Public Health and Healthcare Administration

We offer academic and professional degrees to qualified transfer candidates who have a concern for the health and well-being of individual people and communities. Professionals in both domains – public health and health care – work directly with communities, organizations and health care providers and other social institutions.

We provide education to qualified health professionals and individuals whose prior education, training and experience prepare them to take leadership roles in their chosen fields. Our program is designed to adapt to our students’ diverse international backgrounds and future career goals.

The Public Health Track

Public health is the foundation of healthy and sustainable societies. Public health comprises ten core functions organized in three domains: Community health assessment, health policy and practice development, and assurance of environments, policies and practice that support the health and well-being of communities. Public health professionals in any society work to protect and improve the health and wellness of populations and to reduce health disparities between groups within communities. These include helping people and communities become empowered to advocate and work for improvements in their own health and well-being. The mission of public health requires a focus on the wide determinants of health, including education, the physical and social environments in which people live including housing, employment and workplace issues, access to clean water and air, transportation and access to spaces in which to engage in healthy activities, and the time in which to enjoy them.

The Health Care Track

Health care administration focuses on designing and maintaining direct care systems that improve the health of individuals and reduce health access and health care inequities. Health care administrators work to assure community access to the health care system and access to appropriate and necessary services for all people, especially those who are medically vulnerable. They continuously assess health care needs and resources and work to balance the two. Health care administrators may oversee large health systems or individual departments. They may work in large hospitals or small medically-oriented facilities such as nursing homes or hospice care. Health care systems around the world are changing and developing at rapid rates. Administrators need to stay in touch with these changes and work to promote changes that benefit the members of the communities in which they live and work.

Candidates in both public health and health care administration may focus on a concentrated area of study. Practitioners in both domains tend to be problem-solvers who want to improve the health and wellness of people in their communities around the world. They engage in changing health policy, promoting community empowerment and self-efficacy, conducting research, managing health systems, teaching and research, and advocating for resources adequate to meet the health needs of the societies in which they work and live.

Our academic-track degrees are: Master of Public Health (MPH) and Master of Health Care Administration (MHA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in both domains. These programmes focus on developing an understanding of theoretical issues and research on public health or health care administration policy in settings such as academic institutions and research institutes.

Our applied degrees are: Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Science in Health Care Administration (MSHCA) and Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) and Doctor of Health Care Administration (DrHCA). These programmes emphasize the application of knowledge in applied, practical settings such as public health agencies and health care organizations at local, state, territorial or national levels.