The Institute of Public Health is part of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Jagiellonian University Medical College. The Jagiellonian University (JU) is one of the oldest higher education institutions in Europe and the leading scientific institution in Poland. It collaborates with major foreign academic centers and comprises sixteen faculties, where 4,000 academic staff conduct research and provide education to almost 50,000 students. The Jagiellonian University Medical College is the leading Polish academic center, taking pride in the excellent teaching staff and consisting of three faculties (Medicine, Pharmacy and Health Sciences). It employs over 2,000 professionals, including about 1,200 academic teachers and researchers. The Faculty of Health Sciences takes an interdisciplinary approach to public health, disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and rehabilitation.

The Institute of Public Health (IPH) is the former School of Public Health in Krakow, a name which has become engrained in memory of numerous health professionals and health managers, as it was the first school of public health in Poland. More information about the development of IPH can be found in section titled History. Both under the former and present names, we have conducted scientific research and development, as well as training within the broadly defined area of public health. The focus of our scientific and didactic interests and efforts is on those aspects of health care that fall outside medicine, such as: health care organization, administration and management; health economics; social aspects of health care systems; epidemiology; health promotion; community health; nutrition; management of medicines and medical devices; computerisation and issues related to dissemination of information within health care system. The detailed information about our scientific projects and publications can be found in the section Research, while individual webpages of Departments include our staff contact data.

IPH is a member of the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER) and The Health Systems and Policy Monitor Network (HSPM). JU and IPH are involved in European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST), the longest-running European framework supporting trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars.

We conduct large-scale educational activities, such as undergraduate and Master’s degree courses in Public Health, undergraduate courses in Organization and Economics of Healthcare, and Master’s degree courses of international studies in Public Health EUROPUBHEALTH+. We also offer postgraduate studies (Management of Healthcare Units; Health Technology Assessment and Evidence-Based Medicine in Healthcare Management; Hospital-Based Health Technology Assessment) and postgraduate specialist training. We develop joint educational projects with the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences of the Maastricht University and the University of Copenhagen. Information about all our educational activities can be found in other sections, including Education and International Cooperation.

The Director of the IPH is Prof. Iwona Kowalska-Bobko, dr habil. and the Deputy Director is Tomasz Bochenek MD, MPH, PhD.