In 1914, Yale University received an endowment from the Anna M. R. Lauder family to establish a chair in public health in the School of Medicine. The chair was filled in 1915 by Charles-Edward Amory Winslow, and one of the first academic programs in public health in the country was founded at Yale University.

The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the School of Medicine has played a pivotal role in addressing central public health issues. Dr. Winslow was to be a central figure in the development of public health at Yale for thirty years.