The students in Russia’s first-ever master’s of public health (MPH) program come from a territory spanning 11 time zones, from Vladivostok in the east to the nation of Moldova in the west. They gather once a year at Zaoksky Adventist University for four weeks to interact face-to-face with Loma Linda University faculty in order to help improve the health of the region. For many of them, days of travel are required.

“The MPH program means a lot for the people in Russia since it pays attention to the problems in our society that were underestimated,” says Eugene Zaitsev, M.D., Ph.D., an administrator at ZAU and also an MPH student.

A class of about 80 students converged at Zaoksky in the Tula region (about 70 miles south of Moscow) for the first time in August 2005. The MPH offers two study tracks, one with a health education focus; the other focuses on research, epidemiology, and program planning, with the goal of building a public health infrastructure.

“Public health in Russia has not always been a priority, so the opportunity to train professionals to work in government and non-government organizations is exciting,” says Dianne Butler, MBA, MS, RD, director, office of distance learning, School of Public Health.

More than 160 applicants competed for approximately 80 spots in the program. Successful applicants were those working in community settings who could thus immediately begin to implement new knowledge and skills. About 50 percent are physicians and other health professionals; the remainder are teachers, pastors and other professionals.

“This program is very important for these countries, because whenever there is a lack of public health programs, the people of the countries suffer. Somebody needs to fight for the proverbial ‘little guy,’ and in most of our countries, money talks,” says Douglas Hart, pastor and MPH student who works in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. “We will have a trained team of people who will be thinking about and acting upon our convictions to help people live better in each of our countries. It is an extremely necessary program.”

Loma Linda University began its Russian MPH in August 2005, just one month ahead of the country’s second MPH, offered at St. Petersburg State University. A consortium of nine U.S. schools of public health received funding to train Russian professors to offer this program. The St. Petersburg program, however, only accepts physicians as students. The LLU program is open to a diverse range of people from all across the former USSR.