UTHealth School of Public Health

What UTHealth School of Public Health does

UTHealth Houston School of Public Health is a public graduate school and component of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston), founded in 1967 as Texas' first public health school. It delivers MPH, MS and PhD programs across five academic departments — Biostatistics and Data Science, Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, and Management, Policy and Community Health — at six Texas campuses (Houston, Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, El Paso, San Antonio), plus online offerings (11% of HPBS students enrolled online in Fall 2024). The school is also a research enterprise, with centers such as the Border Health Research Center (which maintains a ~5,000-participant cohort of Mexican Americans and access to an RGV HIE covering 600,000+ residents), the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research (CHPPR), the Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, the Place and Health Lab, and the Human Genetics Center. It maintains CEPH-style accreditation, DSHS-certified CHW training, and a CDC Prevention Research Center designation.

The school operates a community-engaged research and graduate-education platform spanning epidemiology, biostatistics, geospatial analysis, implementation science and AI-driven infectious-disease modeling. Proprietary assets include the Border Health Research Cohort with biospecimens, imaging and 20+ years of follow-up; the MMF-GAT graph-attention network for COVID-19 risk prediction (AUC 0.90, accuracy 0.78); the SEMM-DIA digital implementation dashboard; the SCAN culturally adaptive nutrition curriculum; and the in-development Hartford Foundation-funded conversational AI platform for older-adult care. Research output has been repeatedly recognized at the federal level (Blue Ridge NIH funding ranking) and through individual faculty appointments to the Fulbright Program, IMPACT Collaboratory, AHA, Shine Academy and EPA Science Advisory Board.

The business model blends tuition and student fees (recurring revenue across six campuses and online), federal and state research grants (NIH, CDC, CPRIT, NASA, Texas Opioid Abatement Fund Council, John A. Hartford Foundation, Texas Bar Foundation), philanthropic giving and endowment support (named chairs and endowed lectures via the UTH Giving portal), and continuing education including DSHS-certified 160-hour CHW training with 6 certified instructors. Customer segments span prospective graduate students, federal and philanthropic funders, state and local public health agencies (City of Houston, Houston Health Department, Bexar County, Brownsville, Texas DSHS), healthcare providers and FQHCs, and underserved border and Hispanic communities in the Rio Grande Valley.

Name

UTHealth School of Public Health

Legal name

UTHealth Houston School of Public Health

Website

https://sph.uth.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Short description

UTHealth Houston School of Public Health is Texas' first public health school (founded 1967), delivering MPH, MS and PhD programs across six Texas campuses and conducting community-engaged research in epidemiology, chronic disease, health disparities and applied AI through centers such as CHPPR and the Border Health Research Center.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Health Education and Research

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (6113), Residential Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities (623220)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Schools of Public Health (EDAHAGAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Health Administration & Health Policy Schools (MHA/MPH Policy) (EDAHAGAL), County/District/Local Health Departments (HLAJAAAB), Behavioral Health & Substance Use Public Health Programs (BPAIAJAK)

Keywords

• Public health graduate education
• Epidemiology research programs
• Community health interventions
• Population health data science
• Applied public health training

Headquarters

HQ city

Houston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Tuition and student fees: Recurring tuition revenue from MS, MPH, and PhD programs across six Texas campuses and online offerings; 11% of HPBS students are enrolled online (Fall 2024).
2. Federal and state research grants: Major awards include $25M from Texas Opioid Abatement Fund Council, ~$2.9M CDC colorectal cancer screening award, ~$3M CPRIT TEX-SIM award, $1.3M John A. Hartford Foundation grant, $1.1M Texas Bar Foundation grant, NIH, NASA, and American Academy of Sleep Medicine funding.
3. Philanthropic giving and endowment support: Donations channeled through the UTH Giving portal support the School of Public Health, including named professorships (Allan King, Thomas Stull Matney, Rockwell Distinguished Chair) and endowed lectures (Reuel A. Stallones Memorial Endowed Lecture).
4. Continuing education and professional training: Continuing-education programs such as CHES/MCHES credits through the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, and DSHS-certified 160-hour CHW training with 6 certified instructors.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

UTHealth Houston School of Public Health is a public, state-funded graduate school that delivers accredited MPH, MS, and PhD programs across five academic departments (Biostatistics and Data Science; Epidemiology; Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences; Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences; Management, Policy & Community Health) and six Texas campuses. It produces externally funded population-health research through multiple centers and applied programs, including CHPPR, the Border Health Research Center, and disease-specific interventions in diabetes, cancer, infectious disease, and maternal-child health. Continuing education, DSHS-certified community health worker (CHW) training, and community-engaged intervention programs translate research into practice for Texas communities.

