Complex issues require comprehensive solutions.

At the Department of Community Health Sciences (CHS), we apply social and behavioral sciences to enhance the health and well-being of communities and promote health equity.

Affiliated Degrees:
MPH PhD DrPH

Recent Department News

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Latest Publications

  • Published On 7/18/2026Implementation of State Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Mandatory Checking Requirements and Prescribed Opioid Analgesic Use Among Women With and Without HIV in The Women's Interagency HIV Study: A Longitudinal Observational Study Using Staggered Adoption Difference-in-differences Analyses.AIDS and behaviorread at PubMed
  • Published On 7/1/2026Pornography: What Occupational Therapists Need to Know for Clinical Practice.The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Associationread at PubMed
  • Published On 6/23/2026Does gender expression matter in tailoring anti-smoking messages for sexual and gender minority young adults?Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobaccoread at PubMed
  • Published On 6/15/2026Alcohol consumers'' receptivity to artificial intelligence-generated alcohol-cancer risk messages: An experimental study.Cancerread at PubMed
  • Published On 6/12/2026The association between naloxone distribution, buprenorphine treatment and retention and incident high-risk opioid prescribing with opioid overdose death in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio, United States: An exploratory community-level cohort study of data from the HEALing Communities Study.Addiction (Abingdon, England)read at PubMed

Recent media coverage

The New York Times

Trump Administration Guts Efforts to Prevent Gun Violence, Suppressing Reports

Mentions research by Jonathan Jay, associate professor of community health sciences. 

KFF Health News

Florida Hospitals Act Fast to Discharge Gun Victims — Especially If They’re Not Insured

Quotes Jonathan Jay, associate professor of community health sciences.

WUSF

Florida Hospitals Act Fast to Discharge Gun Victims — Especially If They’re Not Insured

Quotes Jonathan Jay, associate professor of community health sciences. 

Public Health On Call

How College Campuses Can Support Students in Recovery

Interview with Noel Vest, assistant professor of community health sciences. 

The Berkshire Eagle

‘Interrupt the Transmission.’ Pittsfield Urged to Rethink Gun Violence Prevention

Mentions research by Jonathan Jay, associate professor of community health sciences. 
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