Curriculum
The MPH curriculum educates students in the global dimensions of public health principles and prepares them to lead and work collaboratively on the assessment of health-risk factors and the management of prevention strategies. In particular, the curriculum of our MPH degree is designed to create students who can combine knowledge of the core disciplines in public health with leadership, communication, and problem-solving inter-professional skills to meet the needs of culturally-diverse communities locally and globally.
Please note that the courses listed in the UCI Course Catalogue may vary. For the most accurate and up-to-date list of classes, please consult with your academic counselor.
MPH Core Courses
PubHlth 200
Foundations of Public Health
4 UNITS
Presents the overarching framework, principles, and core responsibilities of public health research and practice from a multidisciplinary perspective. Provides necessary foundation for further studies toward advanced cross-cutting approaches essential for public health practice.
PubHlth 204
Biostatistics I: Introduction to Statistical Methods
4 UNITS
Designed to help students develop an appreciation for statistician’s view of the research process, emphasizing biomedical research. Instills an understanding of how statistical models are used to yield insights about data that form evidence-based understanding of the world around us.
PubHlth 204B
Biostatistics II: Intermediate Statistical Methods
4 UNITS
Intended for graduate students in epidemiology, public health, and clinical research fields. Covers common regression-modeling techniques frequently used in biologic and medical applications.
PubHlth 206A
Principles of Epidemiology
4 UNITS
Fundamental principles of epidemiology, biostatistics, and epidemiological research. Topics include research methods of measuring health problems in populations, disease control and prevention in populations, how epidemiology contributes to knowledge of disease etiology, and biostatistical analysis and interpretation of epidemiologic data.
PubHlth 222
Health Policy & Management
4 UNITS
Multidisciplinary inquiry into theory and practice concerned with delivery, quantity, costs of health care for individuals and populations. Explores managerial and policy concerns regarding structure, process, outcomes of health services including the costs, financing, organization, outcomes, and accessibility of care.
PubHlth 244
Health Behavior Theory
4 UNITS
Introduces the field of Health Behavior and segues into major theoretical perspectives. Focus on health behavior change from the vantage point of individual health behavior and theoretical abstraction. Explores how to relate theory to behavior-change intervention programs.
PubHlth 264
Introduction to Environmental Health Sciences
4 UNITS
Convergence of agents (chemical, physical, biological, or psychosocial) in environment can emerge as diseases influenced by social, political, and economic factors, allowing them to become rooted in society. How these agents from various spheres come together and impact human health.
PubHlth 291B&C
Seminar: Advances and Challenges in Public Health
2 UNITS
Forum for exploring recent advances and challenges in all disciplines of public health research and practice. Features case studies exemplifying the integration of core competencies with cross-cutting interdisciplinary themes of public health. Please note, students must take two sections.
Emphasis in Environmental Health Sciences
MPH students with an emphasis in Environmental Health Sciences can select three of the following courses to fulfill their emphasis area courses.
PubHlth 269
Air, Pollution, Climate, & Health
4 UNITS
Emission of air pollutants into the atmosphere, physical and meteorological processes that affect transport, and influence on global warming. Concepts of how and where people are most exposed, and how exposures and health effects differ in developed and developing regions.
PubHlth 275
Environmental Modeling & Risk Management
4 UNITS
Surveys the general principles, basic mathematical methods, and practices of environmental modeling and human health risk assessment. Topics include advection-dispersion models, risk management, and risk perception. Students conduct an original risk assessment as a final group project.
PubHlth 277A
Target Organ Toxicology I
4 UNITS
Mechanistic analysis of responses occurring in various organ systems of experimental animals and humans exposed to environmental and occupational chemicals and radiation. Review distinctive cellular and tissue structure and physiological function of the various organ systems.
PubHlth 277B
Target Organ Toxicology II
4 UNITS
Mechanistic analysis of responses occurring in various organ systems of experimental animals and humans exposed to environmental and occupational chemicals and radiation. Review of distinctive cellular and tissue structure and physiological function of the various organ systems.
PubHlth 278
Industrial Toxicology
4 UNITS
Analysis of responsibilities toxicologists have in industry, including product safety, generating material safety, data sheets, animal testing, ecotoxicological testing, risk/hazard communication, and assisting industrial hygienists and occupational physicians; emphasis on interdisciplinary nature of industrial toxicology and communication skills.
PubHlth 279
Special Topics in Environmental & Occupational Health
4 UNITS
Current research in environmental and occupational health. Topics vary from quarter to quarter.
PubHlth 283
Geographic Information Systems
4 UNITS
Provides a broad introduction to the use of Geographic Information Systems software to carry out projects for visualizing and analyzing spatial data to address significant issues of health care and policy-planning.
PubHlth 286
Advanced Geographic Information Systems
4 UNITS
Students expand their current knowledge of the ArcGIS software to develop advanced geographic-related research questions, learn how to apply spatial epidemiologic methods to public health data, and integrate their skills in a GIS project of their design.
