Sondos M.S. Islam, PhD, MPH, MS

S. Islam (002)

Sondos M.S. Islam, PhD, MPH, MS, serves as the Chair of the Department of Urban Public Health and Director of the MPH and BSPH Programs in Urban Health Disparities in the College of Science and Health at Charles R. Drew University (CDU) of Medicine and Science.

Her expertise is in program development, assessment, and evaluation of public health programs. Dr. Islam joined the faculty at CDU in 2005 to help with the development of an MPH program in urban public health, which received approval and commendation form the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in early 2006. In 2010, she was appointed as the MPH Director to modify the MPH curriculum emphasizing urban health disparities to address the needs of CDU's surrounding underserved community. In early 2019, Dr. Islam spearheaded the development of a new BSPH program in urban health disparities to be added to the MPH accredited unit. In 2020, Dr. Islam received a HRSA MPH Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students grant totaling 2.5 million for five years to support the tuition and educational supplies of 30 economically or educationally/environmentally disadvantaged MPH students which increased their MPH student enrollment.

Dr. Islam brings to her classes a hands-on application of her expertise in strategic planning and evaluation, research methodology, and community needs assessments, in the planning of theory-based culturally-tailored public health programs targeting ethnically and racially diverse medically underserved populations. Her research interests include investigating the sociocultural factors influencing the health behavior of ethnically diverse populations, and the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health programs.

Dr. Islam received a BS and MS in microbiology and immunology from the University of Washington (Seattle), an MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics and a PhD in preventive medicine/health behavior research from the University of Southern California.