Product overview

UTHealth Houston School of Public Health operates a portfolio of graduate-degree programs and applied-research offerings rather than a single unified commercial product. The core educational offering comprises MPH, MS, and PhD programs across five academic departments — Biostatistics and Data Science; Epidemiology; Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences; Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences; and Management, Policy & Community Health — delivered across six Texas campuses (Houston, Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, El Paso, San Antonio). Surrounding this academic core, the school maintains named research centers and applied programs: the Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research (CHPPR) — home of the SEMM-DIA and SCAN initiatives and a conversational AI platform for older-adult care — the Border Health Research Center (BHRC) and its Border Health Research Cohort, the Center for Infectious Diseases, the Human Genetics Center, the Center for Healthy Communities, the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, and the George McMillan Fleming Center for Healthcare Management. Operational products supporting students and faculty include the Canvas-based course environment, the mySPH SharePoint portal, the myUTH portal, and the Microsoft Teams/Webmail/Zoom collaboration stack; specialized launches include the AI-driven MMF-GAT epidemic-prediction framework and the Texas Rural Hospital Officers Academy statewide initiative.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research (CHPPR): A research center at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health that conducts research to develop, evaluate, and disseminate health promotion and disease prevention programs in diverse settings and populations.
• Border Health Research Center (BHRC)
• Center for Healthy Communities (CHeC)
• Human Genetics Center (HGC)
• Center for Infectious Diseases (CID)
• Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living
• Border Health Research Center (in department of Epidemiology reference)
• George McMillan Fleming Center for Healthcare Management
• The Place and Health Lab (PAHL)
• Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta!
• Salud y Vida
• LASSO-TX (Lactation and Safe Sleep Opportunities in Texas)
• SEMM-DIA (Salud en Mis Manos-Dissemination and Implementation Assistance)
• Siembra Lab

