Rutgers School of Public Health

Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology (45 credits)

Epidemiology is one of the fundamental skills for public health, clinical practice and research. The MPH degree in Epidemiology equips students to design, conduct, analyze, and interpret population health research, while learning the basic principles of all public health disciplines. Upon completion of the MPH degree in Epidemiology, students will be able to: critique epidemiologic literature; use epidemiologic techniques to quantitatively assess patterns and changes in disease occurrence; formulate a hypothesis and determine an appropriate study design and analysis plan; design, implement, and assess ordinary data collection systems for public health research; design and implement quality control methods during data entry and analysis, analyze and interpret epidemiologic data, including national datasets; and present study findings to professional audiences.

Competencies

Competencies for the Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology (45 credits)

Each Department identifies competencies for each degree offered. These competencies reflect the full range of knowledge, skills, and other attributes that a student will acquire as a result of completing the requirements for a particular degree.

Upon graduation, a student completing the MPH curriculum in Epidemiology will be able to:

Critique epidemiologic literature, assess its strengths and weaknesses, and determine if conclusion(s) are supported
Use epidemiologic techniques to quantitatively assess patterns and changes in disease occurrence
Formulate a specific hypothesis and determine an appropriate study design and analysis plan
Design, implement, and assess ordinary data collection systems for public health research
Design and implement basic quality control methods during data entry and analysis
Appropriately analyze and interpret epidemiologic data, including large national and state level datasets
Communicate and present study findings to professional audiences

Curriculum

Curriculum for the Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology (45 credits)

Students seeking the MPH in Epidemiology degree must complete 45 credits of academic work with a minimum GPA of least 3.0; earn no more than nine (9) credits bearing grades less than “B,” and complete the degree requirements within six years. Courses are three credit hours unless otherwise noted.

CORE COURSES (15-18 credits)
- PHCO 0501 - Health Systems and Policy
- PHCO 0502 - Principles and Methods of Epidemiology (Prerequisite: Quantitative Skills Assessment)
- PHCO 0503 - Introduction to Environmental Health
- PHCO 0504 - Introduction to Biostatistics (Prerequisite: Quantitative Skills Assessment)
- PHCO 0505 - Social and Behavioral Health Sciences in Public Health
- PHCO 0513 - Public Health Essentials (required for students enrolled Fall 2018 and after)
FIELDWORK (6 credits) -- For Students Enrolled Prior to Fall 2016
- FDWC 0600 - Fieldwork I (1 credit)
- FDWC 0601 - Fieldwork II (5 credits)
PRACTICUM (6 credits) -- For Students Enrolled Fall 2016 through Spring 2018
- PRAC 0705 - Practicum I (1 credit)
- PRAC 0707 - Practicum IIA (2 credits)
- PRAC 0709 - Practicum IIB (3 credits)
PRACTICUM (3 credits) -- For Students Enrolled Fall 2018 and After
- PRAC 0715 - Applied Practice Experience (0 credits)
- PRAC 0716 - Practicum Capstone (3 credits)
REQUIRED COURSES (15 credits) Note: Students should review the Course Descriptions in the School Catalog for specific information about prerequisites required for required courses and recommended electives. Semesters when the required courses will be offered are noted for your course planning.
- EPID 0656 - Intermediate Epidemiologic Research Methods (Spring)
- EPID 0657 - Applied Methods in Epidemiologic Research (Fall)
- BIST 0535 - Biostatistical Computing (formerly Biometrics Computing)(Fall/Spring)
- BIST 0551 - Applied Regression Analysis for Public Health Studies (Fall/Spring)

-also-

Choose one of the following six (these classes can also be used as electives):
- EPID 0563 - Introduction to Outcomes Research (Fall) -or-
- EPID 0601 - Cancer Epidemiology (Summer) -or-
- EPID 0621 - Survey Research in Epidemiology (Fall) -or-
- EPID 0650 - Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology (Spring) -or-
- EPID 0652 - Epidemiology of Chronic Disease (Fall) -or-
- EPID 0673 - Social Epidemiology (Spring)
OTHER REQUIREMENTS (0 credits) -- For Students Enrolled Fall 2018 and After
- Students are required to complete an Interprofessional Education activity prior to graduation (0 credits)
RECOMMENDED ELECTIVE COURSES (9 credits)
- BIST 0615 - Categorical Data Analysis (Fall)
- BIST 0627 – Applied Survival Data Analysis (formerly BIST 0616 - Lifetime Data Analysis)(Fall)
- BIST 0650 - Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis (Spring)
- BIST 0660 - Clinical Trials: Design and Analysis of Medical Experiments (Spring)
- BIST 0688 - Statistical Methods in Genetics (Spring)
- EPID 0552 - Infectious Disease Epidemiology (Spring)
- EPID 0569 - GIS for Public Health and Epidemiology
- EPID 0591 - Topics in Comparative Effectiveness Research in Health Care (Spring)
- EPID 0607 - Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology (Fall)
- EPID 0653 - Advanced Epidemiology Research Methods (Fall)
- EPID 0672 - Pharmacoepidemiology & Therapeutic Risk Management
- HSAP 0617 - Health Services Research and Evaluation (Fall)
- SBHS 0705 - Intermediate Survey Methods (Spring)

Dual Degrees