Master's Degree in Public Health Courses

MPH curriculum

Core requirements

MPH 501	Introduction to Public Health Introduction to Public Health is a graduate level course that provides graduate and professional students, with foundational knowledge of public health’s historical contributions; the ethical bases; key terms and concepts; system organization; and the social, behavioral, environmental, and biological factors that contribute to specific individual and community health outcomes through interactive learning strategies and the application and integration of concepts to understand and prevent current public health problems and those facing public health in the 21st century.	3
MPH 502	Principles of Epidemiology In this introductory course, students will learn and apply basic concepts of epidemiology to multiple domains of public health. We will illustrate and practice using epidemiology to better understand, characterize, and promote health at a population level. The class will engage the students in active and collaborative learning through team activities, individual projects, case studies, group discussion, and individual projects.	3
MPH 503	Biostatistics This course is an introduction to statistical methods used in biological and medical research. Elementary probability theory, basic concepts of statistical inference, regression and correlation methods, analysis of variance, and study design are covered. Emphasis on applications to medical problems.	3
MPH 504	Public Health Policy This course presents an introduction to health policy, i.e., the various ways in which the government plays a role in health and in the provision of health care. Health policies can have a profound effect on quality of life. Accessibility, cost, quality of health care; safety of food, water, and environment; the right to make decisions about our health; these issues are vitally tied to health policies.	3
MPH 505	Research Methods This course will provide students an opportunity to establish an understanding of research through critical exploration of research language, ethics, and approaches. The course introduces the language of research, ethical principles and challenges, and the elements of the research process within quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. Participants will use these theoretical underpinnings to begin to critically review literature relevant to their field or interests and determine how research findings are useful in forming their understanding of their work, social, local and global environment.	3
MPH 506	Social and Behavioral Aspects of Health The course is designed to help students develop basic literacy regarding social concepts and processes that influence health status and public health interventions. The course also hopes to help students develop insight into populations with whom they have worked in the past or will work in the future, and to develop one kind of effective writing tool (the narrative) for communicating about psychosocial issues in public health. These overall aims are approached through lectures, discussion, readings, workshopping, individual compositions, and group discussion of student writings.	3
MPH 507	Introduction to Environmental Health Examines health issues, scientific understanding of causes, and possible future approaches to control of the major environmental health problems in industrialized and developing countries. Topics include how the body reacts to environmental pollutants; physical, chemical, and biological agents of environmental contamination; vectors for dissemination (air, water, soil); solid and hazardous waste; susceptible populations; biomarkers and risk analysis; the scientific basis for policy decisions; and emerging global environmental health problems.	3
MPH 508	Global Public Health This course examines major global health challenges, programs and policies. You will be introduced to the world’s vast diversity of determinants of health and disease. You will analyze current and emerging global health priorities, including emerging infectious diseases, poverty, conflicts and emergencies, health inequity, health systems reforms, and major global initiatives for disease prevention and health promotion.	3
MPH 510	Emergency Management Health Issues This course is a study of the concepts of medical and healthcare issues in emergency management in mass-casualty and high-impact incidents. The student will learn about the planning and coordination — from the national to the local levels — necessary to respond to disasters that are natural (such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes and heat waves); industrial, technological and transportation (such as hazardous materials, air crashes and mass gatherings); conflict-related (such as terrorist attacks and mass shootings); as well as the education, training and research done before, during and after these events.	3
MPH 511	Occupational Health This course is an introduction to major concepts and issues in occupational health and safety. Students from the fields of Industrial Hygiene, Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Injury Epidemiology and others identify a conceptual framework for working with populations of workers and apply public health principles. Work-related hazards are described in terms of recognition and control. This course relies on the synthesis of knowledge in the behavioral sciences, industrial hygiene, injury epidemiology, safety, nursing theory, toxicology and epidemiology while applying these within a program development and management framework.	3
MPH 512	Infectious Diseases Global Infectious Disease Epidemiology is part of the interdisciplinary Public Health Leadership Program, which prepares public health professionals for leadership positions. Global Infectious Disease Epidemiology covers the interaction between an infectious agent, host, and environment, modes and dynamics of transmission, the role of immunity in infectious disease epidemiology, and disease elimination strategies, focusing on issues affecting a global society.	3

Choose one concentration:

