Department of Public Health, Institute of Health Sciences

Department of Public Health, Institute of Health Sciences - University of Vilnius

The official foundation date of the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University (founded in 1579 on the basis of the Jesuit College founded in 1570) is the 24 of November 1781, when the rector of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania High School (the official name of the University at that time) Marcin Poczobutt announced the establishment of the medicine department in his opening speech at the beginning of the academic year.

The origins of the Department of Public Health go back to 1922, when the Department of Hygiene was founded at the Vilnius Steponas Bator University.

The Department of Public Health of the Institute of Health Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University was established in 2017 after the restructuring of the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University. The department became the Public Health Institute of the Faculty of Medicine of Vilnius University, which had been operating until then, and was founded in 2002, when three departments of the Faculty of Medicine were structurally reorganized during the reformations of Vilnius University.

Since 1998, public health specialists have been trained in the "Public Health" bachelor''s and master''s degree programs. In 2007, both study programs were evaluated by a group of independent foreign experts. Both programs are unconditionally accredited. From 1993 to 2004 A health care management residency was operating at the base of the Social Medicine Center. It trained about 50 new generation health care managers. In 2007, Vilnius University started implementing the "Erasmus Mundus" project financed by the European Commission, the aim of which is to implement the joint European public health master''s program "Sustainable regional health systems". It is a two-year international master''s program run by 4 European universities. At Vilnius University, this program was implemented and coordinated by the then MF Institute of Public Health.

Since 2008, this unit of the Faculty of Medicine has been a member of the European Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPHER).

The Department of Public Health (like the institute that operated before its establishment) actively participates in various international projects. It has more than 40 employees, more than 10 doctoral students of biomedical sciences in the direction of public health are preparing research papers.