Threats to health and wellbeing are complex and far reaching. They include, escalating health disparities between rich and poor, climate and environmental change, and emerging and infectious disease. In addition, unprecedented global social and economic change and a steep increase in non-communicable, chronic illness contribute to the pandemic of diseases of lifestyle. Cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and certain cancers share similar risk factors related to unhealthy diets, sedentary behavior, substance use, risky sexual behaviors, and mental stress.

Clearly solutions to these health threats must be found. At CGU we believe in the development and testing of effective transdisciplinary approaches to prevent the formation of disease and to foster conditions that promote health. Toward that end we conduct research on the causes and correlates of disease threats at multiple levels of the social ecology ranging from macroenvironmental influences such as public policy down to highly individualized determinants of health behavior such as neurocognitive influences. Using novel research on the causes of health behavior and disease risk, we construct and evaluate intervention strategies that will impact the determinants of health behavior and reduce risk for disease. These interventions are designed for diverse settings including schools, clinics, worksites, and families and involve impactful strategies from individual behavior change, such as smoking cessation, to modification of societal level factors such as the built environment to support physical activity.

Doctoral training in health promotion sciences is designed to produce independent researchers who can study the causes of health-related behaviors and can also design novel and effective interventions to prevent disease and promote health. We believe strongly in a mentorship model where close research collaboration between students and faculty, as well as coursework, produce independent researchers of national and international reputation. Toward that end, we keep student to faculty ratios low and foster ongoing collaboration between students and faculty from the beginning of their training until their successful completion of the doctoral degree.

Program faculty comprise world leaders in health promotion and disease prevention research. They collectively bring a robust record of National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other funding, a wealth of scientific and administrative expertise, numerous successful ongoing funded research centers and projects, hundreds of peer-reviewed publications, and decades of experience in graduate training program development and operation. Their research and service focus on the needs of our Southern California communities and communities throughout the Pacific Rim, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

If you have a desire to make a difference on a global scale, we invite you to join us!

Kim Reynolds
Program Director
Professor
School of Community & Global Health
Email:  kim.reynolds@cgu.edu
Office phone:  909.607.7300