The Public Health program at St. John's University - the first of its kind in Queens, NY - was created to address the urgent need and demand for public health professionals and to meet the challenges of public health in regional, national, and global communities. This program continues the Vincentian tradition at St. John's to address poverty and social injustice by empowering individuals to work with local and global communities to improve health and protect the public. Cited as one of the fastest growing professions by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, public health jobs are in greater demand as the global community faces potential pandemics, HIV/AIDS and disasters, while the national community faces staggering rates of non-communicable diseases, increasing health care costs, and health disparities. Community health addresses the wide range of health challenges in everyday communities. This concentration will provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to identify major behavioral, social and cultural factors that impact the health of populations, as well as the ways in which these factors influence the development and organization of public health programs and service delivery to these communities. Through coursework and fieldwork practice experience, students will target theory and methods for designing, implementing, and evaluating programs aimed at reducing the burden of major health problems. By utilizing appropriate principals and methods, from both social and behavioral sciences to address behaviors of individuals, groups and the communities, students will be well on their way to developing a strategy for improving a community's health.