Course Descriptions

MPH 600: Introduction to Public Health (1 credit hour)

This course provides an introduction to the multidisciplinary field of public health. Students will learn the history, core functions, and roles of the U.S. public health system through grounding in the 12 foundational public health knowledge areas.

MPH 611: Social and Behavioral Sciences for Public Health (3 credit hours)

This course reviews and critiques psychological, social, and cultural concepts/models relevant to health and disease in society. Students will learn how to select and apply appropriate social and behavioral models to the design of public health interventions and policies. Existing social inequalities in health status related to race, social class, and gender will be explored, as will the intersection between risk factors and public health interventions. Students will be assessed using project papers and group presentations.

MPH 612: Statistical Reasoning for Public Health (3 credit hours)

This course introduces basic concepts in statistical reasoning and fundamental methods in statistical analysis. Although formulae and computational elements will be incorporated into the lecture, the course is designed to teach students how to use statistical reasoning to make informed decisions from a given set of data. This process includes reviewing data, exploring all the underlying assumptions, summarizing and analyzing the data, and finally composing a statistical report. In many circumstances, the lectures will focus on the decision process before the actual analysis is conducted. Students will be performing statistical analysis on real data with the help of software.

MPH 613: Principles of Environmental Health Science (3 credit hours)

This course provides an introduction to 21^st century environmental health science, including coverage of some of the traditional environmental factors affecting the health of individuals and communities in the region, the nation, and around the world. Students will become familiar with a broad range of contemporary and emerging environmental health challenges and issues, including vector borne diseases, disaster and emergency preparedness and response, climate change, indoor and outdoor air quality threats, food safety and foodborne illness, policy and regulation, radiation safety and health, environmental justice, cultural competence and vulnerable populations, and  environmental risk communication. Students will be assessed using quizzes, case studies, and exams.

MPH 614: Principles of Epidemiology (3 credit hours)

This course is a basic introduction of the principles and methods of epidemiology, one of the foundational disciplines underlying public health. Factors influencing health and disease will be elucidated by definitions, logic, and the use of the epidemiologic method. The course emphasizes how to measure and describe the health of populations, the natural history of diseases in population groups, standardization of rates, sources of data, study designs, measurements of risk, and evaluation of screening tests, causal inferences and outbreak investigation. This course includes lectures, case studies, journal article readings, and individual and group assignments.

MPH 620: Public Health Administration and Management (3 credit hours)

An introduction to the understanding of the structure and functions of the American healthcare system, public health practice in the United States and basic managerial responsibilities. Emphasis is on management tasks and styles, structure and trends in the healthcare system, legal and regulatory framework for public health, organizational and community assessment, public health settings and services. This course consists of class discussions, case studies, and critical analysis papers.

MPH 779: Introduction to Research Methods (3 credit hours)

The goal of this course is to provide practical, step-by-step guidance to the research process. Public health professionals require skills to identify problems that face population groups, and to delineate ways to solve them. Often this necessitates conducting small- or large-scale investigations on their own, or as a member of a project team. Each student will develop a unique research design proposal through individual and group written exercises using a variety of study design models. 

MPH 750: Community Practicum (3 credit hours)

The purpose of the Community Practicum is to provide an opportunity for the student to apply, in a practice setting and under the direction of a Preceptor, the competencies, knowledge and skills they have acquired through their public health course work. Individual projects related to actual public health issues being addressed by the organization are developed and implemented throughout the term. Students integrate and synthesize knowledge and skills learned in the Program throughout the course, and provide deliverables to the organization that are used to advance the project.  Students are assessed through monthly progress reports, a Community Practicum portfolio, and a Preceptor evaluation.

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Applied Data Science Track

MPH 701: Introduction to Healthcare Analytics (3 credit hours)

This course provides basic skills and knowledge of healthcare analytics for graduate students in healthcare delivery science, healthcare analytics, and healthcare related disciplines. The course emphasizes the roles of analytics in supporting data driven decisions and understanding basic technology of data analytics. Topics to be covered include characteristics of healthcare data, healthcare data sources, data management, data governance, and data analysis. Students will study the architectural design and component functionality of healthcare analytics, together with basic statistical methods applied to address questions concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare delivery. The course also explores the concept of big data analytics, the utilization of large volumes of medical data outside the traditional health informatics and analytics projects. Topics such as big data architectural framework, advanced tools and methodology applied in big data analytics, distributed data network, data acquisition, and data privacy will be examined.

