Tricia Penniecook, MD, MPH, dean of the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University, has been appointed to the CEPH board of councilors. The Council on Education for Public Health, or CEPH, is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as the accrediting body for all schools and programs of public health.
The appointment comes from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), an organization that represents the interests and advancement of CEPH-accredited schools and programs. ASPPH and the American Public Health Association are the two corporate members that make up the private, nonprofit corporation that is CEPH.
Part of the 10-member board, Penniecook will serve a three-year term on the CEPH board of councilors with various responsibilities.
“As an independent body, the board is solely responsible for adopting criteria by which schools and programs are evaluated, for establishing policies and procedures, for making accreditation decisions, and for managing the business of the corporation,” the CEPH website states.
Penniecook's appointment, beginning January 1, 2015, comes exactly one year after the Loma Linda University School of Public Health radically changed from six single-discipline departments to three multidisciplinary academic centers: the Center for Community Resilience, the Center for Leadership in Health Systems, and the Center for Nutrition, Healthy Lifestyle and Disease Prevention.