MPH Functional Certificate: Program Management

In health programs around the world, from Boston to Kenya, managers use their skills to achieve the best results possible when working with diverse communities, supervising staff, overseeing budgets, and designing, planning, and implementing programs. The 16-credit Program Management certificate equips students to lead and manage public health programs in a variety of different settings, with a focus on low-resource environments. In this certificate, you will gain skills in leadership, teamwork, coordinating partnerships and resources, managing and analyzing costs, developing strategic plans for a specific organization, creating quality improvement plans, and much more. You will have the opportunity to focus on programs in global or domestic settings, depending on your interests and goals, and to work with real organizations to help them solve operational challenges in real time. 

Upon graduation, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate skills in budget management, including projecting costs, providing justifications, managing and containing costs, and implementing transparent financial management systems.
• Assess organizational challenges and gaps and develop strategic plans, new programs, projects, and other relevant activities to achieve organizational goals.
• Analyze program outcomes to identify needed changes and design monitoring systems to enable program or project evaluation.
• Supervise and support program staff to ensure activities are aligned with overarching goals and on track to meet specific objectives.
• Propose solutions to a variety of program challenges related to human resources, information technology, operating procedures, monitoring and evaluation, and quality improvement.

Course Requirements

• SPH GH 773 Financial Management for Health Programs (4 cr)
• SPH MC 820 Managing Public Health Programs and Projects (4 cr) or PM 733 Health Program Management (4 cr)
• Choose one of the following:
  • SPH GH 743 Implementing Health Programs in Developing Countries (4 cr)
  • SPH GH 747 Resource Mobilization: Easier Said Than Done (4 cr)
  • SPH PM 832 Operations Management in Healthcare (4 cr)
• Choose 4 credits from the following:
  • SPH GH 715 Antiretroviral Program Management and Adherence Issues in Low-Resource Settings (2 cr)
  • SPH GH 722 Supply Chain Management (2 cr)
  • SPH GH 744 Program Design for International Health (4 cr)
  • SPH GH 755 Managing Disasters (4 cr)
  • SPH GH 762 Essentials of Economics and Finance for Global Health (4 cr)
  • SPH GH 806 Using Mobile Technologies to Improve Health Outcomes (4 cr)
  • SPH GH 854 Data to Dashboards: Building Excel Skills to Support Health Program Decisions (2 cr)
  • SPH GH 887 Planning and Managing MCH Programs in Developing Countries (4 cr)
  • SPH MC 730 Leading to Face Challenges and Achieve Results in Public Health (2 cr)
  • SPH MC 802 Implementing Community Health Initiatives (4 cr)
  • SPH PM 736 Human Resources Management in Public Health (4 cr)
  • SPH PM 804 Digital Disruption (2 cr)

Integrative Learning Experience

The Program Management ILE gives students an opportunity to hone research, critical analysis, and communication skills that will be vital to their future careers. People working in program management are frequently asked to write various types of internal and external documents for a wide variety of audiences. The ILE multi-draft process gives students an opportunity to build confidence in their professional writing skills and practice receiving and incorporating feedback. By the end of the process, students will have two pieces of professional writing to share with potential employers as writing samples.

Career Paths

Many BUSPH graduates are employed as program managers, project supervisors, country directors, consultants, technical advisors, and monitoring and evaluation experts in the United States and around the world. Alumni work for the Boston Public Health Commission, state health departments, the US Centers for Disease Control, the United States Agency for International Development, the World Health Organization, and local and international nongovernmental organizations such as Planned Parenthood, Boston Health Care for the Homeless, and the Carter Center’s guinea worm eradication campaign.