MPH 703 - Programming Tools and Techniques in Data Management (3 credit hours)

This course is designed to train students in basic and advanced statistical programming languages R, SAS, and SQL together with techniques and tools necessary for data management and data mining. It will provide you with the skills in the data management process for analytics including data acquisition, cleaning, debugging, and decision making tools through case studies and projects.

MPH 704 - Predictive Data Analysis (3 credit hours)

Healthcare data in multiple formats were collected daily for the ultimate purpose of better patient care and reducing cost. The volume and variety of data accumulated in the healthcare industry call for effective analytics tools that can extract insightful information from the data to leverage business and medical decisions. Predictive analytics involves the processes of developing statistical models to predict outcomes from future data by building validated mathematical relationships between variables from existing data. (Prerequisites: MPH 701, MPH 703) 

This course introduces the techniques of predictive analytics in the context of a healthcare environment. The aim is to provide students with the highly demanded skills in data analytics and data mining by training them on how to move from data collection to data analysis and how to use data as the basis to predict future outcomes. Topics to be covered include formulating a hypothesis, examining data structure, selecting data, determining and designing appropriate statistical models, evaluating the models and interpreting the results.

MPH 705 - Data Mining and Machine Learning (3 credit hours)

This course covers healthcare analytics using data mining and machine learning techniques. Statistical software, R, will be implemented for data exploration and visualization, classification, clustering and time series analysis.

Decision trees, nearest neighbor algorithm, artificial neural networks and support vector machine methods will be introduced. Case studies and real-world data will be utilized to leverage data mining and machine learning outcomes. (Prerequisites: MPH 701, MPH 704) 

MPH 706 - Categorical Data Analysis (3 credit hours)

This course is designed to prepare the graduate students, health professionals, or fellows to apply statistical methods for analyzing categorical data relevant to healthcare analytics and public health research. The topics to be covered in this course include statistical models (e.g., logistic regression models and loglinear models) for categorical responses. Another emphasis of this course is to demonstrate the statistical methods of categorical data analysis based on real-world data using R and SAS software packages. (ADS Track Prerequisites: MPH 701, MPH 703); (EPI Track Prerequisites: MPH 612, MPH 630)  

MPH 707 - Survival Analysis (3 credit hours)

This course is designed to prepare the graduate students, health professionals, or fellows to apply basic methods of statistical analysis for survival (a.k.a. time-to-event) data relevant to clinical and public health research. The major topics to be covered include the Kaplan-Meier product-limit estimation, log-rank and related tests, the Cox regression model, parametric model, power and sample size justification, competing risk analysis, and recurrent event analysis. Interpretation of subsequent analysis results will be stressed. Concepts will be explored through critical review of the biomedical and public health literature, class exercises, two exams, and a data analysis project. Computations will be illustrated using the statistical software package SAS

The course is intended for graduate students and health professionals who will be actively involved in the analysis and interpretation of biomedical research or public health studies generating time-to-event data. (ADS Track Prerequisites: MPH 701, MPH 703);  (EPI Track Prerequisites: MPH 612, MPH 630)  

MPH 627—Data Visualization (3 credit hours)

Data visualization is the act of taking information (data) and placing it into a visual context such as a map or a graph. Healthcare data in multiple formats are collected daily for the ultimate purpose of better patient care and reducing cost. The volume and variety of data accumulated in the healthcare industry call for effective analytics tools that can extract insightful information from data and use that to leverage business and medical decisions. Data visualization makes it easier for the human brain to understand big or small data and place meaning into complicated datasets so that their message is more concise. Visualization also makes it easier for users to detect patterns, trends, and outliers in groups of data.

