Competencies - Modeling Concentration

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.

In addition to mastering the core competencies of the Yale MPH program, students in the Public Health Modeling Concentration will demonstrate proficiency in the following areas:

• Identifying questions in public health policy and practice that may be amenable to model-based approaches.

• Explaining why modeling is particularly pertinent to describing the processes that drive transmission and control of infectious diseases.

• Demonstrating a working knowledge of the sub-disciplines and methods that pertain to modeling, including: probability theory; decision analysis; cost-effectiveness analysis; simulation methods (e.g., Markov models, individual-based models, compartmental models, Monte Carlo methods).

• Applying public health modeling concepts, principles, and methodologies obtained through formal course work to specific problems. This includes:

• defining research questions and elaborating testable hypotheses;
• developing and explaining model-based approaches to address those questions and to test those hypotheses;
• identifying, assembling, and managing the data needed to inform model structure and parameterization;
• designing efficient computer programs to manage data, simulate models, and present model output using appropriate modeling software (e.g. Microsoft Excel, R, MATLAB); and
• interpreting and communicating findings to a variety of academic, government, advocacy, and general audiences.

• Reviewing, critiquing, and interpreting the findings of model-based public health reports and research articles, with a mature appreciation of the practical problems of applying these methods in the evaluation of medical technologies and public health policies.

• Demonstrating sensitivity to the social, cultural, human rights, and ethical context within which public health modeling may be employed. Appreciating the challenges of adapting and implementing model-based approaches in limited-resource communities, vulnerable populations, and other special settings.