and that are under the supervision of the Principal Investigator; (vii) at the
completion of the planned research, and in accord with guidelines published by several
professional associations regarding data confidentiality and destruction (e.g., the American Public
Health Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Psychological
Association), all data documents are shredded or destroyed by the Principal Investigator and/or
Project Coordinator at the appropriate time and under appropriate supervision. As such, we are
confident that all research activities conducted under the supervision of the Principal Investigator
of the proposed research are HIPAA compliant.