This course introduces the techniques of data visualization using different data analytics tools, R, SAS and Tableau. This course is intended to be a step-by-step introduction to the world of visual analytics and is designed for the beginner and intermediate users of data visualization. The course will help students to understand and apply important concepts and techniques in data visualization, moving from simple to complex situations and then combine them in interactive dashboards. Topics to be covered include data connection, different graphs and charts, quick table calculations, designing interactive dashboards, mapping, unions and joins. The course contents will focus on visualization techniques and their applications, not on the mathematical theories behind these techniques. (Prerequisite: MPH 612) 

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Epidemiology Track

Learn more about the Epidemiology track.

MPH 630: Statistical Software for Public Health (3 credit hours)

This course is a collection of modules that introduce students to selected statistical software that are used widely in many areas of public health and research.  The course will familiarize students with the primary features of statistical software, as well as database management, basic programming skills and tools, and some simple statistical procedures. (Prerequisites: MPH 612, MPH 614) 

MPH 702: Biostatistics II (3 credit hours)

This course is a continuation of MPH 612: Statistical Reasoning for Public Health. This course is designed to train students on regression methods commonly employed in healthcare research. The primary objective of the course is to provide students with the skills necessary to carry out regression analysis and interpret them. The course emphasizes basic and advanced treatment of experimental data and use of analytical frameworks to solve real world problems. While there are some theory and formula derivations, the lectures and homework will focus on more technical aspects and conceptual understanding of fundamental statistical models. SAS will be used to manipulate data into an analyzable form, fit regression models, and perform model diagnostics. (Prerequisites: MPH 630)

MPH 711: Epidemiologic Methods I (3 credit hours)

The focus of the course is on an in-depth understanding of epidemiologic concepts and methods learned in a previous introductory course.  Including: study designs, measures of disease frequency, measures of association and impact, the role of chance, threats to validity (selection bias, information bias, confounding, interaction), dealing with threats to validity (randomization, restriction, matching, stratification, adjustment, regression, quality assurance and quality control), communicating and disseminating information that pertains to epidemiologic investigations. Students will apply learned concepts and methods through in class exercises, problem sets, and projects. (Prerequisites: MPH 612, MPH 614, MPH 779)

MPH 718: Epidemiologic Methods II (3 credit hours)

This course provides an intermediate discussion of public health surveillance and an introduction of survival analysis approaches. Key content will include a review of the updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems, information systems, types of surveillance, and special topics in surveillance [e.g., syndromic surveillance, geographic information systems (GIS), and global health surveillance systems]. Additional topics using SAS will include nonparametric survival function estimation, estimating parametric regression and Cox regression models, and competing risks. Individual and group learning activities include journal reviews and syntheses, case studies, SAS dataset analyses and reports, and a comprehensive final exam. (Prerequisites: MPH 612, MPH 614, MPH 630, MPH 711)

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Health Management & Policy Track

Learn more about the Health Management & Policy track.

MPH 721: Healthcare Strategy (3 credit hours)

This course is designed to help students learn about essential aspects of strategic planning and strategic management in the context of healthcare service organizations.  Students will acquire an enhanced understanding of the complex U.S. healthcare system, apply planning concepts to formulate mission and vision statements, and formulate goals and objectives as part of a strategic plan.  The course content will also address aspects of organizational leadership, along with the importance of implementation and monitoring progress to achieve continuous quality improvement and to “close the loop” with strategic planning initiatives.

MPH 723: Policy & Politics of Health (3 credit hours)

This course explores the development, implementation, and evaluation of health policies in the United States, including those that address the organization, financing, provision, and evaluation of both personal and public health services. The long-term trend toward a more expansive role for governmental institutions and the media and the differential impact of economic, cultural and social factors, interest groups, social disparities, and public opinion will be addressed, and students will develop an understanding of the policy process and of the most common approach to policy analysis. Student learning will be assessed through a policy paper, student-led seminar, and group discussions.

MPH 727: Organizational Management (3 credit hours)

This course examines organizational management and behavior as related to leadership, organizational design, culture, processes, workforce strategy and change management with an emphasis on the application of theory and research to organizational management and behavior. This course provides an opportunity to explore conceptual frameworks addressing organizational behavior, development, leadership, strategy, and management of change.

