To effectively address public health policy problems and influence policymakers, students emerging from the JD/MPH program will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to navigate the complex relationship between legal and health care delivery systems.

Students are able to complete the majority of the MPH online with the option of taking electives inperson at the Public Health Institute during the May session (3 weeks) .  Public Health Institute courses are taught in the concentrated format and the topics tend to be more applied and practice based.  Other electives courses are taught during online and inperson during the academic year: Fall and Spring.  Allowing students the flexibility they prefer.

Students enrolled Fall 2018 or later

The School of Public Health has revised its curriculum across programs and divisions to meet the new guidelines issued by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). Students who enroll in Fall 2018 or later will meet the following revised curriculum:

PUBLIC HEALTH CORE REQUIREMENTS (16 credits)
The basic curriculum courses are offered online and on-campus:

• PubH 6414 Biostatistical Literacy (3 cr)    Develop ability to read/interpret statistical results in primary literature. Minimal calculation. No formal training in any statistical programming software.
  Biostatistical Literacy will cover the fundamental concepts of study design, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, odds ratios, relative risks, adjusted models in multiple linear, logistic and Poisson regression, and survival analysis. The focus will be when to use a given method and how to interpret the results, not the actual computation or computer programming to obtain results from raw data.
  and a 1 cr statistical programming course**)
•  OR
• PubH 6450 Biostatistics I (4 cr)  Descriptive statistics. Gaussian probability models, point/interval estimation for means/proportions. Hypothesis testing, including t, chi-square, and nonparametric tests. Simple regression/correlation. ANOVA. Health science applications using output from statistical packages.
• PubH 6320 Fundamentals of Epidemiology (3 cr)  This course provides an understanding of basic methods and tools used by epidemiologists to study the health of populations.
• OR
• PubH 6341 Epidemiologic Methods I (3cr)  Introduction to epidemiologic concepts and methods: (1) Study design (randomized trials and observational studies); (2) Measures of exposure-disease association; (3) Casual inference and bias; (4) Confounding and effect modification.
• PubH 6250 Foundations of Public Health (2 cr)  In this course we will examine values, contexts, principles, and frameworks of public health. We will provide an introduction to public health, consider the history of public health, social/political determinants, impact of health disparities on race, class and gender, moral and legal foundations, public health structures, historical trauma and cultural competence, health and human rights, advocacy and health equity, communication and financing, and the future of public health in the 21st century.  Grounded in theory and concepts, we will incorporate core competencies and skills for public health professionals and will focus on developing problem solving and decision-making skills through critical analysis, reflection, case studies, readings, and paper assignments.
• PubH 6020 Fundamentals of Social and Behavioral Science (2 cr)  Four major approaches to public health problems: psychosocial, economic, community, policy. Theory, implementation. Small groups practice skills.
• PubH 6102 Issues in Environmental & Occupational Health (2 cr) Current issues, principles, and methods of environmental/occupational health practice.
• PubH 6741 Ethics in Pub Hlth: Professional Practice & Policy (1 cr)  Introduction to ethical issues in public health practice/policy. Ethical analysis, recognizing/analyzing moral issues
• PubH 6751 Principles of Management in Health Services (2 cr)  Understanding of and improvement in the competencies of managers in organizations, particularly as applied to health services and public health organizations.

** If you take PubH 6414, you will also need to take a programming course. The options are:

• PubH 6107 Excel and Access in PH Settings (1 cr)
• PubH 6325 Data Processing PC-SAS (1 cr)
• PubH 6420 Intro to SAS Programming (1 cr)
• PubH 6470 SAS Procedures and Data Analysis (3 cr)
• PubH 6617 Practical Methods for Secondary Data Analysis (3 cr)
• PubH 6755 Planning and Budgeting in Public Health (2 cr)
• PubH 6813 Managing Electronic Health Information (2 cr)
• PubH 7200 Fundamentals Exploring and Visualizing Data in R (1 cr)
• PubH 7461 Exploring and Visualizing Data in R (2 cr)

ELECTIVE COURSES (18 – 24 cr)
As a student in the MPH JD/MPH you can choose your graduate elective courses based on your career goals and areas of interests in public health. Electives courses are available at the Public Health Institute and at the School of Public Health during the Fall and Spring academic year.

The majority of JD/MPH students complete elective courses at the Public Health Institute (PHI), which is a 3 week session offered in the last week in May and first weeks in June.

Public Health Institute offers on-campus courses on a variety of current topics in a concentrated format. PHI provides course content that emphasizes research to practice with opportunity for field trips, case studies and simulations. It provides a perfect setting to network with other professionals and explore new areas of interest in public health.

Sample of course titles: Globalization & Health; Public Health Law; Motivational Interviewing: Strategies to Effect Behavioral Change. Over thirty courses are offered over the 3 weeks.

You may attend one to three weeks dependent upon your time and you can complete up to 1 – 7 credits at the PHI. Other elective courses are offered online and oncampus during the fall and spring terms.

APPLIED PRACTICE EXPERIENCE (1-4 credits)

The Applied Practice Experience is a hands-on opportunity to implement your public health knowledge and skills in a real-world setting with the goal of demonstrating attainment of at least 5 public health competencies by producing two products.

Since LAW students usually complete many hours of experience learning, JD/MPH dual degree students usually find a law experience that pertains to public health, so it can count as the MPH applied practice experience and transfer to the MPH, with our approval.

INTEGRATED LEARNING EXPERIENCE  (1-4 credits)

The integrated learning experience is a highly quality written paper that demonstrated your proficiency with the written word and is appropriate for your educational and professional objectives. The paper must address at least 3 public health competencies.

Many LAW programs require a scholarly paper and if it can incorporate a public health perspective and MPH competencies, it may qualify to meet the MPH integrated learning experience, with approval.

PHP and MPH FDT Competencies (PDF)

2018-2019 JD/MPH Curriculum Information (PDF)

2018–2019 Dual and Executive Programs in Public Health Practice Student Guidebook (PDF)

2018–2019 SPH-wide Guidebook (PDF)

Students enrolled prior to Fall 2018

Students who enrolled prior to Fall 2018 should follow the requirements that were in place at the time. Please refer to curriculum information in the student guidebook according to the year of your enrollment.

SPH Student Guidebooks Archive

Contact Kate Hanson at hanso041@umn.edu should you have any questions.