Delta Omega Explained

Delta Omega
Letters:	Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ΔΩ
Coat Of Arms:	File:Delta_Omega_key.jpeg
Birthplace:	Johns Hopkins University
Affiliation:	Independent
Status:	Active
Type:	Honor
Emphasis:	Public Health
Scope:	International
Mottos:	-->
Colors:	Black and Gold   The stole color is Peach
Symbol:	Triangle
Chapters:	133
Lifetime:	20,000+
Address:	PO Box 2406
City:	Arlington County
State:	Virginia
Zip Code:	22202
Country:	United States

Delta Omega (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ΔΩ) is the honorary society for studies in public health, founded at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

History

Delta Omega was founded in 1924 by two graduate students at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. The founders were:

• Dr. Edgar Erskine Hume
• Dr. Claude W. Mitchell

Hume was a member of the Army Medical Corps from 1916 to 1951, and had already served overseas fighting typhus epidemics in Siberia, Russia, and in Naples, Italy. Mitchell was an Assistant Surgeon in the United States Public Health Service for approximately a decade. Later, he went into private medical practice with a 50-year career in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The ideal for Delta Omega came while sharing the daily commute between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Both men sought to elevate the relatively young profession of public health to a level similar to other professions, and as such, that it should have a fraternity of its own. Hume was the first to insist that the fraternity be honorary in nature, and while Mitchell had originally suggested a social basis he soon agreed with his friend that the groups should be formed as an honor society. They consulted with members of other fraternities, and health experts of other fields. A group of seventeen students, one faculty member and one alumnus were chosen to become the charter members of the Johns Hopkins chapter. This group immediately formed committees to work out the constitution and symbolism. A constitution was ratified on .

Expansion began within the first year. Upon return from the summer recess, Hume reported success around the East Coast, while Richard Bolt, a charter member, worked to organize groups in the West. By the meeting, chapters were approved at Harvard University (Beta chapter) and MIT (Gamma chapter). Soon, these would be followed by the University of Michigan (Delta chapter) and Yale University (Epsilon chapter). Expansion and growth continued quickly in spite of some growing pains due to the fast pace. The first California chapter, at the University of California (Zeta chapter) effectively spanned the nation by March 1926.

Delta Omega's activities were severely constrained during World War II, and were fully suspended between 1942 and 1944 because of wartime priorities. However, additional pressure came from organizational disagreements. At the time, Delta Omega offered membership only after completion of a year of residency. This effectively resulted in control of the society becoming vested in faculty membership. A Johns Hopkins University, the activities of the fraternity were in some cases duplicative to those offered by the school itself. A debate ensued concerning the fact that some members, soon upon election, would resign from the practice of public health on an official level to go into private practice. Founder Mitchell, who had led Alpha chapter, resigned from his leadership position when he left for private practice. The result of this debate, explained further in the Fraternity's History, was to suspend operations at Alpha chapter, which would not resume at the school until 1978. The other chapters sputtered along. In 1948 a revitalization was sparked, but it took time, and some chapters did not re-emerge. The lecture series was expanded in the 1960s and 1970s. But it appears that it took the revitalization of Alpha chapter in 1978 to spark a new round of expansion that continues to the present day.^[1]

Currently, there are over 110 chapters with over 20,000 members throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Beirut, and Taiwan.^[2] The society's mission is to promote excellence in contributing to the field of public health and advancing the health of people in every aspect, both in the United States and internationally.

Membership

Membership in Delta Omega reflects the dedication of an individual to quality in the field of public health and to protection and advancement of the health of all people. Election to the society is based on outstanding performance, including scholarship in students, teaching and research in faculty members, and community service in alumni. Election to membership in Delta Omega is intended, not only to recognize merit, but also, to encourage further excellence in, and devotion to, public health work.

