Behavioral and Community Health Sciences

We Create Healthier Communities

We prepare students to apply theories, concepts, and methods of the various social and behavioral science disciplines to the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs that prevent illness and promote health.

Degree Programs

BCHS offers a master’s degree program which prepares students for careers in public, voluntary, and private organizations and two doctoral degree programs.

Admissions

Applications for admission to the BCHS department are processed through the Office of Student Affairs at Pitt Public Health. Learn how to apply.

Research & Practice

BCHS has an extensive array of funded research and training projects and is well known for its community-based participatory research strategies.

K. Leroy Irvis Fellowship for doctoral students

The Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences is actively recruiting doctoral students for the K. Leroy Irvis Fellowship, which supports outstanding and diverse graduate students and prepares them for academic and/or research careers. Each year, the School of Public Health selects distinguished doctoral applicants to participate in this prestigious program, which provides five years of financial support, plus academic guidance and cohort-based mentoring.

Interested applicants must apply to the doctoral program by the deadline; award recipients matriculate as full-time students in Fall 2025.

Highlights

BCHS Newsletter

Get the latest news and accomplishments from BCHS faculty, staff, and students.

Highlights

Our Mission

We seek to improve and promote health and equity by engaging individuals, communities, and systems through our research, teaching, and practice.

News

How this Pitt professor lent her voice to a hit medical drama

“It was a University connection that introduced Owusu-Ansah to the world of script advisement. Her colleague Beth Hoffman, an assistant professor of behavioral and community health sciences, regularly partners with Hollywood, Health and Society, a program led by the University of Southern California Annenberg’s Norman Lear Center.”

Darrell Bell, left, and his wife, Velouise, pose for a portrait

As Pittsburgh ages, Black families shoulder heavy dementia care burden

“Right now we expect caregivers to kind of just tough it out on their own,” said Steven Albert, professor of behavioral and community health sciences.

2050 look-ahead: Same diseases, new approaches mostly ahead for health care sector

“Health communication used to be putting up billboards, putting out pamphlets. And now there’s a whole field of social media communication, website creation, TikTok videos,” Beth Hoffman assistant professor of behavioral and community health sciences said.

Events

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