September 14, 2009
School of Public Health celebrates Edyth Schoenrich at 90
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, along with family and friends, celebrated the 90th birthday of longtime faculty member Edyth Schoenrich in a special tribute held Sept. 9 in Sommer Hall.
Edyth Schoenrich celebrated her 90th birthday on Sept. 9. Her career with Johns Hopkins has spanned six decades
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, along with family and friends, celebrated the 90th birthday of longtime faculty member Edyth Schoenrich in a special tribute held Sept. 9 in Sommer Hall. In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Schoenrich has been a major force in the advancement of professional involvement in preventive medicine and public health, both at the Bloomberg School and throughout the world.
Schoenrich, a physician, began her long association with the School of Public Health in 1971, when she enrolled as a part-time MPH student while working for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Prior to that, she had begun her career at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and gone on to serve as the director of two tuberculosis hospitals and three chronic disease rehabilitation hospitals.
In 1974, Schoenrich was appointed professor in what is now the school’s Department of Health Policy and Management and for several years was director of the Division of Public Health Administration. From 1977 through 1986, she served as senior associate dean and then as director of Part-time Professional Programs and as associate chair of the MPH program.
“Dr. Schoenrich continues to be a most wonderful inspiration, not only to our students but also our faculty and staff,” said Marie Diener-West, the Abbey-Merrell Professor of Biostatistics Education in the Department of Biostatistics and chair of the MPH program. “Her achievements as both a medical and public health professional in preventive medicine have helped the school establish a stellar part-time MPH program and develop one of the nation’s premier preventive medicine programs.” In 2000, the Edyth H. Schoenrich Professorship in Preventive Medicine was created to help bring her vision and dedication to the field to fruition, Diener-West said.
Because of her exceptional accomplishments in her field, the state of Maryland has recognized Schoenrich as an outstanding female role model and exemplary professional, inducting her into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame in 2005.
Originally from Cleveland, Schoenrich received her baccalaureate degree from Duke University, her medical degree from the University of Chicago School of Medicine and her Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and the American Board of Preventive Medicine.
In 2007, she was a recipient of the university’s Alumni Association Excellence in Teaching Award for Current Issues in Public Health, an Internet-based course. At the time, she told The Gazette that her motivation to teach the course was related to her personal experience taking MPH courses while working full time. “I have a special understanding of the difficulties part-time and Internet students face,” she said. “They don’t have the same access to academic resources and to the intellectual life of the school that full-time students receive when they personally interact with their classmates and instructors. I wanted to open these opportunities to our Internet students, who are spread all over the world.”