Each chapter must be associated with a Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)- accredited school and is limited to inducting no more than 20% of the graduating student body, and 10% of undergraduates. GPA requirements are up to each chapter; historically, each inductee has been the top 25% of their class for academic performance. Public health faculty and alumni may also be inducted, but no more than 3% of faculty may be inducted from one program.^[3]

Honorary members

In addition to the regularly elected members, chapters and the national executive board invite persons possessing exceptional qualifications, who have attained meritorious national or international distinction in the field to become honorary members of the society. These members include:

Name	Meritorious Service	Ref
	Former U.S. President
	Former U.S. Congressman
	Inventor of the Polio vaccine
	Former U.S. Surgeon General
	Gun Safety Activist
	Governor of Michigan

Activities

The National Office of Delta Omega conducts yearly activities in addition to the individual chapters. Most importantly an annual business meeting is held each year in conjunction with the meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA). During the meeting the Delta Omega National Council, consisting of representatives from the chapters, meet to discuss initiatives and activities on a national and chapter level.

In addition to the annual business meeting, Delta Omega hosts a national student poster competition, honoring exceptional student research, and a national curriculum award, to honor innovative public health curricula. Each year the selected poster presenters are given the opportunity to present their award-winning research at the APHA annual meeting. The curriculum award winners present their work at the APHA annual meeting as well as in front of the Delta Omega National Council. Chapters also conduct a variety of activities throughout the year on their campus and in their communities including; scholarship competitions, research awards, socials, lectures, community service projects and many others.

Publications

Delta Omega values the advancement of public health education, practice and research and has therefore taken on an initiative to preserve Public Health Classics. For the past decade, the society has sought to preserve and promote public health history by identifying and reprinting classic works in public health. Classics may be books, scientific journal articles, technical reports, legislation or other written publications or multi-media productions. The classics are selected for their historical value and significant contribution to the profession and science of public health. These documents are usually out of print or not widely available in libraries. Delta Omega places the classics on its Web site to make them freely available to all members.^[4]

Chapters

Delta Omega has chartered 122 chapters, most of which remain active. Active chapters are noted in bold, inactive chapters noted in italics.