Emphasis in Sociocultural Diversity & Health
MPH students with an emphasis in Sociocultural Diversity & Health must take the following three courses to fulfill their emphasis area courses.
PubHlth 245
Health Promotion Planning
4 UNITS
Introduces strategic planning integral to intervention planning in public health practice and research, emphasizing the fundamental domains of social and behavioral health science and practices. Students develop an intervention plan for a specific health problem, health behavior, and target population.
PubHlth 246
Social Research Methods
4 UNITS
An interactive graduate seminar covering topics related to the research process and study design. Begins with conceptualizing research questions, hypotheses, and then turns to topics in measurement and concludes with experimental, quasi-experimental, and observational study designs.
PubHlth 247
Program Evaluation
4 UNITS
Introduces methods, tools, and procedures for systematic investigation of the effectiveness of programs in health and social services for disease intervention, prevention, and health promotion. Includes development of program evaluation plans, logic models, contextual frameworks, study designs, and data analyses.
Emphasis in Epidemiology
MPH students with an emphasis in Epidemiology must take the following three courses to fulfill their emphasis area courses.
PubHlth 206B
Intermediate Epidemiology
4 UNITS
Learn to design and conduct epidemiologic studies using common designs. Determine why bias and measurement error arise in observational studies, and how they influence effect estimates. Perform and interpret epidemiologic data analyses using statistical software.
PubHlth 206C
Advanced Epidemiologic Methods
4 UNITS
Advanced topics in the design and statistical analysis of epidemiologic studies. Topics include simulation methods, counter-matching and multiphase study designs, missing data, and Bayesian analysis. Published simulation studies are discussed and replicated using the R software package.
PubHlth 213
Epidemiology in Global Health
4 UNITS
Examines major topics in epidemiology and global health. Research topics within these two disciplines are focused on resource-poor communities, with an application to the global world.
Emphasis in Biostatistics
STATS 201
Statistical Methods for Data Analysis I
4 UNITS
Introduction to statistical methods for analyzing data from experiments and surveys. Methods covered include two-sample procedures, analysis of variance, simple and multiple linear regression.
STATS 202
Statistical Methods for Data Analysis II
4 UNITS
Introduction to statistical methods for analyzing data from surveys or experiments. Emphasizes application and understanding of methods for categorical data including contingency tables, logistic and Poisson regression, loglinear models.
STATS 203
Statistical Methods for Data Analysis III
4 UNITS
Introduction to statistical methods for analyzing longitudinal data from experiments and cohort studies. Topics covered include survival methods for censored time-to-event data, linear mixed models, non-linear mixed effects models, and generalized estimating equations.
STATS 280
Seminar in Statistics
0.5 UNITS
Periodic seminar series covering topics of current research in statistics and its application. Students must take this course for two quarters.
STATS 281A
Introduction to Probability & Statistics I
4 UNITS
Introduction to basic principles of probability and statistical inference. Axiomatic definition of probability, random variables, probability distributions, expectation.
STATS 281B
Introduction to Probability & Statistics II
4 UNITS
Introduction to basic principles of probability and statistical inference. Point estimation, interval estimating, and testing hypotheses, Bayesian approaches to inference.
Elective Courses
Three elective courses (four units each) are required. Students select electives in light of their educational and career goals.
Comprehensive Examination
All MPH students are required to pass the comprehensive exam in order to advance to candidacy. The comprehensive exam is the “Certified in Public Health” (CPH) examination which covers the core areas of knowledge offered in CEPH-accredited schools and programs, as well as cross-cutting areas relevant to contemporary public health. Students who complete all of their core courses are required to take the CPH examination at the beginning of the fall quarter of their second year. Students who do not complete all of their core courses during their first year will be allowed an alternative testing date. In addition, by special petition, students may be approved to take the CPH examination during the spring quarter of their first year. Students must pass the CPH examination before they can be advanced to candidacy for the MPH degree.
Practicum and Culminating Experience
Students are required to complete a supervised internship of 240 hours while registered in the Graduate Practicum and Culminating Experience in Public Health (PUBHLTH 295). The practicum experience follows the completion of all core competency courses, the comprehensive exam and advancement to candidacy. A compendium of approved practicum sites is available online to enrolled M.P.H. students. The student’s work at the practicum site will culminate in a comprehensive written report, with a presentation at the departmental poster symposium at the end of the academic year.
If you are a current student and you want to check your degree progress, please visit our Office of Students Affairs to reach out to your program advisor.
PubHlth 295
Graduate Practicum & Culminating Experience
8 UNITS
Provides opportunities for hands-on experience for graduate students at agencies or organizations engaged in public health practice. Students are matched with placement sites based on academic preparation and students’ career goals. The practicum report is integrated into the culminating experience.
