As we celebrate the College of Health’s (COH) fifth anniversary, we are proud to introduce Five Years of Excellence,” a new publication that chronicles our rapid growth, groundbreaking research in public health and expanding community impact. Below is a glimpse of what you’ll find inside.
We welcomed our first cohort of 62 students amid the uncertainty of the global pandemic. Building a new community before the COVID-19 vaccine was available required enormous creativity, resolve and collaboration, but those early decisions have helped shape the College into what it is today: a hub for an outstanding community of scholars, students and partners who work together to tackle today’s most complex health challenges.
The College of Health has been transforming the future of health through an innovative approach to education, under the leadership of Beth Dolan, dean of the COH. We promote health equity by forging unconventional connections between diverse fields, prioritizing real-world impact in our research and educating students through experience. Through community partnership and innovation in applied technology, the COH strives to advance health and well-being for all.
Based in the Health, Science and Technology Building, which opened in 2021, the College is expanding rapidly and has enrolled over 250 students. We now offer five undergraduate majors — two in collaboration with other colleges at Lehigh, the Master of Public Health and a doctoral program in population health. Our first cohort of students graduated in 2024, and alumni have entered into impactful careers in the private sector, non-profit organizations, government institutions and more.
We have formed meaningful collaborations with dozens of local, regional and national partners, including healthcare systems, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, corporations and foundations, and raised over $13.6 million in philanthropic support.
Leading the Way in Disability Health Equity
The COH is proud to have spearheaded Lehigh University’s partnership with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation, joining forces with a leading rehabilitation network to advance disability health equity. This bold collaboration combines Lehigh’s research excellence with Good Shepherd’s hands-on clinical expertise, providing opportunities for engagement from all five colleges across the university. Motor control researcher and data scientist Shirin Madarshahian has received the first joint faculty appointment, the first-of-its kind hire for both institutions.
Research with Real-World Impact
At the College of Health, faculty research makes an immediate impact on human health. The COH’s combination of radical interdisciplinary research, partnership with community organizations, alumni support and student co-researchers makes this possible. As an R1 Research University, Lehigh gives students the chance to engage in groundbreaking research from day one.
To provide one example of many, in 2023, gifts supporting pilot funding for research allowed Thomas McAndrew, associate professor, department of biostatistics and health data science, and Rochelle Frounfelker, assistant professor, department of population health, to start a new project in infectious disease modeling and forecasting, forming the basis for a major award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) within two years. This work, which was supported by Kareem Hargrove ’25 and MPH student Katie Blomkvist G’25, will contribute to population well-being by improving evidence-based public health decision making for infectious diseases.
Hands-on Student Learning
Student learning extends beyond the classroom, as experiential learning is embedded into the curriculum. Internships, study abroad and research opportunities further enhance learning by experience, and students work directly with our communities and faculty to collaboratively address complex health issues. Opportunities such as the co-op with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are transformative for our students.
For example, Bethlehem native Helen Keetley ’25, a population health major with a minor in applied mathematics, transferred to the COH to pursue her interests in biostatistics and epidemiology. For her Honors Capstone, completed under the guidance of Professor John Hughes, she created a tutorial on implementing Bayesian spatial filtering, a method to better account for data that has spatial clustering. Keetley is now pursuing a Master of Science in Biostatistics at Harvard University, funded by a full tuition grant.
Join Us in Celebration
We invite you to explore our journey in greater depth through Five Years of Excellence, our new publication, which celebrates our impact and accomplishments, as well as the many individuals and partners who have helped shape the College of Health. Thank you for your continued support as we look forward to the next five years — and beyond.