State or country	University	Chapter	Status	Installed Date and Range	Reference
Maryland	Johns Hopkins University	Alpha	Active	–,   re-established
Massachusetts	Harvard University	Beta	Inactive	–,   re-established –
Massachusetts	Massachusetts Institute of Technology^[5]	Gamma (original)	Inactive	–
Michigan	University of Michigan	Delta	Inactive	–,   re-established –	^[6]
Connecticut	Yale University	Epsilon	Inactive	–
California	University of California, Berkeley	Zeta	Active	–,   re-established –,   re-established 19xx
Louisiana	Tulane University	Eta	Active
North Carolina	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Theta	Active
California	University of California, Los Angeles	Iota	Active
California	Loma Linda University	Kappa	Active
South Carolina	University of South Carolina	Mu	Active
Washington	University of Washington	Nu	Inactive	1978 ? –20xx ?
Oklahoma	University of Oklahoma	Xi	Active
Illinois	University Illinois	Lambda	Active
Pennsylvania	University of Pittsburgh	Omicron	Active
Minnesota	University of Minnesota	Pi	Active
Massachusetts	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Rho	Active
California	San Diego State University	Sigma	Active
Florida	University of South Florida	Tau	Active
Massachusetts	Boston University	Alpha Beta	Active		^[7]
Alabama	University of Alabama at Birmingham	Upsilon	Active
Georgia	Emory University (Rollins)	Phi	Active
Puerto Rico	University of Puerto Rico	Chi	Active ?	1993 ? –20xx ?
Maryland	Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences	Psi	Active
District of Columbia	George Washington University	Omega	Active	1995	^[8]
Missouri	Saint Louis University	Alpha Delta	Active
Ohio	Ohio State University	Alpha Epsilon	Active
New York	University at Albany, SUNY	Alpha Gamma	Active
Utah	University of Utah	Alpha Theta	Active
New Jersey	Rutgers School of Public Health	Alpha Eta	Active
Texas	University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston	Alpha Iota	Active
Virginia	Eastern Virginia Medical School	Alpha Kappa	Active
Georgia	Morehouse School of Medicine	Alpha Lambda	Active
Florida	Florida A&M University	Alpha Mu	Active
Illinois	Northern Illinois University	Alpha Zeta	Active
Arizona	University of Arizona	Alpha Nu	Active
Wisconsin	Medical College of Wisconsin	Alpha Omicron	Inactive	–20xx
Iowa	University of Iowa	Alpha Phi	Active
Tennessee	East Tennessee State University	Alpha Pi	Active
Texas	University of North Texas Health Science Center	Alpha Sigma	Active
Texas	Texas A&M School of Public Health	Alpha Tau	Active
Colorado	Colorado School of Public Health	Alpha Upsilon	Active		^[9]
Massachusetts	Tufts University School of Medicine	Alpha Rho	Active
Ohio	Consortium of Eastern Ohio Master of Public Health (CEOMPH)	Alpha Chi	Active		^[10]
Florida	Nova Southeastern University	Alpha Xi	Active
Pennsylvania	East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania	Beta Alpha	Inactive	–20xx
Florida	Florida International University	Alpha Omega	Active
Louisiana	Louisiana State University	Alpha Psi	Active
Arkansas	University of Arkansas	Beta Delta	Active
Maryland	Morgan State University	Beta Epsilon	Active
Indiana	Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis	Beta Zeta	Active	2006 +/- ?
New York	SUNY Downstate College of Medicine	Beta Iota	Active
Pennsylvania	West Chester University	Beta Xi	Active
Kentucky	University of Kentucky	Beta Gamma	Active
Illinois	Northwestern University	Beta Eta	Inactive	–20xx
Georgia	Georgia Southern University	Beta Kappa	Inactive	–20xx
Pennsylvania	Temple University	Beta Theta	Inactive	–20xx
New York	Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai	Beta Omicron	Active
Kentucky	University of Louisville	Beta Pi	Active
Connecticut	University of Connecticut Health Center	Beta Rho	Active
California	University of Southern California	Beta Lambda	Active
Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania	Beta Nu	Inactive	2009 +/- ?
Florida	University of Miami	Beta Sigma	Active
Tennessee	Meharry Medical College	Beta Psi	Inactive	–20xx
Georgia	University of Georgia	Beta Chi	Active
Pennsylvania	Drexel University	Beta Omega	Active
North Carolina	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	Beta Phi	Active
Maryland	University of Maryland, College Park	Beta Tau	Active
Florida	University of Florida	Beta Upsilon	Active
Hawaii	University of Hawaiʻi	Gamma (second)	Active	2010 +/- ?
Ohio	Wright State University	Gamma Alpha	Active
Ohio	Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health (NOCPH)	Beta Mu	Active		^[11]
Beirut, Lebanon	American University of Beirut	Gamma Delta	Active
New Mexico	University of New Mexico	Gamma Epsilon	Active
New York	University at Buffalo, SUNY	Gamma Lambda	Active
Maryland	University of Maryland School of Public Health	Gamma Zeta	Active
Missouri	University of Missouri	Gamma Eta	Active
Georgia	Georgia Southern University (Jiann-Ping Hsu)	Gamma Theta	Active
Alaska	University of Alaska Anchorage	Gamma Iota	Active
Grenada, Caribbean Islands	St. George's University School of Medicine	Gamma Kappa	Active
West Virginia	West Virginia University	Gamma Mu	Active	2012 +/- ?
Massachusetts	Northeastern University	Gamma Nu	Active
Nebraska	University of Nebraska	Gamma Omicron	Active
Virginia	University of Virginia	Gamma Pi	Active
Wisconsin	University of Wisconsin–Madison	Gamma Xi	Active
Ohio	University of Cincinnati	Gamma Rho	Active
Missouri	Washington University in St. Louis	Gamma Sigma	Active
Indiana	Indiana University	Gamma Beta	Active
Virginia	George Mason University	Gamma Tau	Active
Georgia	Georgia State University	Gamma Upsilon	Active
California	Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science	Gamma Phi	Active
Maine	University of New England (United States)	Gamma Chi	Active	2014	^[12]
California	National University (California)	Gamma Psi	Active	2014 +/- ?
New York	New York Medical College (Touro)	Delta Alpha	Active
Illinois	Benedictine University	Gamma Omega	Active
California	Claremont Graduate University	Delta Epsilon	Active
Arizona (or Missouri?)	A.T. Still University	Delta Gamma	Active
Nevada	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Delta Theta	Active
Georgia	Mercer University	Delta Zeta	Active
Virginia	Virginia Commonwealth University	Delta Eta	Active
New Hampshire	Dartmouth College	Delta Iota	Active
New York	Hofstra University	Delta Kappa	Active
Virginia	Virginia Tech	Delta Mu	Active
Illinois	Loyola University Chicago	Delta Omicron	Active
Texas	University of Texas Medical Branch	Delta Nu	Active
Florida	University of North Florida	Delta Xi	Inactive	–20xx
Nevada	University of Nevada, Reno	Delta Phi	Active
New York	Columbia University (Mailman)	Delta Pi	Active
North Carolina	East Carolina University	Delta Sigma	Active
Pennsylvania	La Salle University	Delta Tau	Active
New Jersey	William Paterson University	Delta Upsilon	Active
New York	Stony Brook University	Delta Lambda	Active
Taiwan, Republic of China	National Taiwan University	Delta Chi	Active
New York	NYU	Delta Beta	Active
Pennsylvania	Thomas Jefferson University	Delta Psi	Active
California	UC, Irvine	Delta Rho	Active
California	University of San Francisco	Epsilon Alpha	Active
Montana	University of Montana	Epsilon Beta	Active
New York	CUNY Graduate SPH	Epsilon Chi	Active
Louisiana	Louisiana State University Shreveport	Epsilon Delta	Active
Washington	Eastern Washington University	Epsilon Eta	Active
Ohio	Kent State University	Epsilon Gamma	Active
Rhode Island	Brown University	Epsilon Iota	Active
Michigan	Wayne State University	Epsilon Kappa	Active		^[13]

