MPH in Health Policy and Management

About the Program

IN-PERSON, FULLY ONLINE  FULL-TIME, PART-TIME  
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE

The MPH in Health Policy and Management prepares students to plan and manage public health programs in a variety of urban settings, analyze the impact of health and non-health policies on population health, and advocate for policies that promote the health of populations. The program emphasizes intersectoral approaches to policy and management in urban settings and the economic dimensions of health policy.

For students who began matriculating in Spring 2019 or earlier, please review the previous curriculum for the MPH in Health Policy and Management here.

Connect with our Admissions Team!

Is this degree right for you?

This program for public health advocates who want to learn to plan and manage public health programs in diverse urban settings at the intersection of social justice and law.

What will you learn?

Students will examine the economic dimensions of health policy through a social justice lens and advocate for transformative health policies that strengthen population health through effective program design and execution.

 

Where to after graduation?

Graduates work in health and other settings as managers, analysts and policy advocates that promote the health of populations through transformative policy research, design and advocacy.

Admissions Information

Admissions Requirements

  • Completed SOPHAS application
  • Undergraduate degree from an accredited university with GPA (overall and major) of at least 3.0 preferred.
  • Personal statement/statement of purpose (recommended length is 500 words)
  • Background in the field: paid or volunteer experience in public health or related field
  • Resume
  • 2 Letters of recommendation
  • TOEFL scores are required if language of instruction for prior degrees was not English
  • Transcript evaluation from WES or ECE for foreign transcripts.
  • Preferred but not required: three undergraduate courses (9 credits) in one or more of the following disciplines: Economics, Accounting, Business Administration, Public Policy, Urban Affairs, Political Science, Management or Sociology.

Application Deadline

  • Fall 2024: April 1, 2024 (April 1, 2024 for international students seeking an F-1 student visa)
Curriculum icon

Curriculum

For students who began matriculating in Spring 2019 or earlier, please review the previous curriculum for the MPH in Health Policy and Management here.

Foundational Knowledge (0 credits) PUBH 601 Foundations of Public Health Knowledge*
Core Coursework (15 credits) PUBH 610 Public Health Leadership & Management
PUBH 611 Health Equity, Communication, and Advocacy
PUBH 612 Designing and Evaluating Public Health Interventions
PUBH 613 Designs, Concepts, and Methods in Public Health Research
PUBH 614 Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analysis Methods in Public Health Research
Required Coursework (15 credits) HPAM 620 Public Health Management
HPAM 621 Health Economics
HPAM 622 Public Health and Health Care Law
HPAM 623 Comparative Analysis of Urban Health Care Systems or HPAM 624 Public Health Advocacy
HPAM 625 Public Health Policy Analysis
Elective Coursework (6 credits) Two (2) electives chosen in consultation with faculty advisor
Practice Experience (3 credits) PUBH 696 Supervised Fieldwork
Culminating Experience (3 credits) PUBH 698 Capstone Project
Total Credits Required 42

*Students who have a CEPH-accredited undergraduate or graduate degree in public health can be waived from PUBH 601 by submitting a Course Waiver Request.

Course sequence icon

Recommended Course Sequence

For students beginning their program during the fall semester:
Semester Course Credits
Year 1 Fall PUBH 601: Foundations of Public Health Knowledge* 0
PUBH 610: Public Health Leadership and Management 3
PUBH 611: Health Equity, Communication, and Advocacy 3
PUBH 612: Designing and Evaluating Public Health Interventions 3
PUBH 613: Designs, Concepts, and Methods in Public Health Research 3
Year 1 Spring PUBH 614: Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analysis Methods in Public Health Research 3
HPAM 620: Public Health Management 3
HPAM 621: Health Economics 3
Elective I 3
Year 2 Fall PUBH 696: Supervised Fieldwork 3
HPAM 622: Public Health and Health Care Law 3
HPAM 623: Comparative Analyses of Urban Health Care Systems or HPAM 624 Public Health Advocacy 3
HPAM 625: Public Health Policy Analysis 3
Year 2 Spring PUBH 698: Capstone Project 3
Elective II 3
For students beginning their program during the spring semester:
Semester Course Credits
Year 1 Spring PUBH 601: Foundations of Public Health Knowledge* 0
PUBH 610: Public Health Leadership and Management 3
PUBH 611: Health Equity, Communication, and Advocacy 3
PUBH 612: Designing and Evaluating Public Health Interventions 3
PUBH 613: Designs, Concepts, and Methods in Public Health Research 3
Year 1 Fall PUBH 614: Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analysis Methods in Public Health Research 3
HPAM 622: Public Health and Health Care Law 3
HPAM 623: Comparative Analyses of Urban Health Care Systems or HPAM 624 Public Health Advocacy 3
Elective I 3
Year 2 Spring PUBH 696: Supervised Fieldwork 3
HPAM 620: Public Health Management 3
HPAM 621: Health Economics 3
Year 2 Fall PUBH 698: Capstone Project 3
HPAM 625: Public Health Policy Analysis 3
Elective II 3

*PUBH 601 should be completed during a student’s first semester. Students who have a CEPH-accredited undergraduate or graduate degree in public health can be waived from this requirement by submitting a Course Waiver Request.

Competencies

For students who began matriculating in Spring 2019 or earlier, please review the previous competencies for the MPH in Health Policy and Management here.

Core Competencies:

Evidence-based Approaches to Public Health
  • Apply epidemiological methods to settings and situations in public health practice
  • Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context
  • Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming and software, as appropriate
  • Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy or practice
Public Health & Health Care Systems
  • Compare the organization, structure, and function of health care, public health and regulatory systems across national and international settings
  • Discuss the means by which structural bias, social inequities and racism undermine health and create challenges to achieving health equity at organizational, community and systemic levels
Planning & Management to Promote Health
  • Assess population needs, assets and capacities that affect communities’ health
  • Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design, implementation or critique of public health policies or programs
  • Design a population-based policy, program, project or intervention
  • Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management (“Resource management” refers to stewardship (planning, monitoring, etc.) of resources throughout a project, not simply preparing a budget statement that projects what resources will be required.)
  • Select methods to evaluate public health programs
Policy in Public Health
  • Discuss the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence (This competency refers to technical aspects of how public policies are created and adopted, including legislative and/or regulatory roles and processes, ethics in public policy making and the role of evidence in creating policy.)
  • Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes
  • Advocate for political, social, or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations (This competency refers to the ability to influence policy and/or decision making, such as through stakeholder mobilization, educating policy makers, etc. Ability to argue in support of (or in opposition to) a position, as in a standard debate, is not sufficient. Students must produce a product that would be part of an advocacy campaign or effort (e.g., legislative testimony, fact sheets, advocacy strategy outline, etc.).)
  • Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity
Leadership
  • Apply leadership and/or management principles to address a relevant issue (Such principles may include creating a vision, empowering others, fostering collaboration and guiding decision making.)
  • Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges (“Negotiation and mediation,” in this competency, refers to the set of skills needed when a common solution is required among parties with conflicting interests and/or different desired outcomes. Such skills extend beyond the level of negotiation required in a successful intra-group process; effective communication within a work group or team is more closely related to competency)
Communication
  • Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors
  • Communicate audience-appropriate (i.e., non-academic, non-peer audience) public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation
  • Describe the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content
Interprofessional and/or Intersectoral Practice
  • Integrate perspectives from other sectors and/or professions to promote and advance population health (This competency requires direct engagement (in-person or online) between the student and an individual or individuals in a profession or sector other than public health; students must combine the external sector/profession’s perspective and/or knowledge with their own public health training to complete a task, solve a problem, etc.. Role-playing, in which public health students assume the identity of an individual from another profession or sector to which they do not already belong, is not an acceptable substitute for actual engagement with an individual or individuals from a profession or sector outside of public health.)
  • Apply a systems thinking tool to visually represent a public health issue in a format other than standard narrative (Systems thinking tools depict or map complex relationships, demonstrating, for example, how component parts of a system interact with and influence one another. Examples include causal loop diagrams, systems archetypes, network analyses and concept maps. Logic models and evidence tables are not sufficient to address this competency.)
Systems Thinking
  • Apply a systems thinking tool to visually represent a public health issue in a format other than standard narrative (Systems thinking tools depict or map complex relationships, demonstrating, for example, how component parts of a system interact with and influence one another. Examples include causal loop diagrams, systems archetypes, network analyses and concept maps. Logic models and evidence tables are not sufficient to address this competency.)
Environmental Sciences
  • Apply concepts from relevant scientific disciplines, such as toxicology and physiology, to anticipate effects of environmental, occupational and nutritional exposures on both human health and overall planetary health

Concentration Competencies:

  1. Perform and interpret stakeholder, political, health equity analysis, health impact assessment, cost-effectiveness (benefit), or legal analysis, to inform a contemporary health policy issue
  2. Evaluate opportunities and challenges to local, state, national, and/or global healthcare systems using organization, financing, and delivery models
  3. Critique opportunities and challenges to strengthen and transform global, state, and/or national public health infrastructures using legal, economic, advocacy and policy strategies
  4. Apply budgeting, resource, and strategic management principles and tools to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public health and health care organizations
  5. Apply leadership, management, and innovation frameworks and implement strategies to improve organizational effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of public health and health care organizations
  6. Integrate a theoretical/conceptual model of policy development with quantitative and qualitative analysis to create policies for local, state, national, or global change
  7. Demonstrate leadership and managerial skills by designing, developing, and implementing organizational change, cross-sectoral partnerships, and/or policy campaigns

Alumni Outcomes

Alumni outcomes data was collected via surveys of CUNY SPH alumni one year after graduation from 2016 to 2022. See more program outcomes here.

Students in class at CUNY SPH

The Michael Meng Fellowship for Healthcare Business Innovation

The Michael Meng Fellowship for Healthcare Business Innovation is open to Health Policy and Management students. CUNY SPH Foundation Board Member Michael Meng committed $150,000 to establish the Michael Meng Fellowship in Healthcare Business Innovation, which will prepare CUNY SPH Master of Health Policy and Management students with transformational business and entrepreneurial skills at the intersection of health business and public health sectors, two crucial communities driving forward health in New York City. READ MORE

Co-Founded by Michael Meng, CEO of Stellar Health, and Bunny Ellerin, CEO of NYC Health Business Leaders, the fellowship enrolls 10 Health Policy and Management students into an intensive four-semester extra-curricular program to build their expertise and knowledge in health business. Fellows will learn directly from respected business executives and leaders, have access to professional development at the Career Skills Academy and receive hands-on training in public health entrepreneurship.

As the program’s visiting adjunct professor, Professor Ellerin will provide fellows with mentorship and career guidance in an intimate learning environment.

ELIGIBILITY AND SELECTION CRITERIA

  • Applicant must be a current HPAM student who has completed at least one semester at CUNY SPH, or an incoming student matriculating in January 2023 who has exemplary grades in prior coursework
  • 3.3 GPA
  • Interest in health business and public health as intersecting areas
  • Demonstrated desire to harness health business to improve public health

BENEFITS OF THE FELLOWSHIP

  • Gain hands-on experience in health business via fieldwork opportunities
  • Opportunities for publications
  • Enhance public health knowledge and skills through seminars and workshops
  • Build a powerful network of public health leaders and innovators

FELLOWSHIP EXPECTATIONS

  • Participate in the new fellows meet-and-greet dinner
  • Attend all seminars and workshops
  • Enroll in and complete Design Thinking in Public Health and Public Health Entrepreneurship courses
  • Complete the Mid-Career Track of the Career Skills Academy

INFORMATION SESSIONS

To learn more about the Meng Fellowship, please stay tuned for upcoming information session announcements.

TO APPLY

The deadline for 2023 has passed. Please stay tuned for more info on the next round of applications!

QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions about the fellowship, please reach out to Taylor Drost, CSA Program Manager and SPH alum taylor.drost@sph.cuny.edu.

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