Public Health

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Admission

The Master in Public Health (M.P.H.) applicants must possess a minimum of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution and must have taken the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), LSAT or Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). Students who hold an M.D., Ph.D., Pharm.D., J.D., or D.V.M. from an accredited American university are exempt from the GRE/MCAT/LSAT requirement. Applications must be submitted through SOPHAS with supporting transcripts, Statement of Intent, and recommendations as described in the on-line application packet. Those whose first language is not English must pass the TOEFL with a score of at least 600 (paper-based test) or 250 (computer-based test).

Master of Public Health

The Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) is an interdisciplinary professional degree offered individually or as a dual program with other professional degrees (MD/MPH, JD/MPH, MBA/MPH, MPP/MPH). It is designed to provide students with an understanding of public health sciences and foundational knowledge, and with opportunities to develop the competencies needed for the fields of public health, health policy and management, health care systems and other population health related organizations. The program draws upon the strengths of UVa faculty within the Schools of Medicine, Arts & Sciences, Nursing, Law, Education, and Architecture, as well as the larger university community. While the M.P.H. degree is designed to meet national accreditation requirements, it provides flexibility for students to tailor the program to their particular interests. UVa’s MPH program mission is to advance the field of public health by providing an interdisciplinary, interprofessional environment that fosters the success of each student as they develop comprehensive public health knowledge, competencies, and professional values; identify and pursue individualized educational and professional goals in the breadth of public health settings and sectors; and collaborate with faculty and community partners to improve health equity and overall population health and well-being.

Degree Requirements

As defined by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH), the Accreditation Criteria for the M.P.H. degree include course work in foundational public health knowledge and 22 foundational competencies, additional competencies in an area of concentration, and applied practice experience through practice-based courses, global studies or field placements. In a final “integrative” experience that requires an independent project, students are required to synthesize their foundational and concentration-specific knowledge and to demonstrate their competencies.

Foundational Knowledge and Competencies

Foundational courses focus on the knowledge and competencies at the core of public health. Required courses provide knowledge in biostatistics; epidemiology; health policy and management; and behavioral, social, environmental and economic determinants of health. Students also develop competencies required by the CEPH Accreditation Criteria in evidence-based approaches to public health; health care systems; planning and management; policy; leadership; communication; interprofessional practice; and systems thinking.

Applied Practice and Field Placement

Each student must complete a planned, supervised and evaluated applied practice experience. Students must produce a minimum of two work products that are useful to the community partner and demonstrate the attainment of a minimum of five competencies, at least three of which are foundational. Practical knowledge, skills, and competencies are considered an important component of a public health professional degree program; students must apply the knowledge and skills acquired through their courses of study. Students work in a wide range of applied practice settings including community agencies, local and state public health agencies in the program’s geographic area, consulting firms, health care organizations and other related profit and non-profit organizations.

Final Integrative Learning Experience

Students must complete a final integrative learning experience (ILE) that requires them to synthesize and integrate knowledge and competencies acquired in course work and other learning experiences. In the final ILE course students apply theory and principles in a way that approximates some aspect of professional practice. All students produce a major paper, analysis and poster in which students demonstrate attainment of competencies.

Required Courses and Tracks

The M.P.H. degree program requires students to complete 42 credits of course work:

at least 20 credits of required courses;
16 credits of course work in a track or concentration;
and the remaining credits in electives.

Each student accepted into the M.P.H. program will identify a concentration and develop an individualized course of study with their advisor (and approved by an M.P.H. faculty steering committee) that addresses the student’s professional interests, needs, and goals.

Students also must complete a minimum of 5 credits to satisfy the applied practice, practicum and integrative learning experience.