Products and services

• UTHealth Houston School of Public Health Graduate Degree Programs Portfolio of MPH, MS, and PhD degree programs delivered across five academic departments (Biostatistics and Data Science; Epidemiology; Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences; Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences; Management, Policy & Community Health) and six Texas campuses (Houston, Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, El Paso, San Antonio). Ranked #1 Graduate School of Public Health in Texas and #9 publicly funded by US News & World Report.
• Border Health Research Cohort (BHRC) A randomly ascertained, community-based cohort of approximately 5,000 Mexican Americans plus a 400+ pediatric cohort (ages 8-17) recruited from Cameron and Webb counties on the Texas-Mexico border, with biospecimens, imaging, and clinical data supporting multi-omic research on diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and cancer.
• Conversational AI Platform for Older-Adult Patient Care A conversational artificial intelligence platform under development by UTHealth Houston School of Public Health and Institute on Aging researchers, funded by an 18-month, $1.3 million John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees grant to improve care among older adults.
• MMF-GAT (Multilayer Modular Fusion Graph Attention Network) Graph-based deep learning prediction framework with explainable-AI components that fuses personal, household, and community social-network layers to predict individual COVID-19 infection risk; achieved AUC 0.90, accuracy 0.78, F1 0.72 on a 2,264-individual Houston Health Department dataset; principal investigator Kayo Fujimoto, PhD.
• SEMM-DIA (Salud en Mis Manos - Dissemination and Implementation Assistance) CDC Prevention Research Center Core Research Project developed at CHPPR that supports Federally Qualified Health Centers implementing the evidence-based Salud en Mis Manos breast and cervical cancer screening program for medically underserved Latina adults; includes CHW trainings, digital dashboard tools, and a virtual learning network.
• Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! Evidence-based, collaborative community program delivering the Your Health Matters! curricula to community health workers and residents of the Rio Grande Valley to promote healthy food choices, physical activity, and behavior change.
• Salud y Vida DSRIP-funded chronic-disease management program that pairs clinic partners, non-profits, the Rio Grande Valley health information exchange, and community health workers to address social determinants of health and improve diabetes and hypertension control among Rio Grande Valley residents.
• Unidos Contra la Diabetes (UCD) Multi-stakeholder community partnership including MPH Salud, Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation, Texas DSHS, Texas A&M School of Public Health, Methodist Healthcare Ministries, Nuestra Clinica del Valle, Tropical Texas Behavioral Health, RGV HIE, and others focused on diabetes prevention in the Rio Grande Valley.
• SCAN Program (Sustainable Culturally Adaptive Nutrition) Evidence-based culturally adaptive nutrition program originally developed at CHPPR to enhance the National Diabetes Prevention Program; piloted in an enhanced DSMES-integrated form at the Lifestyle Medicine clinic in Katy, Texas in partnership with the Nourish program.
• LASSO-TX (Lactation and Safe Sleep Opportunities in Texas) A hospital-based quality improvement initiative of the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies (TCHMB) led by UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Austin; provides structured learning sessions, evidence-based care strategies, and QI tools to accelerate improvement in breastfeeding and safe infant sleep across Texas hospitals.
• TEX-SIM (Texas Spatial-Temporal Data Science, Informatics, and Modeling Core) CPRIT-funded (~ $3M) core led by Cici Bauer, PhD that provides spatial-temporal data science infrastructure for cancer prevention and control research across Texas.
• Place and Health Lab (PAHL) Research lab directed by Ryan Ramphul, PhD, integrating Bayesian spatial modeling, GIS, and interactive dashboards to map persistent poverty, food insecurity, cancer disparities, and mobile stroke unit placement across Texas.
• Community Health Worker (CHW) Training Program DSHS-certified 160-hour CHW training delivered through the Brownsville campus with 6 certified CHW instructors and a statewide trainer-of-trainers curriculum.
• CHES/MCHES Continuing Education Webinars Continuing-education webinars offered through the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living as a Designated Provider of CHES/MCHES contact hours, including sessions such as the Building Better Brains: Sleep in Child Development webinar.
• HEART (Housing Expansion for Access to Recovery for Texans) Recovery-housing expansion program led by UTHealth Houston School of Public Health faculty to expand and enhance recovery housing resources across Texas for individuals recovering from opioid use disorder.
• TX IS Hub (Texas Implementation Science Research Consultation Hub to End HIV) Texas Implementation Science Research Consultation Hub to End HIV, expanded through a ~$2M federal grant by UTHealth Houston School of Public Health and the Institute of Implementation Science.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10,000+ graduates making a difference across Texas and beyond
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability10 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• City of HoustonflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 June 2026Partnership announced June 17, 2026 to establish a new Academic Health Department between UTHealth Houston School of Public Health and the City of Houston. The agreement strengthens the region's public health workforce, expands hands-on training opportunities, and deepens collaboration between academic experts and city health leaders, including Mayor John Whitmire.
• Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-collaborator on the LASSO-TX (Lactation and Safe Sleep Opportunities in Texas) hospital-based QI initiative within the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies (TCHMB). DSHS also funds the 160-hour CHW certification pathway delivered by Brownsville campus faculty.
• Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies (TCHMB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPI: Deanna Hoelscher, PhD (Austin Regional Dean); Research Director: Divya Patel, PhD; Clinical Director Susan Dimitrijevic. Delivers LASSO-TX in-person learning sessions in Dallas, Houston and Austin following the IHI Breakthrough Series model.
• University of CanberracoreStrategic or Co-development Partner2026-2027 Fulbright collaboration between Qian Xiao, PhD and the University of Canberra's Health Research Institute and Healthy Environments and Lives Network on environmental exposures, sleep health and chronic diseases in Australia.
• MD Anderson Cancer CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-lead of the Joint Collaborative on Geospatial Analysis and Health (JCoGAH) with UTHealth Houston, providing mapping tools, spatial databases, and dashboards for cancer prevention research across Texas.
• UTMB Department of Family MedicineminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration to develop interactive dashboards visualizing food insecurity and non-medical drivers of health in Galveston County using GIS-based methods.
• Baylor College of MedicinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProvides psychiatry and ophthalmology specialty care at the Brownsville Community Health Clinic as part of the BHRC specialty-care program.
• McGovern Medical School at UTHealth HoustonflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerOperates the joint telemedicine residency training program in Brownsville and collaborates on MD/MPH dual-degree training.
• National Institute on Aging IMPACT CollaboratorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJiaming Liang named 2026 Faculty Scholar; provides mentorship and training in designing embedded pragmatic clinical trials for dementia care.
• Prairie View A&M UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlumna Angela Branch-Vital, PhD named Inaugural Dean of the Prairie View A&M School of Public and Allied Health, reflecting SPH's alumni leadership pipeline.
• University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUTHealth School of Public Health and UTPB College of Business partnership lets graduate students simultaneously earn a Graduate Certificate in Public Health and an MBA (since Spring 2020).
• Bexar CountycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with the Bexar Responsibly Campaign to build a gun-theft dashboard; Texas Bar Foundation grant to Jack Tsai, PhD for homelessness court outcomes research; laundromat-based health clinics across San Antonio and Bexar County.
• City of BrownsvillecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosts CycloBia open-streets initiative and The Challenge-RGV weight-loss program with regional municipalities and community sponsors.
• UTHealth Houston Institute for Implementation SciencecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-collaborator on the Place and Health Lab (PAHL) recovery housing study and TX IS Hub to End HIV implementation science grant.
• American Heart AssociationcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerPartners on Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program training, the Heart of Nutrition Award, and College Pantry Collective for student food pantries.
• Unidos Contra Diabetes (UCD) partner networkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partnership including MPH Salud, Valley Baptist Legacy Foundation, Texas DSHS, Texas A&M School of Public Health, Methodist Healthcare Ministries, Nuestra Clinica del Valle, Tropical Texas Behavioral Health, RGV HIE, Hope, Knapp Community Care Foundation, UTHealth Houston, and Behavioral Health Solutions.
• Su Clinica (Rio Grande Valley)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFQHC partner providing primary care and acting as a recruiting/clinical site for the BHRC and Salud y Vida chronic disease program.
• Rio Grande Valley Health Information Exchange (RGV HIE)coreTechnology or Integration501(c)(3) data exchange containing information on more than 600,000 Rio Grande Valley residents; integrates with BHRC, Salud y Vida and UCD Health Connect.
• New Horizon (Salud y Vida)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary care clinic partner for BHRC collaborations.
• University of North Carolina (UNC) and Vanderbilt UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerExternal academic collaborating sites for BHRC research on obesity, diabetes and metabolic disease.
• Texas HHS Breast and Cervical Cancer Services (BCCS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic guidance and technical support for SEMM-DIA implementation across Texas FQHCs.

