Data and Analysis:

• Explain qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods and policy analysis research and evaluation methods to address health issues at multiple (individual, group, organization, community and population) levels.
• Design a qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, policy analysis or evaluation project to address a public health issue.
• Explain the use and limitations of surveillance systems and national surveys in assessing, monitoring and evaluating policies and programs and to address a population’s health.

Leadership, Management, and Governance:

• Propose strategies for health improvement and elimination of health inequities by organizing stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, community leaders and other partners
• Communicate public health science to diverse stakeholders, including individuals at all levels of health literacy, for purposes of influencing behavior and policies.
• Integrate knowledge, approaches, methods, values and potential contributions from multiple professions, sectors, and systems in addressing public health problems.
  Create a strategic plan.
• Facilitate shared decision making through negotiation and consensus-building methods.
  Create organizational change strategies.
• Propose strategies to promote inclusion and equity within public health programs, policies and systems.
• Assess one’s own strengths and weaknesses in leadership capacities, including cultural proficiency.
• Propose human, fiscal and other resources to achieve a strategic goal.
• Cultivate new resources and revenue streams to achieve a strategic goal.

Policy and Programs:

• Design a system-level intervention to address a public health issue.
• Integrate knowledge of cultural values and practices in the design of public health policies and programs.
• Integrate scientific information, legal and regulatory approaches, ethical frameworks and varied stakeholder interests in policy development and analysis.
• Propose interprofessional and/or intersectoral team approaches to improving public health.

Education and Workforce Development:

• Assess an audience’s knowledge and learning needs.
• Deliver training or educational experiences that promote learning in academic, organizational or community settings.
• Use best practice modalities in pedagogical practices.

The School's DrPH program requires students to complete 48 credits of coursework. See the DrPH Guidebook for more information about course offerings and requirements.

Students also complete:

• A professional practicum of at least 150 hours;
• A written qualifying examination following the completion of coursework;
• A public health practice dissertation; and
• A public presentation of the final dissertation

Dissertation

Each candidate will work closely with a faculty mentor and committee to prepare a dissertation demonstrating the ability to analyze and solve complex, practice-based problems in public health. The dissertation should reflect the variety of perspectives needed to meet major public health challenges and should include explicit, population-based policy and practice implications. The format will be determined largely by the nature of the public health problem addressed. Students produce at least one publishable manuscript from their dissertation and are required to include either primary or secondary data analysis in their projects. Appropriate dissertation formats may include:

• Design and implementation of new public health programs;
• Program evaluations;
• Policy or political assessments;
• Quantitative or qualitative data collection and/or analyses;
• Substantial legislative proposals; or
• Comparative analyses by region, population, or implementation strategies.

Mohammed Abba-Aji, MD, MSc

Over the past decade, Mohammed has worked as a physician in the Nigerian military and rose in rank as a senior officer. During the course of his career, he held several leadership roles managing health teams in conflict zones, disaster situations, and highly unstable environments. His last appointment was as Commanding Officer of the 119 Composite Group Medical Wing of the Nigerian Air Force.
These roles have given him tremendous professional experience and insight into the realities of balancing urgent public health needs with the dangers of extreme crises and conflict situations. He came to see firsthand, the power imbalances that arise when working locally with international health actors and, the importance of balancing a carefully thought out plan, with the urgent necessities of an emergency situation.
He is acquiring a DrPH to develop the leadership and managerial skills necessary to organize diverse stakeholders with conflicting goals to address health inequities and advance his ability to create and communicate compelling visions for the future of Nigerian, regional and global health systems. Mohammed joins the school as a Research Fellow in the Department of Epidemiology under the mentorship of Dean Sandro Galea.

Martine Chase, MSc

Within 3 years of completing undergraduate studies at the University of the West Indies in Barbados, Martine pursued an MSc in the Control of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Since 2007, she has worked in several aspects of public health program design, management, and implementation including 7 years as the Strategic Information Team Lead for the U.S. CDC’s Caribbean Regional Office, where she led the implementation of research, surveillance, and M&E system strengthening initiatives across 12 countries supported by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.

Through Martine’s experience in global health programming, she has seen how the absence of data hampers the allocation of adequate resources and timely refinement of programs. She has also seen the value of innovative, cost-effective solutions that enhance data systems and enable programs to deliver services to those that need them most and is therefore passionate about strengthening routine data systems, participatory research methods, and using strategic information to design and implement programs for underserved populations.

