The Department
The department has four functional units, Public Health, Family Medicine, Psychiatry and the Community Health Centre. Through these units the department provides undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Additionally, clinical services were delivered through the Community Health Centre, and mental health services through the Department of Psychiatry, the University Hospital of the West Indies.
Academic Programmes
The Undergraduate Programmes
The department delivers undergraduate courses and clinical training Community Health, Family Medicine and Psychiatry to medical students in all five years of their training.
The Graduate Programmes
Graduate programmes in Public Health, Family Medicine, Psychiatry and Psychology.
MPhil /PhD (Public Health): This is a research-based MPhil/PhD in public health.
The Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH): This is an executive mixed methods programme of courses, practical experience and research designed to develop the next generation of public health leaders.
Master of Public Health: Includes a general degree and three specialty tracks (gerontology, health education/health promotion or health management).
Family Medicine: Offers a Diploma in Family Medicine and a four-year Doctor of Medicine (DM). Actively involved in the teaching of Family Medicine in the undergraduate medical programme.
The Doctor of Medicine (DM) Psychiatry: A 4-year clinical programme in Psychiatry.
Masters in Clinical Psychology: A joint programme delivered in conjunction with the Psychology
Learn more about the programmes
Enhancing research
There are several active research groups; Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Ageing, Mental Health, Chronic Disease Research and Research in Reproductive Health Behaviour. Continued collaboration with the Psychology Unit and with partners from several institutions such as the University of Exeter and the University of Utrect, and the University of Alabama, Birmingham.
Public Service
Our faculty sit on several technical, advisory bodies. Many participate on global expert groups for government, non-governmental and international organizations in cancer epidemiology, gerontology, HIV/AIDs, mental health, reproductive health and vaccine surveillance. Some hold leadership positions in professional organizations and serve as peer reviewers for international academic journals.
Community Health Centre & Psychiatry Clinical Services
The Community Health Centre (CHC) serves 16 communities[1] in collaboration with the KSAHD. The approximate visits for clients seen in the Community Health Centre is 55% for preventive services (family planning, cervical cancer screening, antenatal, postnatal, well-baby care) and 45% for curative services (screening, health promotion, acute, general medical and hypertension-diabetes care and dressings). Other services include community mental health, counselling and social work intervention; disease surveillance; health promotion; and birth and death registration.
Psychiatry provides in-patient and out-patient psychiatric services, services for children and adolescents, forensic services, and day treatment for persons with drug dependency.
Staff working in the service centres deliver lectures and supervise clinical experience for medical students from UWI and several other Universities; nursing and midwifery students and postgraduate candidates pursuing their DM (Family Medicine, and Emergency Medicine), MPH and MSc (Counselling Psychology).