See also

• Professional degrees of public health
• Professional Further Education in Clinical Pharmacy and Public Health

External links

• Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health
• Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health – Alpha Chapter
• University of Miami Department of Public Health Sciences - Beta Sigma Chapter
• Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine – Eta Chapter
• University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health – Mu Chapter
• University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health – Omicron Chapter
• San Diego State University Graduate School of Public Health – Sigma Chapter
• The George Washington University School of Public Health - Omega Chapter
• West Virginia University School of Public Health- Gamma Mu Chapter
• University of Minnesota School of Public Health - Pi Chapter

Notes and References

1. Historical notes summarized from Web site: Shorb . Gerald . A History of the Delta Omega Honorary Public Health Society . 1991 . Amazon AWS . self-published . English., accessed 2 May 2021.
2. Web site: History. Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health. 2019-01-08.
3. Web site: Join Delta Omega. Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health. January 8, 2019.
4. From the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health Delta Omega National Website, accessed 2 May 2021.
5. MIT no longer has a public health program.
6. The History simply says that Delta and Epsilon chapters were approved "later that year", after mentioning that Beta and Gamma were approved on . Original installation date for these two is therefore conjectural.
7. From the Delta Omega website, list of chapters, accessed 3 May 2021.
8. From the Omega chapter website, accessed 2 May 2021.
9. Alpha Upsilon chapter is shared between the University of Colorado, Colorado State University and the University of Northern Colorado.
10. The CEOMPH is a partnership between The University of Akron (UA), Cleveland State University (CSU), Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), and Youngstown State University (YSU).
11. The NOCPH is a partnership between the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University.
12. From the Gamma Chi chapter website, accessed 2 May 2021.
13. Noted in April 2016 intent to form a chapter of Delta Omega on the Wayne campus, accessed 10 December 2021.