MPH 733: Financing Healthcare (3 credit hours)

Today’s health care environment requires managers who are trained to identify financial problems and to apply solutions to those problems. This course introduces the fundamentals of healthcare finance as practiced in health services organizations. Students learn the essential concepts of healthcare finance, with emphasis on operations in provider organizations, in such a way that they are better prepared for managerial positions within healthcare organizations. Student learning is assessed through quizzes, exams, and case studies.

MPH 736: Conflict Analysis & Negotiations (3 credit hours)

This course will provide students with advanced knowledge and skills in the theory of conflict analysis and resolution and negotiations, including but not necessarily limited to:
1. Skill development and collaborative problem solving at the individual, group, and organizational level.
2. Conceptual and practical skills in negotiation that are essential for managers.
3. Third-party conflict intervention, which can assume several forms such as fact-finding, conciliation, mediation, and arbitration.

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Electives

MPH 626: Effective Information Technology for Health Care Organizations (3 credits / Spring Semester)

This course provided the key concepts related to information technology within healthcare organizations.  Students will learn how information technology is used as a tool to improve performance within health care organizations for positive health outcomes.  Topic arears include the electronic health record, HIPAA and security requirements, ethics and legal rules for retrieving and managing clinical data, computerized provider order entry and the use of administrative and registry data for standard reports.

MPH 627: Data Visualization (3 credit hours / Spring Semester)

This course is intended to be a step-by-step introduction to the world of visual analytics and is designed for the beginner and intermediate uses of data visualization.  The course will help students to understand and apply important concepts and techniques in data visualization, moving from simple to complex situations and the combine them in interactive dashboards. Topics to be covered include data connection, different graphs and charts, quick table calculations, designing interactive dashboards, mapping, unions and joints.

MPH 631: Leveraging Data for Evidence Based Decision Making (3 credit hours / Spring Semester)

The utilization of data in decision-making is essential in healthcare delivery. Data can be used to evaluate the quality of care delivery, program effectiveness, health economics and more. This course provides an introduction to the use of data and how to transform analysis results into evidence driven decisions. Students will also learn how to apply and integrate these concepts into health-related scenarios and gain fundamental skills in data-driven decision-making for healthcare leaders.

MPH 772: International Health Exchange Program (3 credit hours / Fall Semester)

This course exposes students to important issues in international public health and is unique in that it involves the analysis of health problems in the broad social, cultural, economic and political contexts that generate and sustain them.

MPH 632: Health Law and Ethics (3 credit hours / Spring Semester)

This course examines legal, regulatory and ethical issues health professionals are likely to confront. In this course, we will examine the legal principles needed to analyze regulatory and liability issues. We will study selected principles and policies under-girding health, the American system of health law, including common law principles of liability and federal/state legislation regulating health professionals and operations. We will also discuss the impact of state and federal law on the operation of various health-related organizations.

MPH 690: Leadership: Theories, Skills and Applications (3 credit hours / Fall Semester)

The emphasis of this course is on the practice of leadership. The course will equip the student with the basic managerial background, fundamentals and theories which will be applicable at any level in management and in leadership positions. Students will be exposed to the interaction of leadership, change, communication and power as seen in the healthcare environment. This course will examine the traits of leading, developing leadership skill, creating a vision, managing conflicts and obstacles in an organization.

MPH 715: Current Issues in Epidemiology (3 credit hours / Fall Semester)

Discussions with experts experienced in the diverse applications of epidemiology in current research and practice. Emphasis on emerging infectious diseases, environmental and occupational health, chronic diseases and community intervention trials. Lectures, discussions, class presentations and development of research project.

MPH 737: Infectious & Chronic Disease Epidemiology (3 credit hours / Spring Semester)

This course focuses on substantive areas in epidemiology with an emphasis on infectious disease epidemiology and chronic disease epidemiology. The course will also include projects focused on field epidemiology, with an emphasis on public health surveillance and outbreak investigation. These topics are important for epidemiologists and other health professionals in public health practice. 

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