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Timeline

1942The Northern California Public Health Association appoints a committee on the establishment of a school of public health in California, chaired by William P. Shepard, second vice president of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, with strong endorsement by the California Medical Association.
1943Shepard, Larry Arnstein, Karl F. Meyer, and other interested constituents successfully present the necessity of a school of public health to the California State Legislature. The legislature enacts a law, signed by Governor Earl Warren, establishing the School at the University of California.
1944Margaret Beattie, Fern French, Walter Mangold, Harold Gray, Escholzia Lucia, and Frank Kelley constitute the School's principal faculty.

The School holds its first commencement.

Walter Brown begins service as first dean.
1945The School launches a training program for public health sanitarians.
1946The American Public Health Association accredits the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, making it the only accredited school of public health west of the Mississippi.

Edward S. Rogers begins service as second dean.
1947The School grants its first DrPH degree.
1951Charles E. Smith begins service as third dean.
1955UC Berkeley Chancellor Clark Kerr dedicates Earl Warren Hall, named for the former California governor and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, who was instrumental in obtaining public funding for its construction.
1960The School grants its first PhD degree.
1961The School is accredited to offer MDs, a residency program in preventive medicine, the first school of public health to receive such accreditation.
1967William C. Reeves begins service as fourth dean.
1968The School ends its undergraduate degree program.
1971The American Indian Graduate Program is founded to respond to a need for more Native American health professionals.

Warren Winkelstein Jr.begins service as fifth dean.
1979The Minority Enrollment Program is established in response to California's growing multicultural population.
1982The UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program is placed under the School's administrative direction.

Joyce C. Lashof begins service as sixth dean.
1983The San Francisco Men's Health Study is launched by Warren Winkelstein Jr. The study will provide key epidemiological support for the link between HIV and AIDS.
1984The UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, under the leadership of Sheldon Margen, publishes its first issue. Today it is the most widely read health newsletter in North America.
1986Leonard Syme develops the Wellness Guide to provide Californians with direct information on how to stay well and how to find help on a wide range of health-related topics.
1987Martyn Smith is appointed director of the School's Superfund Basic Research Program, which is supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
1991Berkeley students establish the Suitcase Clinic to address some of the health and social problems related to homelessness.
1992The School's international health program is formally developed with the successful recruitment of Malcolm Potts to the Fred H. Bixby Endowed Chair in Population and Family Planning and multiple awards from the NIH Fogarty Center on International Health.

Patricia A. Buffler begins service as seventh dean.
1993The CDC chooses the School of Public Health as one of nine health promotion and disease prevention research centers around the nation. The Center for Family and Community Health is led by Ira Tager.
1994UC Berkeley launches its Millennium Campaign, "The Promise of Berkeley Campaign for the New Century." By the end of the campaign, the School of Public Health surpasses its $20 million goal, raising more than $26 million.

Arthur L. Reingold establishes the CDC California Emerging Infections Program.
1995The School teams with the Peace Corps to establish the Master's Internationalist Program.
1996The School establishes the Public Health Heroes Award program to honor individuals and organizations for their unique contributions and exceptional commitment to improving public health.

The School holds its first annual research symposium.
1998Sponsored research activities grow to $25 million annually.

Edward E. Penhoet begins service as eighth dean.
1999The University launches the Berkeley Health Sciences Initiative, with leadership from Dean Penhoet, to encourage multidisciplinary research in the health sciences across the campus.

The Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare is established.
2000Responding to the growth of the Internet and its potential to impact health, the School holds its first eHealth Summit and Forum.
2001The Center for Health Research is established as a University-wide effort to bring together UC Berkeley social scientists and other investigators to address challenging issues facing the health sector of society.
2002The School receives a federal grant to establish the Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness following the 2001 anthrax attacks. Arthur L. Reingold serves as principal investigator.

The Center of Excellence for Environmental Public Health Tracking, funded by the CDC and headed by John Balmes, is established to investigate links between diseases and environmental pollutants.

Stephen M. Shortell begins service as ninth dean.
2003Sponsored research activities expand to over $40 million annually.

The School reestablishes an upper-division undergraduate major in public health.
2005Senior health care leaders from countries around the world convene at Berkeley for the first Berkeley-Barcelona Advanced Health Leadership Forum (now called the Global Health Leadership Forum).
2007The School's Center for Global Public Health is established and led by director Eva Harris. The Center for Exposure Biology is also established and led by Stephen Rappaport.

Kirk R. Smith shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore and coauthors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on global warming.
2008The School enters a partnership with Mexico's National Institute of Public Health (INSP) to collaborate on finding solutions to health issues throughout the United States, Mexico, and Latin America.

The School launches The Campaign for the School of Public Health, with the theme "Healthier Lives in a Safer World," with a private philanthropy goal of $110 million.

With the help of donor support, the School founds the Center for Health Leadership, with the mission of enhancing the School's curricular and experiential offerings to better prepare students to be effective health leaders and professionals.
2009The School's Berkeley Center for Health Technology is established and led by director James C. Robinson.

The Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry is established in order to build a novel academic program to advance green chemistry through interdisciplinary scholarship.
2010The first MPH program in occupational and environmental health and safety ever offered in India is launched by Sri Ramachandra University in collaboration with UC Berkeley.
2011In direct response to the serious, growing need for educated public health leaders, the School establishes the first-ever online degree program on the UC Berkeley campus, the On-Campus/Online Professional MPH Degree Program.
2013Stefano Bertozzi begins service as 10th dean.

UC Berkeley launches the Berkeley Food Institute, an interdisciplinary research center.

The Campaign for the School of Public Health comes to a close, raising $116 million.
2014The Center for Healthcare Organizational and Innovation Research is established and led by director Stephen Shortell.
2015A $13 million bequest from Dr. Helen Wallace establishes the Helen Wallace Center for Maternal and Child Health.

The first UC Berkeley team to compete in the International Emory Global Health Case Competition wins first place.
2016In partnership with the College of Engineering, the School launches the Fung Fellowship for Wellness and Technology Innovations, a two-year fellowship for undergraduates.

Construction begins on the new Berkeley Way Building, which will house the School of Public Health, as well as the Graduate School of Education and the Department of Psychology.

The School graduates its 100th student from the On-Campus/Online MPH (OOMPH) degree program and begins offering an HPM concentration for students who will enroll in OOMPH starting in January 2017.
2018The School of Public Health celebrates its 75 anniversary.

The school moves into its new home at Berkeley Way West.
2019Michael C. Lu begins service as 11th dean.
2020The COVID-19 pandemic hits the United States; Berkeley Public Health emerges as a leader in COVID-19 research and response.