Graduate Program

Director
Kristine Tollestrup, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley; M.P.H., University of Washington

Mission Statement

The mission of the Public Health program at the University of New Mexico is to provide leadership in graduate and community-based education and research grounded in social justice to improve the health of the diverse populations in New Mexico and the Southwest.

Degree Offered

Master of Public Health (M.P.H.)
Concentrations: Community Health; Epidemiology; Health Systems, Services, and Policy.

The Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) at UNM promotes an interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach to research and interventions to address health problems. It also provides multiple opportunities for students to practice public health skills in communities and organizations, and fosters critical thinking about issues addressed by the students. Students come to the program from a broad range of social science, biomedical science and clinical disciplines. To complete the degree, students must complete 42 credit hours that include completion of a practicum experience, and either a thesis, professional paper, or the integrative experience courses (PH 595 and 597). All students must also complete an oral master’s examination. Students may enroll either full-time or part-time and have seven years to complete the degree from the time they take their first course applying towards the M.P.H.

Dual Degree Programs

Master of Public Health and Doctor of Medicine: The College of Population Health and the School of Medicine offer a Dual Degree Program leading to the M.P.H. and the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) See the Graduate and Professional Dual Degree Programs section of this Catalog.

Master of Public Health and Master of Arts in Latin American Studies: The College of Population Health and the Latin American Studies program in the College of Arts and Sciences offer a Dual Degree Program leading to the M.P.H. and the Master of Arts (M.A.) in Latin American Studies. See the Graduate and Professional Dual Degree Programs section of this Catalog.

Master of Public Health and Master of Science in Nursing: The College of Population Health and the College of Nursing offer a Dual Degree Program leading to the M.P.H and the Master of Science (M.S.) in Nursing. See the Graduate and Professional Dual Degree Programs section of this Catalog.

Individual Dual Degree Program: Individual dual degrees with the M.P.H. may be organized by students with any department. Students in dual degree programs must complete both degrees in the same semester. The students must prepare a written rationale for the dual degree and a chart outlining the requirements for both degrees and the shared credit hours. This must be approved by the Public Health Program Director, the Director or Chair of the other Department and with student advisors of both departments. The agreement must be signed by all parties involved. The student must meet all requirements for both master's degrees; a maximum of 6 credit hours from each field may be shared between the two programs. See the Graduate Program section of this Catalog.

Admission Requirements

The program only reviews applicants who have met all admission requirements listed below:

1. B.A., B.S., or equivalent from an accredited U.S. institution or a recognized foreign institution.

2. GPA of at least 3.0 is required in undergraduate upper-level courses (300- to 400-level), or 9 credit hours with GPA of 3.0 or better in public health-related graduate courses.

3. An undergraduate basic statistics course or a graduate-level basic statistics course with a 3.0 GPA or higher must have been completed within the previous 7 years.

4. All students must have recent (within five years):
• GRE scores with preferred verbal, quantitative and analytical writing scores around the 50th percentile, or
• MCAT with preferred total score of 491, or
• GMAT with preferred score of 500 and above.
Applicants with a Master's or terminal degree (M.D., Ph.D., Pharm.D., J.D., etc) from an accredited institution are exempt from submitting the above test scores. Foreign medical graduates must be licensed to practice in the U.S. or must have received their degrees from an accredited U.S. institution to be exempt from the test scores requirement.

5. Foreign applicants must submit one of the following English proficiency tests:

	Paper Test	Computer Test	IBT
Graduate TOEFL	550	213	79-80
Graduate IELTS	7.0	7.0	7.0
Cambridge English: CAE or CPE	grade of "C" or better.

Additional Information

Preference is given to students who have public health experience. The experience may be in public health practice in a health department, community development, research, health education, health science, health promotion, or other health-related work. Experience may be paid or voluntary.

Students may transfer up to 17 credit hours with grades of "B" or better to the program from other institutions or other non-degree or graduate programs within UNM. However, those credit hours cannot have been used to meet the requirements of another degree program.

For Graduate Studies admissions requirements, refer to Graduate Studies Web site.

Master of Public Health Requirements

The M.P.H. is completed in four required components:

M.P.H. Core Courses
Practicum Experience
Culminating Experience
Concentration Courses and Electives

		Credit Hours
	M.P.H. Core Courses
PH 501	Principles of Public Health	3
PH 502	Epidemiologic Methods I	3
PH 506	Environmental-Occupational Health	3
PH 511	Writing for Public Health Professionals	1
PH 513	Public Health Seminar	1
PH 538	Public Health Biostatistical Methods I	3
PH 552	Public Health Program Planning	3
	Subtotal	17
	Practicum Experience
PH 598	Public Health Practicum	2
	Subtotal	2
	Culminating Experience (choose from):
PH 595 -and- PH 597	Introduction to Public Health Integrative Experience Public Health Integrative Experience	3
-or- PH 596	Professional Paper	3
	Subtotal	3

Community Health Concentration

The mission of the Community Health concentration is to prepare students for leadership roles in population-based disease prevention and health promotion in public and private settings. The philosophical foundation of the concentration relies on a community capacity building, empowerment approach to promote social justice and equity in health. The concentration is designed for students with prior experience, education or interest in community-focused public health practice or research that values diversity, self-reflection and critical analysis of evidence-based practice and practice-based public health approaches. The purpose of this concentration is to provide students with the multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills necessary to plan, implement, and evaluate public health programs at multiple levels of the social-ecologic framework.

Requirements

Completion of 17 credit hours of M.P.H. core courses.
Completion of 2 credit hours of practical field experience in a community public health setting.
Completion of at least 3 credit hours demonstrating competencies in integrating community health perspectives through one of the culminating experience options. The Chair of the culminating experience committee must be a core faculty member of the concentration.
Completion of at least 20 credit hours in concentration requirements and electives in public and community health.

		Credit Hours
	Concentration Courses
PH 510	Public Health and Health Care Management	3
PH 555	Public Health Evaluation Methods	3
PH 556	Community Participatory-Based Research	3
	Research Courses (choose one):
PH 533	Public Health Research Methods	3
PH 558	Intervention Research with Marginalized Populations	3
	Subtotal	12
	Electives
	Choose from the following list or from other courses offered by the Public Health program and/or UNM colleges or departments. Electives are subject to approval of the academic advisor.
PH 507	Health Care Systems	3
PH 520	Epidemiologic Methods II	3
PH 534	Epidemiology Data Analysis	3
PH 539	Public Health Biostatistical Methods II	3
PH 554	Health Policy, Politics and Social Equity	3
PH 560	ST: Public Health	3
PH 564	Public Health and Health Care Communication	3
PH 575	Public Health Leadership on Facilitation	2
PH 579	New Mexico Border Health: US - Mexico Border Migration and Latino Health	2
CJ 550	Health Communication	3
	Subtotal	8
	Total	20
	Degree Total	42

Epidemiology Concentration

The concentration in Epidemiology provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary to collect, analyze, and interpret epidemiologic data for the solution of public health problems. The concentration prepares students for employment as a master’s level epidemiologist or research scientist in various settings such as the New Mexico Department of Health, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, and other public health research and service organizations.

Requirements

Completion of 17 credit hours of M.P.H. core courses.
Completion of 2 credit hours of practical field experience in an epidemiologic setting.
Completion of at least 3 credit hours demonstrating competencies in epidemiology through one of the culminating experience options. The Chair of the culminating experience committee must be a core faculty member of the concentration.
Completion of at least 20 credit hours in concentration requirements and electives in public and community health.

		Credit Hours
	Concentration Courses
PH 507 -or- PH 510	Health Care Systems Public Health and Health Care Management	3
PH 520	Epidemiologic Methods II	3
PH 534	Epidemiology Data Analysis	3
PH 539	Public Health Biostatistical Methods II	3
	Subtotal	12
	Electives
	Choose from the following list or from other courses offered by the Public Health program and/or UNM colleges or departments. Electives are subject to approval of the academic advisor.
PH 524	Social Epidemiology	2
PH 528	Infectious Disease Epidemiology	2
PH 529	Introduction to Developmental Epidemiology	2
PH 531	Perinatal Epidemiology	2
PH 532	Cancer Epidemiology	2
PH 533	Public Health Research Methods	3
PH 555	Public Health Evaluation Methods	3
PH 556	Community Participatory-Based Research	3
STAT 574	Biostatistical Methods: Survival Analysis and Logistic Regression	3
	Subtotal	8
	Total	20
	Degree Total	42

Health Systems, Services, and Policy Concentration

The concentration in Health Systems, Services, and Policy provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary to analyze health systems, public health and health care services and programs, and related governmental and non-governmental policies. Students develop the capacity to analyze and develop interventions and health policies at local, national, and global levels. The goal of the concentration is to prepare students to work in health organizations and policy arenas to improve population health and decrease health inequities.

Requirements

Completion of 17 credit hours of M.P.H. core courses.
Completion of 2 credit hours of practical field experience in policy, public health or health care service settings.
Completion of at least 3 credit hours demonstrating competencies in integrating health systems, services, and policy perspectives through one of the culminating experience options. The Chair of the culminating experience committee must be a core faculty member of the concentration.
Completion of at least 20 credit hours in concentration requirements and electives in public and community health.

		Credit Hours
	Concentration Courses	3
PH 507	Health Care Systems	3
PH 520	Epidemiologic Methods II	3
PH 539	Public Health Biostatistical Methods II	3
PH 554	Health Policy, Politics and Social Equity	3
	Subtotal	12
	Electives
	Choose from the following list or from other courses offered by the Public Health program and/or UNM colleges or departments. Electives are subject to approval of the academic advisor
PH 510	Public Health and Health Care Management	3
PH 524	Social Epidemiology	2
PH 532	Cancer Epidemiology	2
PH 533	Public Health Research Methods	3
PH 534	Epidemiology Data Analysis	3
PH 555	Public Health Evaluation Methods	3
PH 556	Community Participatory-Based Research	3
PH 565	Public Health Leadership on Facilitation	3
PH 575	Public Health Leadership on Facilitation	1-2
PH 579	New Mexico Border Health: US - Mexico Border Migration and Latino Health	3
PADM 500	Public Management and Policy	3
PADM 521	Institutional Development and Behavior	3
PADM 525	Human Resources Management in the Public Sector	3
PADM 544	Public Budgeting	3
	Subtotal	6
	Total	20
	Degree Total	42

Public Health Minor

The Public Health minor provides a basic understanding of the core principles, sciences, and skills behind the discipline of public health. The two core classes in the minor include basic behavioral and social sciences, and the science of disease causation and distribution. One other course is required from a menu of M.P.H. core courses. Two additional M.P.H. electives can be of student choosing.

		Credit Hours
	Required Core Courses
PH 501	Principles of Public Health (fall course)	3
PH 502 -or- PH 521	Epidemiology Methods I (fall course) Introduction to Epidemiology	3
	Subtotal	6
	One Other Core Course from:
PH 506	Environmental-Occupational Health	3
PH 507	Health Care Systems	3
PH 510	Public Health and Health Care Management	3
PH 552	Public Health Program Planning	3
	Subtotal	3
	Public Health Minor Selected Electives
	Choose a minimum of 6 credit hours from other Public Health program courses. The elective courses are selected to further the student's own research or professional project. All courses must be completed with a grade of "B" or better.
	Subtotal	6
	Total	15