Alanna Kate Cruz

Alanna Kate Cruz recently moved to Boston from her hometown of New York City. Her professional background has primarily consisted of clinical work in maternal, child, and newborn health and experience as a public health practitioner working in non-profit settings, academic research institutions, and in healthcare management. She currently works as the Program Manager for the Center for Health Equity, Education, and Advocacy (CHEEA) at Cambridge Health Alliance. Her current role has offered me the opportunity to coordinate with institutions across the United States to collaborate with physicians and public health leaders using community organizing and advocacy approaches to address critical issues in public health, including climate health, asylum medicine, advocacy among physician groups, LGBTQIA+ health, and racism in medicine. Her clinical background has been as a Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist with a focus on feeding and swallowing/dysphagia, with a recent work experience at Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation at NYU Langone Health, and she has recently become an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Additionally, Alanna Kate serves as a Teaching Assistant at Harvard Medical School in the Media, Medicine, and Health Program and Assistant Editor with the Journal of Human Lactation. She has served as a Governing Councilor for the Maternal and Health Child Section at the American Public Health Association since 2022.

Previously, she worked as a Program Manager for Partnerships and Volunteer Services at HIAS NY (a refugee resettlement agency) and managed public health-focused projects in New York City, including an ongoing study examining healthcare access and segregation in hospitals to inform policy and planning at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Her long-term career goals are to lead public health interventions as a clinician, researcher, and public health practitioner focused on interventions to support public health, including conducting needs assessments, program management, and research and evaluation, with a specific focus on maternal, child, and newborn health and health equity, on local community and global scales.

Sara L. Rodriguez, MPH

Sara L. Rodriguez currently serves as the Data Quality and Program Evaluation Specialist in the Public Health Division at Fenway Health, where she leads initiatives to improve data quality, strengthen program evaluation, and support evidence-based decision-making. In this role, she works closely with program managers and directors to enhance data integrity and reporting across prevention programs. This work helps ensure the organization understands and effectively reaches the populations we serve.

Previously, Sara spent five years in clinical research and public health initiatives focused on improving health outcomes for peple living with HIV and addressing social determinants of health.

Sara serves on the Advisory Board for the Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Committee and the Clinical Quality Management Committee at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. She holds a Master of Public Health from Dartmouth College, Geisel School of Medicine, with a concentration in Health Policy and Clinical Practice. She was honored with the Practicum Award and Social Justice Award and inducted into the Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society.

Sara’s interests include advancing health equity, reducing health disparities, cross-sector collaboration to address complex health challenges, leadership development in public health, and integrating data-driven approaches to strengthen public health systems.

Amma Ababio, MPH

Amma Ababio (Ah-mah, she/they), or simply "A," has a non-traditional public health background. For over 10 years, she has been committed to improving educational outcomes, especially for our most vulnerable students. As a K-12 educator, she taught history and science exclusively in low-income and under-resourced schools.

In 2019, she expanded her reach from 30 to 6+ million students at education-technology companies. She held various positions in these companies. She quickly realized there were more talented people than her doing direct (service) work; her talents are best used to improve internal operations.

As an educator, she was not blind to the effects of health on her students' academic outcomes and emotional development. In 2020, she decided to go to BUSPH to give herself a more holistic understanding of the social determinants of health, with a particular focus on education and mental well-being.

A year later, in 2021, she ventured into teaching in higher education by joining her first teaching team at BUSPH. Since then, she has been on the instructional teams for 10+ courses in the Global Health Department. She prides herself on bringing joy and laughter to all her classrooms. She has grown tremendously in these teaching positions; her students have taught her the power of compassion, kindness, and grace (to oneself and others).

Amma has a degree in History and Science from Harvard College, focusing on the history of psychiatry and psycho-neuroscience. In 2022, she graduated from BUSPH with a Master's in Public Health, focusing on program management and global health. In her doctoral studies, she plans to study management further to improve educational and health outcomes for students.

Amma is also a professional mixed-media artist. She started her organization, AQ Creations Studio, to increase the representation of Black women in fine arts. She does not charge for her art. Her paintings have been featured in personal collections, art shows, and charity auctions. She hopes that her paintings bring peace and healing to viewers.

Full-Time Students: 50%
Part-Time Students: 50%
International Students: 32%
Graduate Employment Rate: 100%

Charl Bezuidenhout

Assessing the Acceptability, Feasibility, and Cost-Effectiveness of In-Home Point-of-Care Tuberculosis Testing During Household Contact Investigations in South Africa

Anisa Saleh

Sustainability and Scale-up of KenyaEMR: A Mixed-Methods Needs Assessment of an HIV-Related Digital Health Solution Beyond Donor Support in Kenya

Christian Mazimpaka

Evaluating Coverage of Rwanda's mass drug administration (MDA) program for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis and assessing the program’s capacity for sustainability

Laura Housman

Establishing an Empowerment Measure for Massachusetts Boards of Health and Assessing Impact of Board Empowerment on Tobacco Retail Density: A Mixed-Methods Study

Zandra Levesque

Bridging the Gaps: A Mixed Methods Study of Migrant Perinatal Experiences and the Role of Doulas and Home Visitors in Creating Integrated Systems of Care

