Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health

Welcome from the Dean Welcome to the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health (JPHCOPH) at Georgia Southern University, a destination for those passionate about making a difference in public health. As the Dean of JPHCOPH, I am both humbled and privileged to lead an extraordinary team of faculty, staff, and students dedicated to enhancing the well-being of rural and underserved communities in Georgia and beyond. Today, the JPHCOPH is home to 43 faculty, 5 staff, and nearly 500 students, all united in our mission. The need to grow public health programs continues to be our single most important priority given that our funding is contingent on student enrollment. JPHCOPH has initiated several groundbreaking programs. These include the JPHCOPH Ambassadors Program, the Rising Scholars Public Health Institute, and the Public Health Pathway Program in partnership with the Bulloch County Schools, all set to launch this fall. History of the College Public Health at Georgia Southern University began in 1998 in the Department of Health and Kinesiology within the College of Health and Professional Studies with the development of the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree with an emphasis in Community Health Education and the Master of Health Services Administration (MHSA) degree. The MPH expanded to include an emphasis in Biostatistics in 2000. On January 14, 2004, the Board of Regents established the first School of Public Health in the University System of Georgia and named it the Jiann-Ping Hsu School of Public Health. The School was housed within the College of Health and Human Sciences. A generous gift in memory and honor of his wife, Dr. Jiann-Ping Hsu, from Dr. Karl E. Peace, made the School’s establishment possible. About Dr. Jiann-Ping Hsu The Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health is named in honor of Dr. Jiann-Ping Hsu, a scholar-scientist whose distinguished service in her life’s work and devotion to quality and caring in all her endeavors represent the touchstones of learning and leadership in the health professions. Born in Mainland China in 1947 and educated in Taiwan, Dr. Jiann-Ping Hsu became a scholar of mathematical sciences. She earned the B.S. in Mathematics from the National Taiwan University, the M.A. in Mathematical Statistics from Columbia University in New York, and the Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was the top graduate in her class. The eldest of five daughters, she worked to bring her parents and sisters to the United States of America, providing for her parents care and contributing to the college education of her sisters. Dr. Hsu focused her expertise on public health, studying the efficacy and safety of pharmaceutical products in the treatment of patients. She served with the Food and Drug Administration, reviewing new drug applications, conducting research in the surveillance of post-marketing use of drugs, and drafting guidelines for clinical development of drugs for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. She then worked for several years in the basic research and clinical development areas in the pharmaceutical industry, having held positions of leadership with SmithKline and French Labs, Parke-Davis/ Warner-Lambert, and Schering Labs. She then joined Biopharmaceutical Research Consultants, Inc. (BRCI), a pharmaceutical research consulting organization founded by Dr. Karl E. Peace, as Vice President of Operations in 1993, and became President, in 1996. She also served on review panels for clinical trial grant applications for the National Institute on Drug Abuse and was instrumental in developing their Clinical Trials Network (CTN). Dr. Hsu was a member of, and made major contributions to the growth of, the Committee of Women in Statistics in the American Statistical Association and served other professional organizations, including the Drug Information Association, the International Chinese Statistical Association (ICSA), and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s Association. In 1999 and 2003, she was honored with the Meritorious Service Award of the Biopharmaceutical Applied Statistics Symposium for distinguished service and outstanding contributions. In 2004, she was posthumously awarded the President’s Medal for pivotal contributions to the success of the ICSA. During her career, Dr. Hsu mentored and trained more than 60 biostatisticians employed in the pharmaceutical industry, government or academia. The Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health is endowed by Dr. Karl E. Peace as a tribute to his wife and an enduring celebration of her life characterized by “a zeal for excellence, consideration of others, intelligence and scholarship, honesty, kindness, and humility.” Dr. Peace is an alumnus of Georgia Southern College, a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar, the architect of the MPH in Biostatistics, and the founder of the Karl E. Peace Center for Biostatistics at Georgia Southern University.