MS in Public Health

Curriculum

The curriculum is organized in four modules: The preparatory module (24 units), concentration module (16 units),and the elective module (16 units) stimulate students to generate research hypotheses in the context of risk factors, vulnerable populations, and disease outcomes. Additionally, students will engage in thesis research with their faculty advisor and submit their final masters-level thesis to a MS thesis committee.

The MS in Public Health prepares graduates to pursue careers in policy analysis, monitoring and evaluation of public health programs, and academic and programmatic research. They will engage and develop global health research at national and international government agencies, NGOs, the private sector and academic institutions.

The degree program requires a total of 56 quarter-units: 6 core courses, 4 required courses specific to each concentration (Global Health or Disease Prevention), and additional units for approved electives. Our core courses include courses in research design; research proposal development; ethics and responsible conduct of research; epidemiologic methods; quantitative methods; qualitative methods; research communication; and directed research.

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.

Preparatory Module

All MS students are required to complete the following courses.*

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 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 246
Social Research Methods
4 UNITS
An interactive graduate seminar covering topics related to the research process and study design.
Pubhlth 294
Research Communication in Public Health
4 UNITS
Strategies for effective writing and oral presentation of research characteristics and results to various audiences. Includes exercises in writing for the public, for scholarly journals, and at conferences.
Pubhlth 298
Directed Studies in Public Health
4 UNITS
Directed study with Public Health faculty. Please note, unit amounts for this course will vary

* Students who entered the program without a master’s level degree from a Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH)-accredited program must complete PUBHLTH 200 Foundations of Public Health as part of their preparatory module.

Concentration Module: Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Health

MS students with a concentration in Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Health must select four courses from the following list to fulfill their concentration module courses.

Pubhlth 272
Health Psychology
4 UNITS
Focus on theory and research in health psychology as applied to major acute, chronic, and occupational health problems. Adopting the biopsychosocial model of health, emphasis is on understanding and influencing how biology, behavior, and the environment influence health and illness.
Pubhlth 244
Health Behavior Theory
4 UNITS
Explores theories of health behavior change, moving from individual to broader contexts, with a focus on applying theory to create population-based theory-driven models delineating behavioral determinants of public health problems.
Pubhlth 248
Fundamentals of Maternal and Child Health – Programs, Problems, and Policy
4 UNITS
Explores Maternal and Child Health (MCH) through public health and neurobiological perspectives. Study key factors influencing global development. Examine historical foundations, conceptual frameworks, and current issues such as COVID-19’s impact. Analyze programs and legislation addressing MCH disparities.
EPIDEM 202
Genetic Epidemiology
4 UNITS
Genetic epidemiologic research principles, covering diverse study designs and methods. Integrates literature examples, lectures, demonstrations, and software applications for varied study designs, ranging from unrelated individuals to large extended kindreds. Includes in-class discussions, group projects, and exercises for concept reinforcement.
EPIDEM 201
Cancer Epidemiology
4 UNITS
Concentrates on understanding how epidemiology plays a role in the search for cancer etiology, prevention, control, and treatment; gives an overview of cancer research with an appreciation of the multidisciplinary nature of the field.
PSCI P283H
Psychoneuro-immunology
4 UNITS
Introduces students to the field of psychoneuroimmunology and helps them develop the conceptual and methodological skills necessary for designing and interpreting research on the bidirectional relationship between the immune system and psychological processes.
Pubhlth 290
Special Topics in Public Health
4 UNITS
Studies in selected areas of public health. Topics addressed vary each quarter. Special Topics courses must be approved by the Program Director(s) as satisfying concentration requirements.
PSCI P273
Biobehavioral Aspects of Health and Illness
4 UNITS
Examines the behavior-physiology interactions of some major bodily systems: the nervous, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and endocrine systems. Analysis of normal and abnormal states of these systems as they relate to tissue injury, disease, and rehabilitation.

Concentration Module: Disease Prevention

MS students with a concentration in Disease Prevention must select four courses from the following list to fulfill their concentration module courses.