Karen White

Strengthening the Massachusetts Local Public Health Workforce Pipeline: Lessons Learned and Recommendations from a Mixed-Methods Evaluation

Santhi Hariprasad

HIV Treatment Engagement Interventions for Men in Malawi: A Mixed-Methods Economic Evaluation

Penelope Theodorou

Improving Equity in the Massachusetts Early Intervention Program: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of National Best Practice and Local Needs

Charl Bezuidenhout, DrPH

Charl Bezuidenhout obtained his bachelor’s degree in business management in 2010 from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. In 2013, he graduated with his master’s degree in Business Management with a concentration in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

In 2014, Charl passed the board exam and became registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) as a registered Industrial Psychologist. Additional credentials include completion of an Advanced Health Management Program (AHMP) certified by Yale School of Public Health in 2014 and a Lean/Six Sigma Black Belt certification obtained through Lean Sigma Corporation in 2020.

Charl has been working for The Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) for the past 8 years. He started his career in public health in the capacity of Human Resources Technical Coordinator providing strategic human resources support to health departments across the Eastern Cape, South Africa as part of health systems strengthening. In 2016 Charl was appointed as Project Manager for FPD’s Research Centre and later promoted to Head of Operations. His passion lies in the strategic management of projects and programs that offer novel tools, instruments and practices aimed at curbing the burden of diseases, especially in resource constraint settings. He decided to pursue a DrPH to further develop his skills and competencies as a leader in public health allowing him to affect greater change on a larger scale. The DrPH program at SPH most closely resonated with his interests, emphasizing a practice orientated approach to learning.

Christian Mazimpaka, DrPH, MS

With a career devoted to improving the health of mothers and children in Rwanda, Christian joined the DrPH Program at Boston University to hone his research and leadership skills and to introduce best management and public health education practices into the field in his home country. Since 2014, Christian has applied his skills to bridging the clinical and public health worlds in service to the Rwandan Ministry of Health and as a senior administrator in various Partners in Health programs (known as Inshuti Mu Buzima in Rwanda). Prior to matriculating at SPH, he served as the PIH Clinical Director for the entire Kayonza District, where he oversaw the implementation and evaluation of all clinical programs at all levels of that district’s health sector, encompassing all community clinics, health centers, and hospitals.

Upon obtaining the DrPH degree, Christian plans to return to Rwanda to conduct high-level research and develop evidence-based, system-level interventions for the Ministry of Health.

Debbie Price, DrPH, CNM, MPH

Debbie Price set out to pursue doctoral studies in order to expand her knowledge and skills in her chosen fields of nurse-midwifery and public health. She has been a registered nurse since 1983, a certified nurse-midwife since 1993, and also holds an MPH degree. Before joining the DrPH program at SPH, She spent eleven years working overseas, mostly in central Africa and central Asia. Since 1998, she has worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

SPH’s program was an ideal choice for Debbie because it allowed her to combine advanced study in public health with a focus on maternal and child health. The School’s DrPH degree program fit her goals perfectly, as it is a practice-oriented program that covers policy development, program management, and professional leadership.

Debbie hopes to use the skills gained in this program to expand her impact on reproductive health services at the field level, through a deeper involvement with policy development, production of guidelines, and training protocols. Her future work will place special emphasis on operational research activities and publication of the lessons learned in maternal and child health care in emergency settings. This will certainly include continued involvement with MSF and perhaps also with an agency that has an MCH-specific focus, such as the Department of Global Outreach of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

Following graduation, I accepted the position of Reproductive Health Advisor and Coordinator of Medical Specialists for Médecins Sans Frontières in Amsterdam.

Allison L. Higgins, DrPH, MEd

Allison L. Higgins received a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Providence College and a master’s degree in Health Promotion and Behavior from the University of Georgia. She currently serves as the Manager of Wellness Programs for Raytheon Company, which is an industry leader in defense and government electronics that employs 80,000 people worldwide. As part of her work, she provides direction and support for wellness programs and resources, including wellness-program planning, delivery, and evaluation; fitness program oversight; and vendor management for outsourced activities, which includes programs in health risk assessment, cardiovascular risk reduction, and preventive health risk intervention. Prior to Raytheon, her recent work experience included serving as Project Director for the University of Georgia Workplace Health Group, as the Wellness Works coordinator for St. Mary’s Healthcare Systems, and as a health fitness specialist for Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems.

Allison decided to pursue a DrPH degree to better develop skills in program design, management, and particularly evaluation. She hopes to use the skills acquired at SPH to continue her work in employee health and productivity, as well as to bridge the gap that exists between public and private organizations’ initiatives in managing chronic disease risk factors. She chose to study at SPH because its philosophy and vision was broad enough to include employers as effective partners for public health in moving toward achieving the Healthy People 2010 goals in chronic disease and lifestyle risk factors. As a professional, she chose SPH because she was able to pursue the degree on a part-time basis while she continued to work.

