MPH Certificate Directors.

Functional Area Certificates

Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

“The Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation certificate program encompasses skills and knowledge essential to conducting on-the-ground public health work. A key component of this program is the emphasis on equity and justice in public health practice. We want our graduates to be well-prepared to partner authentically with communities, so that their work not only promotes health but social justice as well.”

 

Environmental Health

“The environment is the most enduring, recognized predictor of health. Air pollution, climate change, lead poisoning, poor housing, sanitation, infectious agents, and contaminated water supplies are just a few of the predictors of the health of communities around the globe. Students in the Environmental Health Certificate learn the tools and methods needed to investigate and solve problems associated with the environmental health challenges of today and tomorrow. Our students are closely mentored, engaging with faculty, practitioners, and community/advocacy organizations inside and outside of the classroom.”

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

“Epidemiology is a way of looking at how exposures in our environment can impact adverse health outcomes. It is a way of seeing the world through the eyes of populations rather than singular individuals. I’m excited about this certificate because it helps our students think in this way, to apply principals of study design, data collection, and data analyses that will provide evidence needed to prevent, mitigate, and/or intervene upon adverse health exposures and outcomes at a population level. Our Biostatistics components provides the tools necessary to implement appropriate data analytic techniques that complement these population health assessments and conclusions.”—Bernard Harlow, PhD

Global Health Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation

“Too often valuable resources are spent on public health programs and policies that simply do not work. The result is often a lack of services and support for families and communities in dire need. There is growing recognition that only strong evidence can identify effective strategies to address the tremendous health challenges we face locally and globally. This certificate gives students the skills to be leaders in developing a new evidence-based public health.”

Health Policy and Law

“This is an incredibly exciting time to study health policy and law, as health reform is one of the most important issues in elections and legislative agendas. Health policy and law is at the heart of everything public health aspires to do, how the structural forces that have created inequities are changed.”

 

 

 

 

Health Communication and Promotion

“Our work in public health to encourage healthy behaviors, change social norms, and promote evidence-based programs and policies depends on our ability to communicate effectively with diverse audiences. Students who complete the certificate will have a marketable credential that will qualify them to work in a variety of organizations and agencies that communicate public health information, implement communications-based programs, market health-related services and products, and advocate for public health policy.”

Healthcare Management (CAHME accredited)

“The CAHME-accredited Healthcare Management program at BUSPH offers a very hands-on model of education that provides students with skills they can use to launch successful careers in healthcare leadership positions. Our program is unique in its presentation of coursework and approaches to problem solving as it views the delivery of healthcare through the lens of communities and populations, rather than focusing only on the organizations that provide medical care. Our graduates are landing great jobs in some of the nation’s best health care organizations, consulting firms, and health insurance companies and are changing the lives of patients every day.  It is no wonder that our program has recently been recognized by U.S. News and World Report as the highest ranked program in New England – a distinction we carry very proudly!”

Program Management

“Managing programs and projects is a central activity in public health. In the PM certificate, students will gain key skills to help them implement important programs in a variety of settings, thus playing a vital role in bringing health-improving interventions to populations who need them.”

 

 

 

Context Area Certificates

Chronic and Non-Communicable Diseases

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global Health

“Global health is public health. Global health is local health. We have achieved dramatic reductions in preventable Illness, injury, and death around the world over the last 50 years, but there is still much to do. Pregnant women should not die from postpartum hemorrhage. HIV-positive parents can have healthy HIV-negative children and live to watch them grow up. People living with addiction in Boston should not be dying from overdoses. Everyone at BUSPH has a part to play.”

Human Rights and Social Justice

“Social justice is the heart of public health, and human rights its soul.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Infectious Diseases

“Infectious diseases pose a broad range of public health issues that vary tremendously as to the context in which they occur. Reflecting this complexity, the Infectious Disease certificate offers you a wide selection of courses and practical experiences that build on skills learned in various functional certificates. Faculty members with diverse infectious disease interests, expertise, and experience, are eager to teach, advise, and mentor you. Our goal is to help you identify which of the many infectious disease-related public health careers best suits your personal interests and skills, and provide you with the tools and guidance necessary to successfully pursue that career.

Maternal and Child Health

“I’m thrilled that the Maternal and Child Health certificate at SPH comes with all kinds of special opportunities, including a Diversity Scholars Program for students from under-represented backgrounds and Fellowships that are all about hands-on, mentored experience on faculty research or community-based practice teams offered through our Maternal and Child Health Center of Excellence at SPH. The Maternal and Child Health certificate program welcomes you whether you have your eyes set on a career dedicated to women and children’s health in the US, internationally, or both.” —Lois McCloskey

 

“Did you know that the Maternal and Child Health certificate will teach you to become an informed consumer of scientific literature on the health of women and their children? Knowing how to critically review research findings and determine their significance to practice will help ensure your success in this rich and diverse field.” —Ann Aschengrau

Mental Health and Substance Use

“With mental illness and substance use disorders on the rise  and accounting for a substantial proportion of mortality and disability worldwide, public health professionals who understand how mental illness and unhealthy substance use disorders develop, are manifested, and treated will be at the forefront of a vitally important area of population-based public health. The Mental Health and Substance Use certificate offers skills in assessing, preventing, and reducing mental illness and unhealthy substance use, and in promoting mental health and wellness.”

Pharmaceuticals Development, Delivery, and Access

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sex, Sexuality, and Gender

“Gender, sexuality and sexual and reproductive health and rights are essential to the wellbeing of individuals and communities around the world. Yet, not a day goes by when these issues and rights go uncontested, when discrimination on the basis of gender, sexuality, sexual orientation and sexual identity is not prominent in public policy, law, the news media and in our daily lives. The Sex, Sexuality and Gender certificate offers students the opportunity to analyze and address pressing health problems through rights-based approaches and behavioral and social science theory and methods.”