Students select one of four concentrations in order to best align their studies with their individual interests and goals.

Epidemiology and Global Health

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health states and diseases in populations. Epidemiology is fundamentally quantitative. Students will learn how to measure and describe health globally, to evaluate and interpret epidemiological research, and to design and implement epidemiologic studies. Coursework includes the application of biostatistical methods to analyze data and ethical considerations in human subject research. The curriculum covers the impact of systemic factors, including social, environmental, and structural determinants of population health, locally and globally. 

Health Policy

The health policy concentration focuses on the ability to understand, critically evaluate, and develop health policies that promote access, quality, efficiency, and equity in our public health and health care systems. The curriculum provides training in the economics of healthcare supply and demand as a framework for approaching challenges in health care policy and practice. Using the tools of econometrics and statistics acquired during the program, students will be prepared to design, implement, and evaluate empirical health policy studies that can lead to more informed, evidence-based policies.

Data Science

Data Science combines statistical and computational methods to manage, visualize, analyze, and communicate data.  Students will combine their training on public health systems with advanced computational skills to derive impactful insights for improving public health. Coursework includes biostatistics, machine learning, and computer programming to answer public health questions and visualize and summarize results.  The curriculum covers statistical analysis of different types of health outcomes, use of machine learning predictors to uncover complex relationships among study features, and training in developing computer code to carry out rigorous and reproducible analyses. 

Community Health Promotion

Community health promotion examines how social and community structures and policies influence health, resulting in an exacerbation or reduction in health disparities. Addressing structural factors such as economic stability, housing, food insecurity, access to quality health care, broadband access, health literacy, violence, social injustice, and institutional racism are identified as essential to ensure equitable health outcomes. This concentration also focuses on the necessity of community engagement and community-based participatory research to discover implementable, scalable, and sustainable health programs. The curriculum covers community-focused frameworks for understanding health determinants acting at multiple levels and research methods that are better suited for community implementation. Moreover, it provides students with opportunities to explore specific topic areas within community health (e.g., sexual health, built environments, maternal child health, social activism and organizational partnership development, etc) that they see themselves working within post-graduation.