MS in Health Communication for Social Change

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Is this degree right for you?

As the the only fully online health communications program offered by a CEPH-accredited school of public health, this degree is designed for working professionals looking to  explore how effective health communications can build a more intersectional and equitable public health.

Competencies

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 policymakers, etc. The 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.)

environmental sciences

• Apply concepts from relevant scientific disciplines, such as toxicology and physiology, to anticipate the effects of environmental, occupational and nutritional exposures on both human health and overall planetary health

Concentration Competencies

1. Create strategic and theory-based communication and social marketing plans that address health inequalities and incorporate human-centered user experience principles
2. Produce effective communication and media relations products using a variety of tools and technologies
3. Apply entrepreneurial methods to develop innovative communication solutions to complex public health challenges
4. Apply theories, models, and methods from a range of disciplines to health communication programs
5. Demonstrate multisectoral engagement and problem-solving skills in the creation of effective health communication programs

Saif Choudhury

Saif Choudhury’s passions and experience sit at the intersection of comedy and mental health. Saif has seen firsthand, in his family, himself, and at work as a counselor, the ways in which mental illness can disrupt people’s lives. He’s also seen how comedy can disrupt tragedy … and bring people joy.

Through the Health Communication for Social Change program, he’s building his skills in communication to become the “best salesperson for hope.” His goal is to both explain the intricacies of mental health that are often glossed over and to empower people with the information and hope they deserve to take control over their lives.

He’s finishing up his final semester in the MS4SC program, working on a capstone focused on building awareness around specific facets of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and “Pure O,” and how people with OCD can get the help they need.

Saif has held many hats during his professional career, as a mental health counselor, SAT and ACT tutor, comedy tutor, and sketch comedy comic. He says, “No matter how many times I might fail – which happens a lot in comedy as I’ve come to find out – my true goal in life will always be to use the power of comedy to help people feel better.”

Check Saif out onstage at Bragging Rights, a live sketch comedy competition, during its Spring 2022 run at the Asylum Theater NYC!

Dunstanette Macauley-Dukuly

“I want people to live a wonderful life.”  That’s how Dunstanette Macauley-Dukuly describes the motivation for both her work as a career counselor and her public health aspirations. For the last few years, Dunstanette has mentored students in STEM and connected them to career opportunities, through her position in higher education career services,

Dunstanette grew up around activism and faith-rooted organizing in Newark, New Jersey. She’s known since she was young that there are systemic roadblocks that impede many people from being well. In undergrad, she studied public health, digging deeper into the history of global systems that obstruct health equity, particularly for Black and low-income people.

She came back to public health education last year by enrolling in the Health Communication for Social Change program and, now, she’s gaining communication skills to amplify the voices of marginalized people in hopes of creating more equitable systems. “One of the things I’ve really appreciated about my public health education is that it’s so practical,” she says.

Dunstanette has applied her public health skills professionally in social marketing, advocacy, event planning, and career services. And now, she’s optimistic about how combining theory and practice in communication can make changemaking more accurate, efficient, and effective.

“I’m excited for the type of professional I’ll be after I graduate.”

Nina Agrawal

Nina Agrawal, MD is board-certified in child abuse pediatrics and has spent much of her career providing care to children experiencing various forms of maltreatment. When the pandemic hit and school went remote, Nina knew first-hand that there would be ripple effects on kids, many of whom were already at risk. She published an op-ed in the NYTimes about it to reach as many people as possible about the critical public health issue.

After publishing this piece and building connections with staff at CUNY SPH, Nina enrolled in the Health Communication for Social Change program. The Times piece was followed by other opinion articles, including one in the NY Daily News where she shared her unique insights on addressing child sex trafficking.

“Being able to meet face to face – or by voice in this digital world – is important to me – personally and professionally.” She’s now getting to know others involved in the program and is excited by the prospect of building bridges between more pediatricians and public health professionals.

In addition to her clinical work, Nina is expanding her focus, through writing and grassroots organizing, to “effect broad systems change” for young people who have historically been marginalized. Through the program, she’s entering a broader “public health framework.”

Nina takes courses part-time, which, she says, “gives me the time to devote to my clinical work and advocacy work for various child health issues. It also allows me to apply the skills I’m gaining through the program in real time.”