Public Health

Overview

The Public Health of Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is a flexible program and you can study on a full-or part-time basis, either on campus or online. During two or more years, you’ll take courses in topics such as quantitative and qualitative research methods, environmental health sciences, health policy, and community health. When you graduate, you’ll be well prepared to develop strategies that address complex health issues in a meaningful career.

Before enrollment, students must attend an in-person orientation on the Boston campus or complete an online orientation with both asynchronous and synchronous components.

Program Competencies

Foundational Competencies

Evidence-Based Approaches to Public Health

• Apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice

• Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context

• Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming and software, as appropriate

• Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy or practice

Public Health & Health Care Systems

• Compare the organization, structure and function of health care, public health and regulatory systems across national and international settings

• Discuss the means by which structural bias, social inequities and racism undermine health and create challenges to achieving health equity at organizational, community and societal levels

Planning & Management to Promote Health

• Assess population needs, assets and capacities that affect communities' health

• Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design or implementation of public health policies or programs

• Design a population-based policy, program, project or intervention

• Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management

• Select methods to evaluate public health programs

Policy in Public Health

• Discuss multiple dimensions of the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence

• Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes

• Advocate for political, social or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations

• Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity

Leadership

• Apply principles of leadership, governance and management, which include creating a vision, empowering others, fostering collaboration and guiding decision making

• Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges

Communication

• Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors

• Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation

• Describe the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content

Interprofessional Practice

• Perform effectively on interprofessional teams

Systems Thinking

• Apply systems thinking tools to a public health issue

Community Health Competencies

• Apply theories, concepts, models, and frameworks of health education, health promotion, and health literacy to address a public health problem, considering the cultural values, beliefs, and traditions of a community

• Demonstrate risk assessment and risk communication approaches in managing occupational and environmental exposures

• Assess human and ecological effects of environmental agents and climate change, based on: (1) factors in the physical environment, (2) factors in the social environment, and (3) issues of environmental justice and equity

• Use the principles of community-based participatory research to develop a strategy to learn about community-identified issues, build equitable partnerships, and formalize a process to apply research to both practice and policy

• Prepare a funding proposal that demonstrates knowledge of funding sources, measurable goals and objectives, and budgets