Faculty Lead: Molly Firth (she/her), MPH

The health systems and policy concentration is for students who seek a career of leadership in public or private efforts to improve the performance of the health system.

Students who complete the concentration will be well grounded in core competency areas of public policy development, health economics, law, and ethics. In addition, health systems and policy MPH students will have a solid foundation in key analytic disciplines including biostatistics, epidemiology and qualitative methods. They can also acquire a deep understanding of how and where public policy is developed, what forms it takes, the relevant actors and institutions, and the economic and legal forces that affect and are affected by public policy.

While all Health Systems and Population Health MPH students have the choice to write a thesis or complete a capstone project, most students in the health systems and policy concentration choose a capstone project as their culminating project.

Faculty Lead: Miruna Buta (she/her), PHD, MA

The Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration is for students who wish to apply social and behavioral sciences theory and methods to the study, practice, and thought of public health. Survey research, statistics, behavioral measurement, ethnography, quality-of-life assessment, community-based participatory research, and cost-effectiveness analysis are highlighted.

The focus of the concentration is on research and application of knowledge concerning the relationships among:

• Social, cultural, and behavioral processes
• Health and illness
• What society does and can do to promote health and prevent illness

Graduates who complete the concentration will have the background and skills to pursue careers in research or public health practice.