Nathan M. Nickerson, DrPH, RN, MSN

Prior to starting the DrPH program and while concentrating in international health at SPH, Nathan M. Nickerson served as the director of public health for the City of Portland, Maine. He has been a nurse practitioner for many years, working primarily with underserved populations in Boston and Maine. As part of that work, he developed and managed health care services for homeless and low-income, uninsured individuals. He also established substance abuse services, mental health services, needle exchange programs, and HIV-treatment initiatives focused on reaching people who use injection drugs.

Nathan holds BS degrees from Tufts University and the University of Southern Maine, as well as a master’s degree in nursing from Simmons College. He has served on numerous public health committees, including the Presidential Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS. Currently, he is the executive director of Konbit Sante, a small organization based in Maine that works to strengthen the capacity of the public health system in the Northern Department of Haiti.

Nathan decided to pursue a DrPH degree because he wanted to make a career change and apply the experience that he has gained working in public health in this country to other resource-poor settings. He realized that, in order to be most effective, it takes much more than good intentions. He saw the DrPH degree program as an opportunity to do some concentrated and rigorous study of how to develop, manage, and evaluate public health interventions in the settings he is interested in. It gave him a chance to both understand some of the best practices in these areas, as well as how to evaluate the evidence of their effectiveness. He chose the DrPH program at SPH because of the emphasis it places on applied public health practice, rather than academic research. He is not certain where this will take him, but plans to continue to work in Haiti for the indefinite future. Nathan’s hope is to witness the day when the health indicators actually start to improve there, and he would like to play some small role in that change.

• Paul Ashigbie, Manager, Global Health Programs at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA
• Craig Andrade, Director, Bureau of Family Health & Nutrition, Massachusetts DPH
• Tamara Calise, Director, JSI Healthy Communities, John Snow Inc., Boston, MA
• Brittany Chen, Director, Policy and Practice, Health Resources in Action, San Francisco, CA
• Corinna Culler, Director of School-Based Programs, BU School of Dental Medicine
• Amanda Dennis, Executive Director at The Society of Family Planning, Denver, CO
• Sara Donahue, Director of Clinical Analytics, Boston Children's Hospital Integrated Care Organization
• Gampo Dorji, Technical Officer, Noncommunicable Disease Management,WHO, New Delhi, India
• Rebecca Drewette-Card, President, Public Health Partners, Topsham, ME
• Karen Errichetti, Director of Health Research and Evaluation, Health Resources in Action, Boston, MA
• Cherrie Evans, Director, Helping Mothers Survive, JHPIEGO, Baltimore, MD
• Elaine Fitzgerald Lewis, Senior Project Director, Education Development Center, Waltham, MA
• Jordana Frost, Director, MCH and Government Affairs, March of Dimes Connecticut & Rhode Island
• Susan Garfield, Principal, EY, Wayland, MA
• Lauren Wier Guilhardi, Director, Health Services at CVS Health
• Duc Ha, Secretary to Minister of Health, Ministry of Health, Vietnam
• Ramón Hernandez, Associate Director for the Center for Community Health, University of California, San Diego, CA
• Kristin Johnson, Global Director for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research, Last Mile Health, Boston, MA
• Caroline Karutu, Chief of Party, Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in Eastern Uganda at IntraHealth
• Danielle Lawrence, President, L & G Research & Evaluation, New York, NY
• Jennifer Mattera, Executive Director, Center for Outcomes Research & Evaluation & Lecturer, Yale University, New Haven, CT
• Marion McNabb, Co-Founder & CEO, Cannabis Community Care and Research Network, Boston, MA
• Rachel Mitrovich, Director, Global Vaccines Public Policy Development, Merck, Boston, MA
• Arundati Muralidharan, Manager for Policy, WaterAid India, New Delhi, India
• Reshma Naik, Sr. Policy Analyst, Population Reference Bureau, Washington, D.C.
• Nathan Nickerson, Executive Director, Konbit Sante, Cap Haitian, Haiti and Portland, ME
• Umakant Panwar, Secretary to State Government (IAS) at State Government of Uttarakhand, India
• Samatha Panati Riley, Senior Analyst, National Institute for Children’s Health Quality, Boston, MA
• Evelyn Sakeah, Deputy Chief Research Officer, Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana
• Roberta Singal, Project Director, Ariande Labs, Boston, MA
• Michele Sinunu-Menzies, Assistant Director of Academic and Strategic Initiatives, Harvard H. T. Chan School of Public Health
• Jennifer Turgiss, Vice President, Behavioral Science & Analytics, Johnson & Johnson Health & Wellness Solutions, New York, NY
• Stacey Zawacki, Director & Clinical Assistant Professor, BU Sargent Choice Nutrition Center