UNC Gillings ranked No. 1 public school of public health in US

April 9, 2024

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health has once again been ranked by peer leaders as the top public school of public health in the United States, and number two overall. The 2024-2025 rankings were published April 9 by U.S. News and World Report.

Dean Nancy Messonnier

“I take great pride in our top ranking,” says Nancy Messonnier, MD, dean and Bryson Distinguished Professor in Public Health at the Gillings School. “I’m also proud that we continuously strive to do more and do better. Our expanded initiatives around public health practice, behavioral health, and the environment and health will better prepare students to lead in a rapidly changing world. We’re also focusing on opportunities with generative AI and working to address persistently high rates of maternal and newborn illness and death.”

“As always, when I celebrate the School’s ranking, I am really celebrating the faculty, students, staff, alumni, donors and advisers who work together to make a healthier world for all,” she adds. “Only through their support — and in the excellent company of our fellow schools and programs of public health — can the Gillings School achieve so much for the health of the nation and the world.”

This announcement marks the sixth consecutive rankings period in which UNC Gillings was ranked second overall and the number one public school of public health by the magazine. The Gillings School continuously has been ranked among the top three schools and programs of public health by U.S. News since the magazine first ranked public health schools in 1987.

The overall school rankings are based on peer assessment surveys sent to deans and other administrators or faculty at all Council on Education for Public Health-accredited schools and programs of public health.

The 2024-2025 rankings also include five specialty areas of public health. All Gillings School departments that were ranked in these individual categories placed within the top ten.

The Department of Health Behavior was ranked second; the Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology were ranked third; the Department of Health Policy and Management was ranked fourth; and the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering was ranked eighth.

Full rankings are available at the U.S. News and World Report website.

Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu.