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Laying a Foundation

When you graduate from YSPH, you have options! Our curriculum is closely mapped to the core and departmental competencies so that you will have a foundation in the skills you need for a successful career in public health. See our Career Management Center pages to see where our alumni live and work after completing their MPH studies.

Competencies of the MPH Core Curriculum

The core curriculum of the MPH program focuses on competencies in evidence-based approaches to public health (1–4), public health and health care systems (5–6), planning and management to promote health (7–11), policy in public health (12–15), leadership (16–17), communication (18–20), interprofessional practice (21), and systems thinking (22).

Upon completing the core curriculum, the student will be able to:

  1. Apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice.
  2. Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context.
  3. Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming and software, as appropriate.
  4. Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy, or practice.
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  5. Compare the organization, structure, and function of health care, public health, and regulatory systems across national and international settings.
  6. 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.
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  7. Assess population needs, assets, and capacities that affect communities’ health.
  8. Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design or implementation of public health policies or programs.
  9. Design a population-based policy, program, project, or intervention.
  10. Explain the basic principles and tools of budget and resource management.
  11. Select methods to evaluate public health programs.
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  12. Discuss multiple dimensions of the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence.
  13. Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes.
  14. Advocate for political, social, or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations.
  15. Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity.
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  16. Apply principles of leadership, governance, and management, which include creating a vision, empowering others, fostering collaboration, and guiding decision-making.
  17. Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges.
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  18. Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors.
  19. Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation.
  20. Describe the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content.
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  21. Perform effectively on interprofessional teams.
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  22. Apply systems-thinking tools to a public health issue.

    OEM Competencies

    Upon receiving an M.P.H. degree in the Advanced Professional M.P.H. Program, with a concentration in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the student will be able to:

    • Describe the occupational and environmental contributions to disease and injury, and apply safety and prevention methodology to identified hazards
    • Identify the principal study designs in OEM epidemiology and critically interpret and apply the literature to clinical scenarios
    • Evaluate the appropriate method of testing an exposure and interpret both environmental exposure and biomonitoring data to assess environmental exposures
    • Create and manipulate data sets and variables to evaluate epidemiologic associations
    • Conduct and interpret a multivariable linear regression analysis to evaluate epidemiologic associations