Public Health

Overview

Professor: Joly; Associate Professor: Ziller (chair), Greenfield; Associate Research Professor: Ahrens, Huston, Jonk, Lichter; Assistant Research Professor: Paulu; Practice Faculty: Tupper; Emeriti: Bolda, Coburn

Administrative Specialist: Liotard

Master of Public Health

Public health is defined as the science of protecting and improving the health and well-being of diverse populations. Public health draws upon theory and evidence from multiple disciplines to identify the causes of poor health and address those causes through organized community efforts. It includes a strong emphasis on preventing illness, addressing health disparities, and using health data. Studying public health will provide you with an understanding of the individual, social, organizational, and structural determinants of health, and give you tools to intervene at different system levels to help people and communities become healthier.

The Master of Public Health (MPH) degree is an accredited program that prepares students with the practical knowledge and skills to address today’s complex population health and health services needs. Multi-disciplinary in nature, the MPH program delivers a broad population health and health systems perspective. The program offers hands-on field experience opportunities in a wide variety of public health and healthcare organizations in Maine and beyond including state and local health departments, community-based organizations, primary care and multispecialty physician practices, hospitals, and health and health-related agencies. Graduates work in the public and private sectors to apply evidence based practices and state-of-the-art knowledge and skills to improve population health.

The MPH program offers many opportunities for experiential learning. Through paid graduate and research assistantships with nationally recognized faculty and staff, many students engage in projects addressing public health, health service, and health policy problems critical to improving health and health systems. Faculty and alumni offer strong connections with the practice community, creating opportunities for field placements, capstone projects, and career networking.

Programs

Certificate of Graduate Study

Master of Public Health

Public Health, M.P.H.