Overview
The MPH degree program provides a broad didactic experience in public health and preventive medicine. Primarily designed for individuals planning to practice preventive medicine, occupational medicine or public health within the uniformed services, the program has a rigorous curriculum with a quantitative focus and is sequenced to be completed within 12 months. 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
Graduates will demonstrate the following competencies:
Evidence-based approaches to public health
1. Apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice.
2. Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context.
3. Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming and software, as appropriate.
4. Interpret the results of data analysis for public health research, policy, or practice.
Public health and health care systems
5. Compare the organization, structure, and function of health care, public health and regulatory systems across national and international settings.
6. Discuss how structural bias, social inequities and racism undermine health and create challenges for achieving health equity at the organizational, community and societal levels.
Planning and management to promote health
7. Assess population needs, assets and capacities that affect communities’ health.
8. Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design or implementation of public health policies or programs.
9. Design a population-based policy, program, project or intervention.
10. Explain the basic principles and tools of budget and resource management.
11. Select methods to evaluate public health programs.
Policy in public health
12. Discuss multiple dimensions of the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence.
13. Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes.
14. Advocate for political, social or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations.
15. Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity.
Leadership
16. Apply principles of leadership, governance, and management, which include creating a vision, empowering others, fostering collaboration and guiding decision making.
17. Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges.
Communication
18. Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors.
19. Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, in writing and through oral presentation.
20. Describe the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content.
Interprofessional practice
21. Perform effectively on interprofessional teams.
Systems thinking
22. Apply systems thinking tools to a public health issue.
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 Policy: This concentration aims to prepare students in the field of health policy or policies that influence health and health care delivery. 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 settings (i.e., acute, ambulatory, long-term care, etc.) for both clinicians and non-clinicians.
Health Administration: Students completing this concentration will be able to apply 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.
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 operations.
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
| PMO 530 | Social and Behavioral Sciences Applied to Public Health | 3 |
| PMO 540 | Introduction to Environmental and Occupational Health | 3 |
| PMO 599 | Introduction to Risk Communication | 1.5 |
| PMO 503 | Biostatistics I | 3 |
| PMO 511 | Introduction to Epidemiology | 3 |
| PMO 526 | Health Systems | 3 |
| PMO 504 | Biostatistics II | 3 |
| PMO 527 | Principles of Health Care Management | 2.25 |
| PMO 680 | Introduction to Public Health | 0.75 |
| PMO 671 | Introduction to MPH Project and Practicum | 0.75 |
| PMO 672 | MPH Project/Practicum Design and Development | 0.75 |
| PMO 673 | MPH Project/Practicum Implementation and Evaluation | 0.75 |
| PMO 670 | Public Health Practicum | 2.25 |
| PMO 674 | MPH Independent Project | 2.25 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 28.5 |
Students must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours which includes required concentration and elective courses not shown above.
Epidemiology and Biostatistics Concentration Requirements
Concentration Requirements
| PMO 1030 | Introduction to Data Management | 0.75 |
| PMO 512 | Epidemiologic Methods | 3 |
| PMO 513 | Advanced Epidemiologic Methods | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 9 |
General Preventive Public Health Concentration Requirements
Concentration Requirements
| PMO 512 | Epidemiologic Methods | 3 |
| PMO 513 | Advanced Epidemiologic Methods | 3 |
| PMO 514 | Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases | 2.25 |
| PMO 515 | Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Control | 1.5 |
| PMO 531 | Program Planning and Development | 2.25 |
| PMO 1030 | Introduction to Data Management | 0.75 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 12.75 |
Global Health Concentration Requirements
Concentration Requirements
| PMO 528 | Foundations in Global Health | 2.25 |
| PMO 547 | Joint Health Operations | 3 |
| PMO 613 | Public Health Issues of Disasters | 3 |
| PMO 1007 | Advanced Seminar in Global Health Policy and Planning | 2.25 |
| PMO 1037 | DoD Global Health Engagement | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 13.5 |
Health Administration Concentration Requirements
Concentration Requirements
| PMO 535 | Health Care Law | 1.5 |
| PMO 103 | Fundamentals of Healthcare Finance | 1.5 |
| PMO 533 | Decision Making in Health Services | 1.5 |
| PMO 576 | Human Resource Management in Health Care | 2.25 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 9 |
Health Policy Concentration Requirements
Concentration Requirements
| PMO 523 | Fundamentals of U.S. Health Policy | 2.25 |
| PMO 529 | Health Care Financial Management | 1.5 |
| PMO 1007 | Advanced Seminar in Global Health Policy and Planning | 2.25 |
| PMO 1026 | Current Issues in Health Care Administration and Policy | 1.5 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 9 |
Environmental and Occupational Health Science Concentration Requirements
Concentration Requirements
| PMO 541 | Advanced Environmental Health | 2.25 |
| PMO 549 | Principles of Toxicology | 2.25 |
| PMO 550 | Industrial Hygiene I And Laboratory | 3 |
| PMO 601 | Environmental Health Risk Assessment | 1.5 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 9 |
Tropical Public Health Concentration Requirements
Concentration Requirements
| PMO 512 | Epidemiologic Methods | 3 |
| PMO 560 | Principles and Practice of Tropical Medicine | 4.5 |
| PMO 565 | Vector Biology | 1.5 |
| PMO 569 | Malaria Epidemiology and Control | 2.25 |
| PMO 613 | Public Health Issues of Disasters | 3 |
| PMO 1030 | Introduction to Data Management | 0.75 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |