StudyQA — Master: Public Health

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Description Contents Requirements Funding

The Master of Public Health program is dedicated to developing skilled professionals who are committed to improving the health of communities by translating rigorous scientific research into sound, evidence-based public health policy and practice.

Brown is an internationally recognized leader in public health research, and the University is home to nine nationally renowned public health research centers. The MPH program has an unusually high faculty-to-student ratio. Students have a great deal of interaction with faculty, who are accessible, approachable, and encouraging of student involvement in critical projects. Innovative curriculum requirements, such as community and analytic internships, make the program academically rigorous while providing unparalleled access to ongoing research and immersion in public health practice.

Core Courses

Biostatistics and Applied Data Analysis

Students must take one of the following two sequences:

Sequence 1

Biostatistics and Data Analysis I (PHP 2507)
This course, the first in a year long, two-course sequence, is for students to develop the knowledge, skills and perspectives necessary to analyze data in order to answer a public health questions. The year long sequence will focus on statistical principles as well as the applied skills necessary to answer public health questions using data, including: data acquisition, data analysis, data interpretation and the presentation of results.

Biostatistics and Data Analysis II (PHP 2508)
The second course in the year long sequence.

Sequence 2

Principles of Biostatistics and Data Analysis (PHP 2510)
Intensive first course in biostatistical methodology, focusing on problems arising in public health, life sciences, and biomedical disciplines. Summarizing and representing data; basic probability; fundamentals of inference; hypothesis testing; likelihood methods. Inference for means and proportions; linear regression and analysis of variance; basics of experimental design; nonparametrics; logistic regression.

Applied Regression Analysis (PHP 2511)
Applied multivariate statistics, presenting a unified treatment of modern regression models for discrete and continuous data. Topics include multiple linear and nonlinear regression for continuous response data, analysis of variance and covariance, logistic regression, Poisson regression, and Cox regression.

One of the following four courses:

Analysis of Population Based Datasets (PHP 2430)
Epidemiologic, health services, and social research often conducts “secondary analysis” of existing population-based datasets. Benefits include their representative sampling frames allowing generalizability to larger populations, timeliness, and lower cost. In addition, computer technology makes it possible to link some databases providing richer sources of information.

Medicare: A Data Based Policy Examination (PHP 2410E)
This course will explore the role of Medicare as America’s health insurer for the elderly and disabled through the use of real Medicare insurance claims data, examining how Medicare policy changes in financing and regulation have affected the delivery and receipt of medical services.

Applied Epidemiologic Analysis (PHP2260)
Epidemiologic and health services research requires the use of statistical software to describe and analyze data. This computer lab-based course will introduce students to applied epidemiologic analysis using the SAS® system. In addition, students will be directed through the process of writing a journal style article in which their SAS analyses will be incorporated.

Measurement Issues in Health Care (PHP2019)
(Instructor Permission Required)
Provides a theoretical and practical basis for measurement in health care. Introduces measurement theory, scale development, and criteria to be considered when choosing measures in clinical practice and research. Practical exercises include questionnaire development and a written research protocol for the development and validation of a new measure.

Epidemiology

Students must take one of the following two courses:

Introduction to Methods in Epidemiologic Research (PHP 2120)
Epidemiology quantifies patterns and determinants of human population health, with a goal of reducing the burden of disease, injury, and disability. An intensive first course in epidemiologic methods, students learn core principles of study design and data analysis through critiques of published epidemiologic studies as well as hands on practice through weekly exercises and assignments.

Foundations in Epidemiologic Research Methods (PHP 2150)
The overall objective of this course is to provide students with a strong foundation in epidemiologic research methods. This is the first of a two- or four-course sequence in epidemiologic methods aimed at students who expect to go on to conduct their own epidemiologic research. There will be a strong quantitative focus in this course. By the end of the foundations course, students should be sufficiently familiar with epidemiologic research methods to begin to apply these methods to their own work.

Environmental Health Courses

Students must take one of the following three courses:

Current Topics in Environmental Health (PHP 1700)
This course is designed to introduce students to the field of environmental health, and demonstrate how environmental health is integrated into various aspects of our lives, both directly and indirectly. Topics to be covered include: toxic metals, vector-borne disease, food safety, water quality, radiation, pesticides, air quality, hazardous waste, risk assessment, and the role of the community in environmental health.

Topics in Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology (PHP 2220E)
Introduces students to the subject matter of environmental and occupational epidemiology, focusing on the major environmental threats to health and provides the methodologic tools to evaluate and extend the evidence linking those exposures to disease through studies of populations.

Or

Climate Change and Human Health (PHP1710)

Global climate change is occurring and these changes have the potential to profoundly influence human health. This course provides students with a broad overview of the diverse impacts of projected climate change on human health, including effects of changing temperatures, extreme weather events, infectious and non-infectious waterborne threats, vector-borne disease, air pollution, the physical and built environment and policies to promote mitigation and adaptation. Students will explore multiple sides of controversial issues through lively and informed class discussions, writing exercises, and participation in a series of end-of-term debates.

Social and Behavioral Health Courses

Students must take one of the following three courses:

Principles of Health Behavior and Health Promotion Interventions (PHP 1740)
Examines health behavior decision-making and elements for design of health promotion interventions. Covers theories of health behavior (focusing on primary and secondary prevention), principles of intervention design, and reading of research literature. Emphasizes psychological, social, and proximate environmental influences on individuals’ health-related behaviors.

Designing, Implementing and Evaluating Public Health Interventions (PHP 2360)
Aims to develop skills in designing, implementing and evaluating public health interventions. Levels of intervention include the individual; families or small groups; organizations such as schools, worksites, health care settings; communities; social marketing and health communications; policy and environmental changes.

Or

Health Communications (PHP 2380)
This class will explore Health Communication, with a focus on behavioral and social science interventions delivered through health communication programs. The course is structured so that basic building blocks (i.e., definitions of health communication, public health context for health communications interventions, theories of health communication and health behavior change) are presented sequentially early in the semester. Students will synthesize knowledge and demonstrate their understanding of the role of health communication through a final research project.

Health Services Administration Courses

Students must take one of the following two courses:

Comparative Health Care Systems (PHP 1100)
Focuses on principles of national health system organization and cross-national comparative analysis. Emphasizes application of comparative models to the analysis of health and health-related systems among nations at varying levels of economic development and health care reform.

The U.S. Health Care System: Case Studies in Financing, Delivery, Regulation and Public Health (PHP 2400)
Reviews the development of the health care delivery, financing and regulatory control systems in the U.S. and reviews the literature on the relationship between health system structure and the services used and health outcomes that populations experience. A case-study approach is used to understand the inter-relationship between financing, delivery and regulatory components of the health system and their implication for public health by drawing on epidemiological, economic, political and sociological principals

Internship

Students must take the following course:

Public Health/Community Service Internship (PHP 2070)
The course is an introduction to the history, organization, resources, concepts and issues of public health and health care. Students will be matched according to their interests in a related practical experience in a health-related organization, with the expectation that they complete a project or produce a product of public health utility.

Research Methods

Students must take one of the following courses:

Clinical Trials (PHP2030)
We will examine the modern clinical trial as a methodology for evaluating interventions related to treatment, rehabilitation, prevention and diagnosis. Topics include the history and rationale for clinical trials, ethical issues, study design, protocol development, sample size considerations, quality assurance, statistical analysis, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, and reporting of results. Extensively illustrated with examples from various fields of health care research. (Fall)

Survey Research Methods (PHP 2040)
Emphasizes the theory of sampling and survey methods and their application to public health research. Topics include: survey design and planning; principles of sampling and survey terminology; questionnaire construction; protection of human subjects; data collection (including interviewing and data coding procedures); and application, presentation, and evaluation of results. (Spring)

Qualitative Methods (PHP2060)
Introduces qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis in health research. Methods covered include: participant observation, key-informant interviews, focus groups, innovative data collection strategies, and non-obtrusive measures. Students will use applied projects to develop skills in: qualitative data collection and management, interviewing, transcript analysis using computerized software, triangulation between qualitative and quantitative data, and report preparation for qualitative studies. (Spring)

Behavioral Research Methods (PHP2300)
This course provides students with fundamental principles of behavioral and social research methodology for understanding the determinants of public health problems, and for executing and testing public health interventions. We will focus on experimental methods, observational studies, and qualitative approaches. We will develop skills in understanding and interpreting data--both quantitative and qualitative. Throughout the course we will emphasize ethical, cultural, and professional issues for designing public health interventions. (Not taught in AY2016/17)

Intro to GIS (GEOL1320)
Introduction to the concepts of geospatial analysis and digital mapping. The principles of spatial data structures, coordinate systems, database development and design, and techniques of spatial analysis are learned. This is an applied course, primarily using ESRI-based geographic information system software. Focal point of class is the completion of student-selected research project employing GIS methods. (Fall)

Or

Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis for the Social Sciences (SOC2612)
This course is intended for graduate students seeking to learn the basics of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and how to incorporate spatial questions into social science research. The course is primarily a methods course and through required independent project work, students will learn how GIS and spatial analysis are typically employed across the social sciences. By the end students will be proficient in independent use of ArcGIS, most frequently used GIS software package, and will be able to apply the more common tools of spatial analysis. They will also know basics of cartography. (Taught every other year. Not taught in 2016/17.)

Electives

MPH students may register for core courses and approved electives throughout their course of study. However, students should not restrict themselves to these courses. Additional courses at Brown University and the Medical School may count toward the MPH degree, with approval. In addition, students may request that up to four graduate/medical courses, taken previously or concurrently with their Brown MPH enrollment, be counted toward the thirteen course requirement to graduate from the MPH Program.

Fall Courses

PHP 1070, The Burden of Disease in Developing Countries
PHP1350, Prisoner Health Inside Out
PHP 1530, Case Studies in Public Health: The Role of Governments, Communities and the Professions
PHP 1540, Alcohol Use and Misuse
PHP1710, Climate Change and Human Health
PHP 1740, Principles of Health Behavior and Health Promotion Interventions
PHP1854, The Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Disease
PHP 1999, Public Health Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies
PHP2025, Ethics of Global Public Health Engagement
PHP 2030, Clinical Trials Methodology
PHP 2170, Injury As A Public Health Problem
PHP 2220B, Nutritional Epidemiology
PHP2222, Genetics, Human Population and Diseases
PHP 2240, Methods of Environmental Epidemiology
PHP2250, Advanced Quantitative Methods in Epidemiologic Research
PHP 2300, Research Methods in Behavioral Science
PHP 2325, Place Matters: Exploring Community-Level Contexts on Health Behaviors, Outcomes and Disparities
PHP 2340, Behavioral and Social Science Theory for Health Promotion
PHP 2370, Etiology of Substance Use Disorders
PHP 2400, The U.S. Health Care System: Case Studies in Financing, Delivery, Regulation and Public Health
(If not taken to fulfill core requirement)
PHP 2415, Introduction to Evidence-based Medicine
PHP2425, Doing Public Health: Getting It Done in the Real World
PHP2436, Conflicting Priorities: Prescription Profits & the Public’s Health
PHP 2440, Intro to Pharmacoepidemiology
PHP 2450, Quality Measurement and Improvement in Health Care
PHP 2510, Principles of Biostatistics and Data Analysis
PHP2520, Statistical Inference I
PHP2530, Bayesian Statistical Methods
PHP2550, Practical Data Analysis
PHP 2601, Linear and Generalized Linear Models
PHP2610, Causal Inference and Missing Data
PHP2690D, Advanced Topics in Biostatistics: Practical Tools for Data Analysis
PHP2690F, Statistical Computing
PHP2980, Graduate Independent Study and Thesis Research (Full Credit)
PHP 2985, MPH Independent Study for Thesis Preparation and Research (Half Credit)
PLCY1700K, Health Policy Challenges
BIOL2860, Molecular Mechanisms of Human Disease
ECON 1360, Health Economics
SOC 1550, Sociology of Medicine
SOC2612, Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis for the Social Sciences

Spring Courses

PHP 1100, Comparative Health Care Systems
(If not taken to fulfill core requirement)
PHP1500, Global Health Nutrition
PHP1600, Obesity in the 21st Century: Causes, Consequences and Countermeasures
PHP 1680I, Pathology to Power: Disability, Health and Community
PHP 1680N, Tobacco, Smoking, and the Evil Empire
PHP1900, Epidemiology of Disorders and Diseases of Childhood and Young Adulthood
PHP 1920, Social Determinants of Health
PHP1964, Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention
PHP2018, Epidemiology of Cardio-Metabolic Health
PHP 2060, Qualitative Methods in Health Research
PHP 2080, Public Health Law and Ethics
PHP 2090, Scientific Writing in Public Health
PHP 2130, Human Biology for Epidemiology
PHP 2180, Interpretation and Application of Epidemiology
PHP 2200, Advanced Methods in Epidemiologic Research
PHP2220C, Perinatal Epidemiology
PHP2220E, Topics in Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology
PHP 2220H, Methodological Issues in the Epidemiology, Treatment and Prevention of HIV
PHP2223, Statistical Genetics
PHP 2230, Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases
PHP 2260, Applied Epidemiologic Analysis Using SAS
PHP 2310, Physical Activity and Public Health
PHP 2330, Behavioral and Social Approaches to HIV Prevention
PHP 2350, Economics of Medical Therapies: Health Policy and Practice
PHP 2360, Designing, Implementing and Evaluating Public Health Interventions
PHP2365, Public Health Issues in LGBT Populations
PHP 2380, Health Communication
PHP2390, Quantitative Methods for Behavioral And Social Sciences Intervention Research
PHP 2410E, Medicare: A Data Based Policy Examination
PHP 2420, Evaluating Public Health Programs and Policies
PHP2429, Medicine, Public Health, Law and Policy
PHP 2430, Analysis of Population Based Datasets
PHP2490, Methods in Pharmacoepidemiology
PHP 2501, Introduction to Multivariate Regression
PHP 2511, Applied Regression Analysis
PHP2560, Introduction to Statistical Computing
PHP2580, Statistical Inference II
PHP 2602, Analysis of Lifetime Data
PHP 2603, Analysis of Longitudinal Data
PHP 2980, Graduate Independent Study and Thesis Research (Full Credit)
PHP 2985, MPH Independent Study for Thesis Preparation and Research (Half Credit)
PHP2690A, Advanced Topics in Biostatistics
PHP2690F, Statistical Computing
BIOL1820, Environmental Health and Disease
DEVL1802S, Human Security and Humanitarian Response
PLCY2710, GIS and Public Policy

Requirements

The online application for admission;
Official transcripts for all undergraduate, graduate, or medical school academic work and GPA. Transcripts can be submitted to SOPHAS. (Details on how to send transcripts can be found here on the SOPHAS website). Note that for international institutions, SOPHAS will only accept evaluations obtained from World Education Services (WES ICAP). SOPHAS cannot accept any international transcripts other than the WES ICAP evaluation.
Three letters of recommendation;
Statement of Purpose and Objectives that describes your understanding of public health and commitment to pursuing a career in public health. Statement should explain the relevance of education and/or experience to pursue a career in public health.
Graduate Record Examination (GRE): General test is required. Official GRE scores should be sent to SOPHAS using Brown SPH GRE reporting code 7765. The MCAT has been approved by the Graduate School as an acceptable alternative in lieu of the GRE.
TOEFL/IELTS- All international applicants whose native language is not English must submit official scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Official TOEFL scores should be sent to both SOPHAS (TOEFL reporting code 5688) and Brown University Graduate School (reporting code 3094);
A résumé;
An application fee.

Interviews are not required as part of the application process. However, if applicants would like to visit the Brown campus to learn more about the MPH Program, this can be arranged through MPH & MS Programs Manager Diane Schlacter diane_schlacter@brown.edu .

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis from January until May 1st, or until the class is filled. Applicants should apply by February 1 for the best chance of being offered scholarships and financial support.

Want to improve your English level for admission?

Prepare for the program requirements with English Online by the British Council.

✔️ Flexible study schedule
✔️ Experienced teachers
✔️ Certificate upon completion

📘 Recommended for students with an IELTS level of 6.0 or below.

Enroll in the course

Scholarships

Financial support is provided through merit-based assistantships and scholarships. We seek candidates who are intellectually curious, highly motivated, and committed to the study of public health. All aspects of your application are very important for the scholarship review process, including your personal statement, academic transcripts, standardized test scores, letters of reference, and resume. Applicants should apply by February 1st for the best chance of being offered scholarships and financial support.

MPH Program Partial Scholarships

MPH Program partial scholarships are available to a limited number of highly qualified part-time and full-time students. MPH Program partial scholarships cover up to 25% of the tuition costs. Applicants are considered for partial scholarship support as part of the admissions process.

MPH Global Health Scholars Program

The MPH Global Health Scholars Program is available to highly qualified first year MPH students with experience or interest in global health. The Scholars Program includes enhanced educational activities, travel opportunities, and a scholarship award equivalent to 25% of tuition costs, which can be applied toward tuition and health insurance fees. Scholars take at least three courses per semester, in addition to the summer internship.

The MPH Global Health Scholars Program enhances the educational experience of select Brown MPH students and provides these students with the opportunity to make important contributions to global health research and practice. Scholars are matched with faculty mentors and incorporate global health into their academic work in the summer internship, one of their fall courses and one of their spring courses during the first academic year. Scholars will be prepared to compete for several available Brown University summer travel funds for global health experience in the summer between the first and second years of the MPH Program.

Your admission materials will serve as the application for this Scholars Program. You are encouraged to expand in your personal statement why you would like to be considered for the MPH Global Health Scholars Program.

MPH Global Health Scholars are awarded for one academic year with the potential for renewal for a second year.

MPH Assistantships

MPH Assistantships are available for a limited number of highly qualified students. MPH Assistantships provide a monthly stipend and a partial scholarship award. First-year students awarded a Standard MPH Assistantship receive a monthly stipend and partial scholarship. The student works for the sponsor in public health research or practice during the summer internship, 20 hours per week during the academic year, plus one 40 hour week during the winter break.

Applicants are automatically considered for any available MPH assistantships as part of the admissions process. MPH assistantships are awarded for one academic year with the potential for renewal for a second year. Students awarded MPH assistantships take at least three courses per semester.

The number and type of MPH assistantships available varies each year depending on the number of sponsors. Past sponsors include research centers of the Brown University School of Public Health , the Rhode Island Department of Health, and other public health related organizations. When possible, the MPH assistantship is coordinated with the required internships and many students have been able to develop thesis projects with their assistantship sites.

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