About Delta Omega

Delta Omega is the honorary society for graduate studies in public health. The society was founded in 1924 at Johns Hopkins University, School of Public Health. There are currently 58 chapters throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

"A History of the Delta Omega Honorary Society," provides the story of Delta Omega until the 1980's and a timeline of important events gives a glimpse from the 1980's until today.

Delta Omega is governed by a Delta Omega constitution and by-laws and also a governance manual. The governing body is the National Council, which is composed of elected officers and representatives of each chapter. The council meets annually, usually held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association.

Each chapter conducts the principal Delta Omega activities. The chapters elect new members each year from four groups:

1. students who are candidates for a graduate degree in public health,
2. faculty members at the school of public health, and
3. alumni actively engaged in public health work
4. honorary members possessing exceptional qualifications

Election from all three groups is based on outstanding performance--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.

Since Delta Omega's establishment in 1924, the meaning and scope of public health has broadened tremendously. While it is still seriously concerned with problems of environmental sanitation and communicable disease control, public health action has come to embrace all aspects of health and disease in populations. These include the planning, organization, and support of health promotion, disease prevention, and medical care. Basic to modern public health are the social sciences as well as the natural sciences--both in the United States and internationally.

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.