The predecessors of Graduate Institute of Public Health, NTU were known as Hygiene Laboratory and Institute of Tropical Medicine of Taipei Imperial University in the Japanese colonial period.  In addition to engaging in research, the Graduate Institute of Public Health has also offered several instruction programs (Entomology, Environmental Health, Public Health Administration, etc.) for physicians in Taiwan at that time.

          After Taiwan's Retrocession in 1945, the Taipei Imperial University was renamed National Taiwan University and the Hygiene Laboratory was renamed Department of Public Health in 1948. The Institute of Tropical Medicine was reorganized in 1951 to become the Institute of Public Health in the College of Medicine. When the College of Public Health was founded in 1993, the Department of Public Health was renamed Department of Social Medicine which was still affiliated to the College of Medicine.  The Institute of Public Health offered extramural training programs for physicians of health care agencies, administrators, public health nurses, and other public health workers since 1955.  With funding from local governments, the Taipei Public Health Teaching and Demonstration Center was established in 1958. The Center has spared no pains to be active in educational outreach of Public Health by providing training for medical interns.

          The inception of the Department of Public Health, the pioneer in Taiwan, was in 1972.  The objective of this program is to offer graduating seniors an academically sound and practical background in public health.  A minimum of 128 credits in course work is required to receive a B.S. degree in public health. The Department offers courses in introductory public health, biomedical statistics, biomedical statistics laboratory, epidemiology, epidemiology laboratory, population and health statistics, health care for women and children, health education, medical and health laws, health policy and management, environmental health, field work in public health, and current topics in public health.  The ultimate goal of our department is to develop manpower holding broad perspective in three professional areas as mentioned above.  However, due to the rapid social change and the public has paid more and more attention to the level of the public health, we’ll continuously revise the contents of our courses, which will enhance the students’ ability to enter the society or graduate schools.