Scale indicators19 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) — parent institution: The parent health science center encompassing the School of Public Health along with schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, and biomedical sciences. Directly comparable as the umbrella public-health/health-sciences institution within which UTHealth SPH operates.
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: The leading U.S. school of public health by NIH funding and ranking; comparable as the benchmark for graduate public-health training, applied epidemiology, and large multi-omic cohort research (e.g., as a competitor/partner for federal grants).

Direct peers

• Texas A&M University School of Public Health: Another Texas-based CEPH-accredited school of public health offering MPH, MS, and PhD programs with comparable statewide reach. Directly competes for Texas public-health students, faculty, and state-level research funding.
• University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health: Top-ranked CEPH-accredited school of public health with comparable departments (epidemiology, biostatistics, HPB, EOH, health policy). Direct academic peer for faculty recruitment, NIH funding competition, and graduate-student placement.
• Emory University Rollins School of Public Health: CEPH-accredited school of public health with strong epidemiology, biostatistics, and global health programs and substantial NIH funding. Comparable in scale, mission, and applied-research orientation.
• University of Michigan School of Public Health: Large, research-intensive CEPH-accredited public health school with five departments closely mirroring UTHealth SPH's structure (Biostatistics, Epi, EOH, HBHE, Health Management & Policy).
• University of Washington School of Public Health: CEPH-accredited school with comparable five-department structure, strong NIH funding, and applied community-health work (including with Pacific Northwest border/indigenous populations analogous to UTHealth's border work).
• University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health: Top-ranked public CEPH-accredited school with strong epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, and health-policy programs; comparable in scale, mission, and public-university governance context.
• Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine: CEPH-accredited school of public health with strengths in epidemiology, environmental health, and community health — comparable as a research-intensive peer competing for NIH and federal public-health funding.

Regional players

• UTHealth San Antonio (Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine): Sister UT System health science center in San Antonio collaborating on community-court, dental-care/violence, and other joint research with UTHealth SPH. Comparable as a peer UT System health institution in a different Texas metro.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/UtexasSPH
• Facebookfacebook.com/UTHealthSPH
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/uthealthschoolofpublichealth
• Instagraminstagram.com/uthealthsph
• Xx.com/UTHealthSPH

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about UTHealth School of Public Health