Department of Public Health of Semmelweis University was founded 150 years ago, in 1874, so this year we shall celebrate a very significant anniversary. Thus, the institution has a very long history. In 1769, more than a hundred years before this foundation there was established the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Nagyszombat (today Trnava in Slovakia). The Faculty was later transferred through many trials and tribulations to Buda and later Pest (since 1874 Budapest) to its present location. This study presents the antecedents of the establishment of the Department of Public Health in 1874, covering parallel the curricula and the lecturers of this subject.  Kulcsszavak: orvostörténet, járványok, államorvostan, egyetemi oktatás, közegészségtan