Implementation Science Track
Implementation science is an emerging interdisciplinary field that focuses on improving the adoption, delivery, and sustainability of proven health interventions in routine clinical and public health practice. Using various methods from the clinical and population sciences and the social and engineering sciences, implementation science seeks to produce generalizable knowledge about how to introduce and sustain innovations to make public health programs more effective, efficient, and equitable. The implementation science curriculum outlined below will enable students pursuing the track to acquire key competencies in the four methodological areas described below. The track builds on MPH core courses in biostatistics, epidemiology, ethics, health equity, and health policy and complements each department’s course requirements. The track also capitalizes on implementation science expertise at the Center for Methods in Implementation Science (CMIPS) and in other parts of the school by integrating existing courses as electives. Graduates will be well-prepared to pursue high-impact careers in implementation research and practice, areas with rapidly growing demand in the US and globally.
Requirements
- Fulfillment of all degree and departmental requirements
- Successful completion of at least five and a half course units following the distribution requirements below . Courses taken for credit in the track may include classes required by the student’s home academic department for the MPH degree
- Completion of a thesis incorporating implementation science (optional but encouraged)
Required Courses (1.5 courses)
Both courses in the implementation science methods cluster:
- EMD 533a Implementation Science - 1 unit
- CDE 553b Implementation Science to Address Chronic Diseases: Global Health Case Studies - 0.5 unit
Elective Courses (4 course units, all 1 unit per course)
At least one course in the quantitative methods cluster
- BIS 628b Longitudinal and Multilevel Data Analysis
- BIS 630b Applied Survival Analysis
- CDE 516b Principles of Epidemiology II
- CDE 566a Causal Inference Methods in Public Health Research
- CDE 582a Health Outcomes Research: Matching the Right Research Question to the Right Data
- EMD 582b Political Epidemiology
- S&DS 563b Multivariate Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences
At least one course in the qualitative and mixed methods cluster
- SBS 574a Developing a Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Intervention
- SBS 580b Qualitative Research Methods in Public Health
- SBS 593b Community-Based Participatory Research in Public Health
At least one course in the evidence-to-practice methods cluster
- CDE 650a Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine and Health Care
- EHS 544a Climate Equity and Health Policy Methods
- EMD 580a Reforming Health Systems: Using Data to Improve Health in LMICs
- EPH 557b Evidence-Based Decision-Making in Global Health
- HPM 570a Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and Decision-Making
- HPM 575b Evaluation of Global Health Policies and Programs
- HPM 583b Methods in Health Services Research
Resources
Competencies
Implementation Science Methods Competencies
- Define implementation science;
- Identify proven interventions for improving disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment
- Determine barriers to and facilitators of the uptake, implementation, and sustainability of evidence-based interventions;
- Explain the methodological approaches used to enhance the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of evidence-based health interventions in real-world settings;
- Develop an implementation science proposal;
- Critique an implementation science proposal or published article.
Quantitative Methods Competencies
- Apply and critically evaluate the use of quantitative methods to design, adapt, and assessing health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies in routine practice;
- Determine the mechanisms and contextual factors that mediate and moderate the impact of health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies in routine practice.
Qualitative & Mixed Methods Competencies
- Use qualitative and mixed methods to plan or evaluate an implementation science problem or question;
- Critically assess the use of qualitative and mixed methods to elicit the experiences and perspectives of shareholders participating in planning, delivering, and receiving health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies.
Evidence-to-Practice Methods Competencies
- Apply policy translation methods for planning, evaluating, and disseminating health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies;
- Critically evaluate evidence synthesis, program evaluation, and economic evaluation for planning, assessing,, and disseminating health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies.