Master ofPublic Health

Evaluation of intervention strategies from a biobehavioral health context; theories of change processes in health.

Introduction to the application of techniques and interpretation of results that are commonly used to plan, analyze, and report clinical and health services research.

Presents assumptions, techniques, and practical aspects of conducting qualitative health research. Students will develop a good research question, interviewing techniques and guides, codes and coding dictionaries, and an analysis plan for qualitative research. Students will critique qualitative articles and learn what constitutes a rigorous methodological and analytic approach to this type of public health research.

Students will learn to utilize basic epidemiological methods, i.e., design, calculate, analyze, interpret, report, in the examination of public health problems or programs. Topics include measurements, surveillance, outbreak investigation, bias, and study design.

Examination of health systems, organization, financing, and evaluation; trends, problems, and issues.

Provides students with a foundation in public health principles and practice. Students will examine public health models and frameworks, determinants of health, indicators of health, and the etiology of disease. Students will learn about public health milestones and innovations, measures of health and well-being, issues surrounding health disparities, ethical issues in public health practice and research, and the role of state and county health departments in disease control and prevention. Students will examine today's priority health concerns using a public health framework.

Provides Master of Public Health (MPH) degree students with hands-on, real-world experience in the practice of public health.

Provides an overview of the major issues and initiatives in contemporary global health. Throughout the course, we will explore the political, social, economic, cultural, and environmental determinants of health. We will review the role of global health players such as the World Health Organization, UN agencies, and governmental and nongovernmental organizations, as well as how they interact with health systems to improve health. This course will also discuss the major health issues worldwide and key factors associated with health inequalities.

Engage in case studies of global health programs and initiatives. A systems-thinking framework will be applied to the cases, and students will use the framework to anticipate unintended consequences related to international field work and to propose possible solutions. Cases will illustrate the complexity of global health work and the importance and implications related to the interconnectedness and complementary roles of critical public health systems. The cases used in this course will include a spectrum of small- to large-scale programs and short-term to long-term response efforts. Cases will cover the major topics of the public health system, biosocial context, chronic disease, infectious disease, and systems failures.

Provide an understanding of the global and local perspectives of infectious disease. This course will provide a fundamental knowledge of several different infections, including virus, bacterial, and parasitic types. The course will then expand on this knowledge and discuss the impact of these infectious diseases on the global community, then discuss, analyze, and design methods for prevention and control. Diseases of global importance will include malaria, HIV, hepatitis, dengue, emerging viral hemorrhagic fevers, causes of diarrheal illness, tuberculosis, polio, smallpox, cholera, syphilis, select parasitic diseases, and other diseases as necessitated by current global disease trends.

A culminating experience in which students create and present a scholarly project based on the competencies gained in previous courses.

The impact of inequality and discrimination on individual and group identity among various racial and ethnic groups.

This course will cover the way stress response occurs in humans and how those responses can affect other aspects of physical, psychological, behavioral, and cognitive functioning.

Biological and behavioral aspects of therapeutic and recreational drug use and misuse, and their relationships to health.

Understanding theories, concepts, and frameworks of community and economic development and community decision-making models in application to community development practice and issues.

Exploration, understanding, and application of leadership roles, strategies, and principles in group and community settings.

Understanding and applying methods and hands-on experience with techniques used in community and economic development.

This course provides a survey of the basic legal principles, regimes, and issues related to environmental protection and natural resource management. It gives students an overview of the fundamentals of environmental law and policy, including how the U.S. legal system works, as well as relevant principles of constitutional and common law.

The role of geographic information systems in understanding disease, including relevant spatial analysis and cartographic visualization techniques.

A systematic application of the principles of organizational behavior to understanding professional roles in health services organizations.

Development of basic concepts and issues in public administration; administrative theory and public policy processes.

Nature, function, and technique of governmental budgeting viewed as mechanism for allocating resources among alternative public uses.

Conduct independent research in policy analysis, program evaluation, and public management.

Concepts and approaches contributing to effective use of human resources in public and nonprofit organizations; legal issues and requirements.

The design, implementation, and purpose of computerized management information systems in public and nonprofit organizations.

Introduction to the analysis of public policy within its organizational and political contexts, including an emphasis on an economic perspective.

Examination of concepts of human behavior in formal organizations, systems analysis, conceptual models, and decision processes.

A survey of strategic planning purposes, approaches and methods, and expected outcomes in small and large organizations.

A study of the theoretical and practical issues involved in management and leadership of nonprofit organizations.

This course will examine theory, strategies, and practices for securing and managing resources for a nonprofit organization. The course will be offered every third semester.

Development of basic concepts and issues in public administration; administrative theory and public policy processes.

Analyzes the history of terrorism and explores the preparation and response to specific terrorist threats, natural disasters, and conventional catastrophes.

A public health perspective on the preparation necessary to develop a coordinated response to a disaster or terrorist emergency.

Introduces students to the design of exposure assessment and health effect studies applicable to disasters and terrorism.

This course will enable students to study obstacles outside of traditional pharmaceutical interventions that have major influences on the success or failure of public health responses.

Investigates the impact that terrorist incidents may have on health care facilities or their ability to deliver health care services.

Teaches fundamentals of emergency preparedness exercises (i.e., orientation, tabletop, drill, functional, and full-scale exercises).

This course covers the principles, methods, and competencies for developing, improving, and evaluating a biorisk management system.

The study of social influence, leadership and status, and social cohesion and commitment processes in small groups.

The impact of inequality and discrimination on individual and group identity among various racial and ethnic groups.

Models and measures of vital processes (fertility, mortality, migration) and their effects on growth and age structure of human populations.

Selection and evaluation of statistical computer packages.

Intermediate SAS for data management.

This course covers advanced statistical procedures in SAS, including ANOVA, GIM, CORR, REG, MANOVA, FACTOR, DISCRIM, LOGISTIC, MIXED, GRAPH, EXPORT, and SQL.

Builds an understanding of the basic syntax and structure of the R language for statistical analysis and graphics.

Builds an understanding of the basic syntax and structure of the R language for statistical analysis and graphics. R is a popular tool for statistical analysis and research used by a growing number of data analysts inside corporations and academia.