Global Health concentration

MPH 520	Global Health Issues This course explores contemporary issues, problems, and controversies in global health through an interdisciplinary perspective; examines the complex tapestry of social, economic, political, and environmental factors that affect global health; analyzes global health disparities through a social justice and human rights lens; and exposes students to opportunities in global health program and research.	3
MPH 521	Program Planning for Global Health This course will familiarize students with concepts and methodologies required for effective public health program planning and evaluation in a variety of settings, domestic and global. Students in this course will develop a program plan while learning the essential competencies for planning, implementing and evaluating sustainable programs for the maternal and child health population. Given the importance of public health planning and evaluation occurring within the context of interdisciplinary teams, students will also discuss and practice skills for building highly functional teams and accomplishing individual and group objectives through team work.	3
MPH 522	Essentials of Economics and Finance for Global Health This course examines economics and finance principles as they apply to global health. Students will study issues in the organization, delivery and financing of health care in developing countries. The course first provides students with a ‘toolkit’ for analyzing issues related to global health economics and finance and then asks the students to apply this ‘toolkit’ to a variety of a global health issues including demand for health, policy tools to increase demand for health, healthcare financing, social insurance, pharmaceuticals and HIV/AIDS.	3

Community Health concentration

MPH 530	Community Health Sciences Community-based health interventions are a major public health strategy for promoting population health. This course provides an introduction to the foundations of community-based health interventions and the factors influencing their design, implementation, evaluation, and outcomes. Using social ecological and community-based participatory frameworks, key principles and strategies underlying community-based health interventions are examined. Successful community-based strategies for addressing various public health issues are assessed. Challenges to implementing, evaluating and sustaining successful community-based health interventions, and implications for promoting health equity are discussed.	3
MPH 531	Program Planning, Research and Evaluation for Community Health Careful planning and evaluation of public health programs are essential competencies for public health professionals. Through this course students will gain a basic understanding of how to implement public health programs and evaluate their effectiveness. As this course is designed to be grounded in public health practice, you will complete the course with the skills necessary to develop both a program and evaluation plan. Given the importance of public health planning and evaluation occurring within the context of interdisciplinary teams, students in this course will also discuss and practice skills for building effective teams and accomplishing individual and group objectives through team work.	3
MPH 532	Urban Health and Social Policy This course will provide students with a foundation for understanding how history, power, privilege and structural inequality interact to produce urban health disparities. An advanced sociology course, Disparities in Urban Health will introduce students to the impact of city life on health and health care in the U.S. and internationally. We will look at the advantages and disadvantages of urbanization on both physical and mental health and the root causes of racial and ethnic disparities in health. We will trace the interaction between specific aspects (e.g., housing, transportation, food outlets, crime) of the urban environment and their impact on health, discuss quality measurement, evaluate strategies for designing healthy communities, and develop recommendations for systems and policy change.	3

Health Policy and Management concentration

MPH 540	Health Economics and U.S. Policy This course provides an overview of the United States healthcare system using a microeconomics lens. You will be introduced to microeconomic theory and empirical studies that will deepen your understanding of how consumers, firms, and the government influence healthcare expenditures (including its quantity and prices), healthcare quality, and patient health outcomes. These economic models will enable you to predict how changes in consumer behavior, the industrial organization of firms, and government policies affect healthcare and health outcomes.	3
MPH 541	Public Health Law This course is about the legal and social justice framework for urgent public health issues, such as regulation of vaccinations, tobacco control and infectious diseases such as Ebola. The course focuses on the U.S. Constitution and the way in which it defines government powers, duties, and restraints to assure the health of all populations. The course also examines the theories and concepts behind public health law, the constitutional tensions between public health efforts and the counterbalancing rights to liberty, freedom of speech, of association, and others. Students also will learn how to spot the policymaking issues involved with implementation of laws in a community, including public health community organizing and advocacy efforts.	3
MPH 542	Public Health Policy as a Prevention Strategy This course provides an overview of a policy adoption and implementation model, including a discussion of factors to consider when developing policies and key components of policy implementation. This course will introduce students to a prevention policy framework; will present the philosophical, ethical, economic, political and efficacy rationale for this approach to prevention; will contrast policy approaches to prevention with individual-based approaches; and will present examples of different policy mechanisms.	3

Total credits:

42

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