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About the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.): Full-time Program

Drexel University’s Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) full-time program provides practical skills and experience, with a unique focus on relevant community issues, challenges, and priorities.

The 64 quarter-credit program is interdisciplinary and requires students to complete a comprehensive, community-based master’s project. The program prepares students to enter an array of fields related to public health or a range of doctoral programs.

Program Highlights
The first year of the program covers five core disciplines offered within the context of culture and community. These include environmental and occupational health; health care systems organization, management, and policy; social and behavioral sciences for population health; epidemiology; biostatistics.

During the second year of the program, students select one of five following concentrations from the school’s four academic departments:

• Biostatistics
• Epidemiology
• Community Health and Prevention
• Environmental and Occupational Health
• Health Management and Policy

Throughout the program, group case discussion sessions, case-related activities and didactic sessions are integrated into the experience. These include:

• Resource sessions (both years) provide students with access to the expertise of scholars, institutional directors, and community leaders;
• Case symposia provide opportunities to write collaboratively, build collegial teams, and develop communication and public-speaking skills;
• Site visits (first year) to community agencies, organizations, and health care providers foster an appreciation of public health in a complex urban setting;
• Skill development labs and workshops (year two);
• Public health grand rounds (for all faculty, students, and community partners) provide access to scholars and their cutting-edge research and initiatives in public health.

Curriculum
The M.P.H. full-time educational program is structured on a quarter-term basis, with a total 64 credit hours required. This is generally taken as a two-year program; all coursework must be completed within four years of the date of matriculation for the full-time program.

The second-year curriculum is composed of four courses in the chosen area of concentration (Biostatistics; Epidemiology; Community Health and Prevention; Environmental and Occupational Health; Health Management and Policy), two elective courses, and the Community-Based Master’s Project (CBMP), the culminating experience required of full-time Drexel M.P.H. students.

Students spend approximately 12 hours each week working on a community-oriented, health-related project, often working as an integral part of a community-based organization. This can be in the areas of government, healthcare and social services, among others. In preparation for developing their final paper, students are required to identify an issue or problem of significance to the target community or agency, synthesize the literature, develop an approach or methodology to address the issue, and either implement and test the validity of a proposed approach or set out a detailed prescription for addressing the problem. Students may also work with faculty in specific research areas.