Office of Pre-Professional Education and Special Programs

Public Health is an interdisciplinary field that addresses the physical, mental and environmental health concerns of communities and populations. Its focus is on prevention of injury and disease in populations rather than centering on a single individual. The field of public health achieves its goals through health promotion and disease prevention. The final outcome is to improve the quality of life in the target populations.

The association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) is the only national organization representing the deans, faculty and students of this nation's CEPH accredited schools of public health, and accredited graduate programs in public health seeking accredited school status, in the United States and Puerto Rico. These schools have a faculty of over 3,000 and educate more than 15,000 students annually from every state in U.S and most countries throughout the world and graduate approximately 5,000 professionals each year.

Because of the diversity in educational backgrounds of students and areas of specialization required in the many fields of public health, each school of public health may offer different concentrations. However, the most common fields of concentration include:

Epidemiology
Biostatistics
Nutrition
Environmental Health Sciences
Maternal and Child Health
Health Services Administration
Public Health Policy,Practice, and Program Managment
Behavioral Sciences and Health Education
Health Law
Occupational Safety and Health
Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences
Tropical Medicine
International Public Health
Population Health
Exercise Science
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Immunology

Schools of Public health are primarily graduate institutions and offer a variety of degrees. Common degrees conferred includes:

Master of Public Health (MPH)
Master of Health Administration (MHA)
Master of Science (MS)
Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Doctor of Science (ScD)