The UW Community-Oriented Public Health Practice Master of Public Health (COPHP MPH) program is committed to training highly skilled public health practitioners who identify, analyze, and respond to real-world public health issues through means that advance social justice and racial equity.

We recognize that numerous forms of oppression, perpetuated by imbalances of power and privilege, undermine health. Societal structures in the United States concentrate wealth, social capital, and material resources to the benefit of some, while simultaneously limiting economic and social mobility for others. This structural violence serves those in power.

Through the problem-based learning process and other collaborative endeavors, our program equips graduates to effectively challenge health inequities and other inequalities rooted in systems that marginalize groups based on race, ethnicity, ability, citizenship status, class, gender, national origin, place, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, and other identities.

At the same time, we recognize that our program itself exists within oppressive structures. We acknowledge that our faculty and students possess disparate experience with and understanding of oppression and how it affects personal, interpersonal, and community health. COPHP staff, faculty, and students work in solidarity to develop and advance strategies to stamp out oppression.