The 'Fauci effect' is driving up applications for public health graduate programs

Anthony Fauci.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Public health schools saw a 23 percent year-over-year jump in applications for graduate programs in the fall of 2020, and they're reporting an even bigger increase in the spring application cycle, Stat News reports, citing the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health.

It appears to be partly the result of the so-called "Fauci effect," said the association's CEO Laura Magaña, referring to the United States' top infectious disease expert, who has become a national presence throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus crisis "has really thrust public health into the spotlight like we've never seen before," Darleen Peterson, the associate dean for academic affairs at Claremont Graduate University's School of Community and Global Health, which Stat notes saw a 66 percent increase in applications from March 2020 to March 2021, said.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.