Anthony R. Mawson, MA, DrPH, School of Public Health, College of Public Service, Institute of Epidemiology and Health Services Research, Jackson State University, 350 West Woodrow Wilson Avenue, Suite 2301-B, Jackson, MS 39213, 601-979-1102, armawson@aol.com, Elizabeth Matlack, BA, National Center for Biodefense Communications, Jackson State University, 350 West Woodrow Wilson Ave, Suite 2301-B, Jackson, MS 39213, Felix Okojie, PhD, Vice President for Research, Jackson state University, Jackson State University, Adminstrative Tower, 6th floor, Jackson, MS 39217, and Marinelle Payton, MD, PhD, MPH, Department of Public Health, Jackson State University, Jackson Medical Mall - Thad Cochran Center, Jackson, MS 39213.

The events of “9/11”, the subsequent anthrax letter episode, and the still unfolding “war on terrorism” show that traditional models of public health education and practice need to be modified in order to meet the challenge of potentially deliberate uses of infectious or chemical agents for terrorist purposes. For instance, an acute disease outbreak may be due not only to an unidentified organism but to unidentified human perpetrators. Currently, however, few public health practitioners possess the necessary knowledge and skills to understand, investigate, manage and combat this growing threat to homeland and global security. Efforts have begun in the political and practice arenas to stimulate cross-training for first responders (such as the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security), but there has been little impact of these changes, as yet, on public health education itself, which remains focused on understanding and preventing chronic disease. There is now an urgent need to combine key elements of the public health curriculum with elements from, e.g., security, criminal justice, forensics, along with information technology and geographical information systems, to create a new discipline--population health management and security—aimed at preparing scholars and practitioners for the post-“9/11” world. This paper outlines and proposes the creation and adoption of a new master’s degree program that will better serve the emerging needs of the public health, criminal justice, and defense communities.

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