Public Health

Overview

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

Administrative Specialist: Liotard

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.

To accommodate our students’ various needs, all graduate courses in public health offer online attendance options. You can participate in classes either in person or through live two-way audio/video using Zoom. Additionally, some courses are asynchronous online, meaning that you access class materials and lectures at your own pace, without needing to attend live sessions. Classes meet weekly at the USM Portland campus (with an online Zoom option) during late afternoons and evenings to cater to the schedules of working students.

We offer the following options for graduate study: the Master of Public Health (MPH), the Certificate of Graduate Study in Public Health, and the Certificate of Graduate Study in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety. Additionally, undergraduates wishing to get a head-start on graduate study may pursue the Public Health Accelerated Graduate Pathway.

The Master of Public Health (MPH) is a professional practice degree 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.

The Certificate of Graduate Study in Public Health can augment a student’s previous academic training and facilitate advancement in a variety of private health and service organizations as well as public agencies. Alternatively, the certificate can serve as a strong introduction and preview to the field of public health prior to committing to the MPH program. The Certificate of Graduate Study in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety provides individuals from diverse backgrounds with a solid foundation of knowledge and skills in health literacy and communication, quality improvement, and patient safety.

The Public Health Program at USM was accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health in 2022, for the period 2022 through 2029.

Programs

Certificate of Graduate Study

Master of Public Health

Public Health, M.P.H.