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Master of Public Health

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Courses

All students are required to complete a set of core courses. The program supports flexible plans of study to address the needs of students pursuing complementary degrees and those who are already in the workforce as practicing professionals. Courses are delivered in-classroom and/or through synchronous or asynchronous distance education modes.

Core Courses 

Core courses consist of 18 credits of core curriculum course work, a 6 credit field practicum experience, and in the semester prior to graduation - a 3 credit capstone course. (27 total credits)
Course Title
Credit Hours
Term(s) Offered
Description
PHS 5004: Fundamentals of Public Health3Fall, Summer ITheory, concepts, and practices related to public health; five major topics of public health including health services, epidemiology, social/behavioral science, environmental health and biostatistics; special emphasis placed on history of public health, biomedical basis for public health intervention, public health ethics.  Instruction Type(s): Lecture
PHS 5014: Environmental Health3SpringExploration of major environmental health concepts and issues, environmental policies and regulations. Topics include world population and pressures on the environment, healthy environment; environmental determinants of public health, including biological, physical and chemical factors; disease vectors and their control; air and water quality; waste management; the built environment, work environments and recreational area; food protection and safety; occupational health; tools for environmental evaluation, planning and safety. Instruction Type(s): Lecture
PHS 5024: Epidemiology3SpringStudy of determinants (i.e. host, agent and environmental factors) and dynamics (i.e. temporal and spatial distributions and progression) of health in communities and populations, for the design and implementation of interventions that protect, maintain, and /or restore health, well-being and productivity in individuals and populations.Instruction Type(s): Lecture
PHS 5034: Health Behavior and Health Education3FallSocial and behavioral theory in public health.  Topics include individual health behavior theories; social, cultural, and environmental theories which form the underpinnings of health education practice; ecological perspectives; and health communication.  Instruction Type(s): Online
PHS 5044: Public Health Administration3Spring, Summer IRelevant and timely public health administration concepts. Major topics covered include: health policy, health planning, health economics, health law, and managerial functions as they relate to public health agencies. Instruction Type(s): Lecture, Online
PHS 5914: Practicum in Public Health3Fall, Spring, SummerPublic health theories and concepts in a work setting; comprehensive, structured experience requires student to demonstrate professional competencies while working closely with a supervisor in a public health practice setting. Instruction Type(s): Community health agency immersion (internship) experience.
PHS 5924: Capstone in Public Health3Spring, Summer IISynthesis of coursework and practicum experience into a final comprehensive product which demonstrates proficiency of the MPH competencies; integrates knowledge and skills acquired in all core classes, specific MPH concentration courses and practicum experience; tests student's ability to effectively analyze a public health problem and develop an intervention toward a solution to the problem. Instruction Type(s): Lecture, Guided work
STAT 5674: Methods in Biostatistics3Summer II, FallStatistical principles and methods required for effective clinical trial and clinical experiment design and analysis. Topics include graphical and numerical exploratory data analysis, and comparative tests of categorical, ordinal, and continuous data, simple, multiple linear and logistic regression analysis, design of experiments and sampling theory. Additional topics include diagnostic tests, relative risk, odd ratio, and estimation of effective dose. Students will learn to properly interpret output from statistical software.  Instruction Type(s): Lecture

Concentration Courses

Public Health Education (PHE) concentration - 12 credits

PHS 5204: Principles of Community Health Education3FallExamination of the principles that ground community health education.  Topics include history of health and health education, philosophical foundations, theoretical foundations, ethics and health education, health educator roles and responsibilities, settings for health education, agencies associated with health education, the literature of health education, and future trends in health education. Instruction Type(s): Lecture, Online
PHS 5214: Program Development in Health   Education3SpringTheoretical and practice aspects of planning, implementing, and evaluating health education programs. Topics include models used in health education program planning, the planning process, assessing needs, development of mission, goals, and objectives, development of interventions, community organizing, allocation of resources, marketing, and program evaluation. Instruction Type(s): Lecture, Online
PHS 5984: SS Public Heath Program  Evaluation3FallMajor concepts, methods, and issues involved in evaluating public health programs.  Topics include development of evaluation questions, collection of evaluation data, types of program evaluation (process, formative, impact, outcome), cost-effectiveness analysis, and dissemination of evaluation results.  Instruction Type(s): Lecture, Online
*AFST 5354: TS Health Disparities3FallView department website for course information
*SOC 6524: Sociology of Health3Beginning Spring 2013View department website for course information
*Student may select either AFST 5354 or SOC 6524. If student chooses to enroll in both, the second course may be applied toward fulfilling their elective requirements.

 

Infectious Disease (ID) concentration - 12 credits

PHS 5984 SS:  Principles of Infectious Diseases3FallSurvey of basic principles of infectious diseases important in local, national, and global public health.  This course covers bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic pathogens and the mechanisms by which they cause disease, as well as the host's immune response to those pathogens.  

 

 

PHS 5304: Zoonoses and Infectious Diseases Common to Humans and Animals

 

 

3

 

 

Fall

Epidemiology of bacterioses, mycoses, chlamydioses, rickettsioses, parasitoses, viroses and prion diseases that are transmissible between animals and humans and / or are acquired by animals and humans from the same source and that have great impact on public health. Cultural, social and economic factors and impacts; modes of inter- and intra-species transmission including roles of vectors and environmental factors; concepts of emergence and re-emergence; pathogenesis in various hosts and host adaptation; temporal and spatial dynamics, and risk factors for exposure, infection and expression of clinical disease; modes of detection, control / mitigation and prevention; biosecurity, including food safety and security.  Instruction Type(s): Lecture
PHS 5314: Infectious Disease Epidemiology3FallDynamics and determinants of infectious diseases and their assessment on the molecular to population continuum in a systems based approach. Infectious disease transmission mechanisms; population susceptibilities; environmental, social, cultural and economic contributors to infectious disease propagation; detection and surveillance; geographic information systems; epidemiologic study design; and infectious disease modeling.  Instruction Type(s): Lecture
PHS 5324: Public Health Infection Control and Prevention3FallAssessment, policies, and procedures for control and prevention of infectious diseases in communities and populations. Source, transmission mode, and local community to international dissemination of infectious disease agents; antimicrobial and chemical resistance; vaccine development, safety, and coverage; community and hospital based needs and interventions; and regulatory frameworks. Instruction Type(s): Lecture

Public Health Electives

Students may choose 3 credit hours from the list available from the Program Coordinator (phs@vt.edu) or alternatively select concentration specific Virginia Tech electives in consultation with their degree advisor and course leaders.