Undergraduate public health education: past, present, and future

The IOM's 2003 report Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? recommended that “…all undergraduates should have access to education in public health.” They justified their recommendations stating that “public health is an essential part of the training of citizens.” The IOM recommendations have catalyzed a movement linking undergraduate public health education with arts and sciences' Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP), an initiative designed to produce an educated citizenry. Schools and programs in public health rapidly adopted the IOM recommendations and efforts to reach the other 1900 4-year colleges and universities are now underway.