The Disease Prevention and Public Health Institute is directed by David Savitz, Charles W. Bluhdorn Professor of Community and Preventive Medicine. Co-Directors of the Institute are Drs. Jim Godbold and Mark Woodward (Biostatistics), and Robert Klein (Infectious Disease Epidemiology). There are over 50 faculty members of the Institute, representing 12 departments and divisions in which they hold their primary academic appointment. Investigators affiliated with the Institute lead projects in a wide range of health areas, and collaborate with investigators throughout the School. The Institute occupies 12,000 square feet of the new Center for Advanced Medicine, on the 3rd and 4th floors of the West Tower at 17 East 102nd Street.

The mission of the Disease Prevention and Public Health Institute is to increase the quantity and quality of epidemiologic research, and facilitate its integration with clinical research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and to promote the contribution of biostatistics to medical research through collaboration and development of methodology. The scope of this work includes studies of the etiology of disease, addressing both genetic and environmental contributions, studies of the natural history of disease, outcomes research addressing the impact of therapy on the course of disease, clinical epidemiology to evaluate screening and diagnosis of disease, and community-based research addressing the effect of health services and public health policy on the health of populations. The Institute provides an intellectual resource and logistical assistance to faculty engaged in clinical and epidemiologic research through seminars, mentoring, and informal exchange of information.