Maternal and Child Health Promotion Track
The first 1000 days are a critical window for infant growth and development. Promoting optimal nutrition, health and care through the implementation of high quality, evidence-based interventions during this time has the immense potential to improve immediate and long-term maternal, infant and child outcomes. Given the complexity of health systems, achieving high quality and adhering to the fidelity of evidence-based interventions requires innovative training approaches.
The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Promotion track is a cutting-edge promotion education program that takes a multidisciplinary approach to implementing evidence-based practices to improve MCH outcomes. This track trains students on the importance and application of implementation science to MCH promotion. Students will complete three courses and an applied practice experience to received applied experience within this area.
Requirements
2024-25 Matriculation
- Students pursuing the Maternal and Child Public Health (MCHP) Track must fulfill the requirements of their respective departments or programs.
- MCHP track students are also expected to complete an applied practice experience focused on a project relevant to maternal-child public health program design, implementation and/or evaluation, to be approved by the MCHP faculty executive committee, currently comprised of Drs. Pérez-Escamilla and Spiegelman. On the rare occasion when the project cannot focus on MCHP, then a practicum course project focusing on MCHP may be used instead.
- In order to ensure that applied practice experiences are completed during the summer during the first and second years satisfy the requirements of the track, students are strongly encouraged to declare their interest in the second semester of year one
- As part of the MCHP Track, it is strongly encouraged that students focus their Master’s Thesis (if applicable) on a maternal and child health promotion issue as determined by their department/program.
- In addition, the Maternal and Child Public Health (MCHP) Track requires the student to complete the following courses.
MCHP Course Requirements (3 course units)
- EPH 521 Applied Practice Experience - 0 units
- EMD 533 Implementation Science - 1 unit
- HPM 542 Health of Women and Children - 1 unit
- SBS 594 Maternal-Child Public Health Nutrition - 1 unit
MCHP Recommended Courses
For additional training in MCHP, students may take the following recommended courses as electives. They are not required for the track.
- SBS 574 Developing a Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Intervention - 1 unit
- CDE 566/EHS 566 Causal Inference Methods in Public Health Research - 1 unit
- CDE 572 Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle Interventions - 1 unit
- SBS 541 Community Health Program Evaluation - 1 unit
- SBS 580 Qualitative Research Methods in Public Health - 1 unit
- BIS 505 Biostatistics in Public Health II - 1 unit
- BIS 628 Longitudinal and Multilevel Data Analysis - 1 unit
- CDE 516 Principles of Epidemiology II - 1 unit
- CDE 534 Applied Analytic Methods in Epidemiology - 1 unit
- HPM 575 Evaluation of Global Health Policies and Programs - 1 unit
- CDE 588 Perinatal Epidemiology - 1 unit
Maternal Child Health Promotion Track Competencies
Each student in the MCH Promotion track will master the core curriculum competencies and the competencies for the student’s department/program. In addition, upon receiving an M.P.H. degree in the MCH Promotion track, the student will be able to:
- Understand implementation science theory and frameworks, in particular as they apply to MCH promotion programs.
- Knowledge of the range of evidence-based interventions currently available or under consideration to promote improved MCH outcomes, including their strengths, weaknesses and contexts.
- Be able to propose sustainable, evidence-based solutions to address key MCH health challenges.
- Be able to evaluate the quality and fidelity of MCH promotion interventions.
- Apply knowledge and skills learned in the classroom to an applied MCH promotion project.
Additional resources for current students and faculty related to programs and requirements.