Public Health, MPH

Overview

The MPH degree program provides a broad didactic experience in public health and preventive medicine. It is a rigorous curriculum with a quantitative focus, is sequenced to be completed within 12 months, and is primarily designed for individuals planning to practice preventive medicine, occupational medicine or public health within, or in conjunction with the uniformed services.  An MPH degree or its academic equivalent is a specific requirement for physicians seeking board certification in Aerospace Medicine, General Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, and several other public health specialties.

Graduates are expected to use their acquired quantitative and analytical skills in biostatistics and epidemiology to identify and measure community health needs and to investigate the impact of biological, environmental, and/or behavioral factors to solve public health problems. Each graduate will understand the components, operations, and financing of healthcare delivery services, particularly those in the public sector, and have the administrative skills to plan, analyze, manage, and improve public health programs for the uniformed services. In addition, many graduates will complete an “area of concentration” with required and elective course work in a specific area of public health and demonstrate the ability to apply appropriate specialized knowledge and skills to their chosen field.

The MPH degree program consists of a minimum of 45 semester credit hours, to include 28.5 credit hours from core required courses within the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics. Core requirements include coursework in epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, health services administration, and social and behavioral sciences. The minimum credit load per term required for a full-time student is 9, the maximum allowed is 16, and the typical load is 12-14. The satisfactory completion of an independent project and a practicum experience is required, and the courses related to these requirements are part of the core curriculum. The independent project is the capstone of the program and should represent the synthesis, integration, and application of core public health concepts and principles to solve or advance our understanding of a public health problem.

Outcomes

Biostatistics: Students will be able to collect, analyze, and interpret data of public health importance using appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, including both bivariate and multivariate methods. In addition, students will become familiar with the use of a statistical program, such as Stata or SPSS.

Environmental and Occupational Health: Students will be able to identify, measure, and analyze environmental and occupational factors affecting health. Students will have the ability to (1) describe the factors that may impact health in the community, home, and workplace, (2) effectively communicate risk, and (3) explain the standards and controls necessary to mitigate these factors.

Epidemiology: Students will be able to (1) discuss the basic concepts pertaining to the natural history of disease in populations, (2) identify and list the strengths and weaknesses of various sources of data, (3) define measures of disease in populations, and (4) critically assess the validity and relevance of descriptive and analytical studies. Students will develop an understanding of the basic concepts of epidemiology and be able to apply them to the analysis and interpretation of epidemiologic data.

Health Administration:  Students completing this concentration will be able to apply the necessary skills to design and develop, implement and evaluate, and continuously improve programs and systems related to promotion and health education and health care delivery in the Uniformed Services. This concentration is for those who aspire to advance their management skills and abilities in any healthcare setting (i.e., clinical and non-clinical directorate/departments/division in the MHS or in private settings after they leave the military).

Health Policy:  This concentration aims to prepare students in the field of health policy or policies that influence health and health care. This concentration is for those who want to advance their health policy analysis and evaluation, policy advising, and influencing policy abilities, which can be applied in various health care setting (i.e., acute, ambulatory, long-term care, etc.) for both clinicians and non-clinicians.

Health Administration and Policy:  This concentration aims to prepare students in both the management science and health policy fields. Students take the concertation's mandatory and optional course work to meet these two aims. This concentration is for those who aspire to advance their management and health policy analysis and policy advising abilities in any healthcare setting (i.e., acute, ambulatory, long-term care, etc.).

Social and Behavioral Sciences: Students will be able to (1) list and explain the behaviors and social factors associated with morbidity and mortality, and (2) describe behavior-related theories and prevention strategies for modification and reduction of injuries and illnesses. Students will develop the ability to identify and utilize the relationship of human behavior and social factors in public health practice.

Concentrations

Epidemiology and Biostatistics: Students completing this concentration will be able to function as epidemiologists in the Uniformed Services. They will acquire and understanding of advanced concepts in acute and chronic disease epidemiology, and have the ability to select and apply appropriate epidemiological and biostatistical methods in planning and carrying out epidemiological investigations.

Health Services Administration: Students completing this concentration will be able to apply the necessary skills to design and develop, implement and evaluate, and continuously improve programs and systems related to promotion and health education and health care delivery in the Uniformed Services. Students will also understand and be able to apply concepts of financial management, decision making, and quality assessment to health systems and be able to develop broad policy statements concerning health care programs in the public sector as a Health Services Officer in the Uniformed Services.

General Preventive Public Health: Students completing this concentration will be able to function as preventive medicine specialists in the Uniformed Services. They will acquire an understanding of advanced concepts in acute and chronic disease epidemiology, have the ability to select and apply appropriate epidemiological and biostatistical methods in planning and carrying out epidemiological investigations, be able to plan programs to improve health and reduce disease and injury, demonstrate principles of healthcare management. 

Global Health: This concentration will prepare globally minded military professionals who will be able to plan and execute health engagement in support of security cooperation, stability operations, complex humanitarian emergencies and medical crises around the world, in wartime and peacetime. This area of concentration incorporates the global health competencies of capacity strengthening, collaborating and partnering, ethical reasoning and professional practice, health equity and social justice, program management, socio-cultural and political awareness, and strategic analysis as described by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health. This concentration also provides a strategic and operational perspective of global and international health issues as applicable to US national security. Health systems are examined from the international perspective looking at resources, access, policies, current challenges, potential solutions and opportunities for reform. The student will have a whole knowledge of US government global health policy and engagement through both the lenses of civil society and joint operator.

Occupational and Environmental Health Science: This concentration provides students with fundamental concepts and principles of environmental and occupational health, to include advanced methodologies and approaches in this area. Students completing this concentration will be able to independently function in and manage related programmatic areas.

Tropical Health: This concentration will enable students to function effectively worldwide as Preventive Medicine, Public Health, and Medical Officers in the Uniformed Services. Graduates will be able to apply the basic concepts and principles of tropical medicine, malaria control, and vector biology to the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control of tropical diseases. 

Core Requirements

Core Requirements

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements

General Preventive Public Health Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements

Global Health Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements

Health Administration and Policy Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements

Health Administration Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements

Health Policy Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements

Environmental and Occupational Health Science Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements

Tropical Public Health Concentration Requirements

Concentration Requirements