Pubhlth 208
Advances in Social Epidemiology
4 UNITS
Advances understanding of social distribution and social determinants of disease through multiple risk factor models and mechanisms that emphasize developmental and socio-environmental risk factors on mental and physical health across the life span.
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 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 242
Theories of Health Communication
4 UNITS
Evaluates health communication theory and strategies for diverse settings (healthcare, community, social media). Emphasizes audience segmentation, personalized tailoring, and subgroup targeting in case studies. Explores multimodal communication’s role in persuasive messaging.
Pubhlth 223
Risk Communication
4 UNITS
Examines theory and research related to the communication of scientific information in risk communication contexts, risk perceptions, and behavior as related to decision-making under risk.
EPIDEM 232
Chronic Disease Epidemiology & Prevention
4 UNITS
Epidemiological aspects of chronic human diseases. Topics include methodologies for quantifying aspects of prevalent chronic diseases including risk factors, identification of susceptible groups, societal burdens, promising future research; and the intervention, prevention, and control of diseases in populations.
Pubhlth 290
Special Topics in Public Health
4 UNITS
Studies in selected areas of public health. Topics addressed vary each quarter. Special Topics courses must be approved by the Program Director(s) as satisfying concentration requirements.

Concentration Module: Global Health

MS students with a concentration in Global Health must select four courses from the following list to fulfill their concentration module courses.

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.
Pubhlth 280
Global Burden of Disease
4 UNITS
Introduces composite measures of disease burden, including Disability Adjusted Life Years and their use in prioritizing disease burden at local, regional, and global levels. Focuses on WHO’s landmark assessments and introduces DISMOD software for specific analyses.
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.
Pubhlth 282
Climate Change & Global Health
4 UNITS
Explore major topics in climate change and global health, analyzing micro- and macro-level impacts. Covers infectious and non-communicable diseases, demographic aspects, and interventions. Gain the ability to propose public health solutions for climate-related health challenges.
Pubhlth 289
Special Topics in Global Health & Disease Prevention
4 UNITS
Current research in global health and disease prevention. Topics vary from quarter to quarter. Must be approved by program director as satisfying concentration requirements.
Pubhlth 290
Special Topics in Public Health
4 UNITS
Studies in selected areas of public health. Topics addressed vary each quarter. Must be approved by program director as satisfying concentration requirements.
EARTHSS 200
Global Physical Climatology
4 UNITS
A descriptive overview of Earth’s climate system and energy budget. Large-scale circulations, key physical processes, and climate sensitivity of the atmosphere, ocean, land surface, and cryosphere.

Elective Module Requirements

Select four courses from the following list. A full description of each course can be found on the UCI Catalogue.

PUBHLTH 283: Geographic Information Systems for Public Health *
PUBHLTH 286: Advanced Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Epidemiology
PUBHLTH 287: Qualitative Research Methods in Public Health
PUBHLTH 247: Program Evaluation
PUBHLTH 209: Methods of Demographic Analysis
PUBHLTH 206C: Advanced Epidemiologic Methods
PUBHLTH 210: Theory-Driven Secondary Data Analysis
PUBHLTH 204C: Biostatistics III: Advanced Statistical Methods
PUBHLTH 251: Models of Practice and Intervention at the Community Level
PUBHLTH 293: Foundations of Clinical and Translational Science
EDUC 234: Measurement and Psychometrics
EDUC 265: Applied Regression Analysis for Education and Social Scientific Research
EDUC 266: Design-Based Implementation Research
EDUC 280: Research Methods: Hierarchical Linear Modeling
EDUC 221: Longitudinal and Advanced Structural Equation Modeling
EPIDEM 275: Causal Inference I
PUBHLTH 290: Community-Engaged Research
* Required for students in the Global Health Concentration.

Thesis Requirement

MS students will engage in thesis research with their faculty advisor. The students’ final thesis will be submitted to a MS thesis committee. Students must submit thesis committee members and thesis topic to their faculty mentor for approval, before advancement to candidacy will be approved. The thesis should reflect an original research investigation and must be approved by a thesis committee of at least three full-time faculty members, all of which must be public health faculty. The final examination is an oral presentation of the thesis to the committee.

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.

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