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Graduate Studies
Public Health Specialization Tracks
The MPH or MSPH degree currently requires 48 credits of public health coursework. Fifteen of the total credits are completed in public health core courses, 6 in program- required courses, 12 in track-required courses, and 6 in elective courses. Six of the remaining 9 credits required for the MPH degree are earned in a field-based practicum, and the final 3 credits are awarded when a Capstone Paper is written and orally presented as part of a culminating Capstone Seminar. The remaining 9 credits for the MSPH are awarded upon successful completion and defense of a thesis that is acceptable to the student’s Thesis Supervisory Committee. Students in the public health degree programs are offered the option of specializing or concentrating in one of the following four (4) tracks.
- Epidemiology Track
- Health Behavior and Policy Track
- Environmental and Occupational Health Track
- Veterinary Public Health Track (This track is reserved for students in the dual DVM/MPH degree program)
Public Health Core Courses (15 credits)
All six of the specialization tracks are mounted on the five core areas of public health and so all students, irrespective of their track preference, are required to complete the following five core courses (3 credits each):
PUBH 803 – Principles of Epidemiology
PUBH 804 – Principles of Biostatistics
PUBH 805 – Health Policy and Management
PUBH 806 – Social and Behavioral Aspects of Public Health
PUBH 807 – Principles of Environmental Health
Program Required Courses (6 credits)
All students, irrespective of their track preference, are also required to complete the following two courses (3 credits each):
Required Courses (6 credits)
PUBH 831 – Concepts, Practice and Leadership of Public Health
Required Courses by MPH Track Specializations (12 credits)
Students who opt to specialize in the Epidemiology Track are required to complete, in addition to the public health core (15 credits) and program required (6 credits) courses, four additional track-required courses from among the following (3 credits each). Note that students in this track must successfully complete Principles of Epidemiology and Principles of Biostatistics before attempting these track required courses.
Any four (4) of the following five (5) courses:
PUBH 813 – Chronic Disease Epidemiology
PUBH 814 – Emerging Infectious Disease
PUBH 830 – Epidemiology in Public Health Practice Settings
PUBH 829 – Advanced Biostatistics for Population Health Management
PUBH 835 - Practical Data Management and Analysis
2.Health Behavior and Policy Track
Students, who opt to specialize in the Health Behavior and Policy Track, study methods of promoting health that are community and policy driven. They are required to complete, in addition to the public health core (15 credits) and the program required (6 credits) courses, four additional track required courses from among the following (3 credits each):
Any two (2) of the following three (3) courses:
PUBH 818 – Public Health Program Evaluation
PUBH 819 – Methods of Community Health Assessment
PUBH 828 – Methods of Community Health Promotion
Any two (2) of the following three (3) courses:
PUBH 820 – Health Planning and Financing
PUBH 823 – International Public Health Practice
PUBH 827 – International Public Health Law and Policy
3. Environmental and Occupational Health Track
Students who opt to specialize in the Environmental and Occupational Health Track are required to complete, in addition to the public health core (15 credits) and program required (6 credits) courses, four additional track required courses from among the following (3 credits each):
Any two (2) of the following three (3):
MPTH 802 – Public Health Sanitation
MPTH 806 – Applied Food Microbiology
PUBH 833 – Child Health and the Environment
The following two (2):
PUBH 816 – Occupational Health
PUBH 821 – Ergonomics and Industrial Hygiene
4.Veterinary Public Health Track
Students who are enrolled in the DVM/MPH dual degree program are required to complete, in addition to the public health core (15 credits) and the departmentally required (6 credits) courses, five additional track required courses from among the following for a minimum of twelve (12 credits).
The following two (2):
VSGP 809 – Introduction to Veterinary Public Health (1 credit)
VSGP 811 – Applied Veterinary Public Health (1 credit)
Any three (3) of the following four (4):
PARA 504 – Bacteriology (5 credits)
PARA 505 – Parasitology (4 credits)
PARA 510 – Veterinary Public Health ( 3 credits)
PARA 511 – Virology ( 3 credits)
*Students may apply more than 10 credits from PARA 504, 505, 510, 511 to the MPH degree, if they wish. This will result in the student graduating with more than 48 credits for the MPH degree.
Elective Sequence (6 credits)
All students are required to elect another 6 credits of coursework from the following elective sequence, or, alternatively, elect to substitute any track required course to fulfill an elective requirement, providing it is additional to their particular specialization track requirements. This will normally require two additional courses, 3 credits each. Students in the Veterinary Public Health Track will take a minimum of 6 credits of electives. These electives can either be courses offered by the School of Veterinary Medicine specifically for DVM/MPH students or electives available from the following sequence in the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine. Elective courses in the School of Veterinary Medicine are likely to provide less that 3 credits in each instance. DVM/MPH students might, therefore, need to take more than two courses to meet their elective requirement. Students must secure the approval of the DVM/MPH Dual Degree Coordinator of any course that they are considering as an elective to satisfy these 6 credits.
PUBH 808 – Maternal and Child Health
PUBH 812 – Nutrition and Public Health
PUBH 822 – Substance Abuse and Public Health
PUBH 824 – Preventing Mental Illness
PUBH 825 – Family Violence
PUBH 826 – Women and Health: A Socio-legal Perspective
PUBH 834 – Principles of Clinical Preventive Medicine
PUBH 836 – Public Health Communication
PUBH 881 – Independent Study
Elective Courses available to DVM/MPH students
VSGP 802 – Clinical Parasitology (2 credits)
VSGP 807 – Wildlife Parasitology (1 credit)
VSGP 808 – Food Safety (2 credits)
Capstone Requirements (9 credits)
All Master of Public Health (MPH) students are required to submit a Capstone Paper proposal for approval by the Department's Capstone Committee, following acceptance and appropriate revisions by the Capstone Seminar Director.
PUBH 890 – Capstone Practicum in Public Health (6 credits)
PUBH 893 – Capstone Seminar (3 credits)
Field-based Practicum
The practicum experience is a critical part of the MPH program, which integrates academic preparation with field-based experience. The practicum allows students to apply academic coursework and training within a public health practice setting under the direction of an on-site supervisor. Students are required to register for the Practicum in the semester before they are planning to do their fieldwork. Practica are arranged on an individual basis, with written goals spelled out in advance and approved by the student, the Practicum Coordinator and potential on-site supervisor. A successful Practicum placement, whether in Grenada, the larger Caribbean, the United States, or elsewhere in the world, requires that students actively participate in the process, allowing appropriate lead-time for arrangements to be culminated. The entire process will, however, be coordinated by the program’s Practicum Coordinator. Students are normally expected to have successfully completed two terms of public health graduate courses, before participating in a practicum. Exceptions will require the approval of the Department’s Graduate Affairs Committee. Ultimately, a student’s particular practicum placement must be approved by the Department’s Capstone and Practicum Committee.
Students are required to complete a minimum of 240 hours of fieldwork in the arranged public health practice setting. In the middle of this experience, students are required to submit to the Practicum Coordinator a mid-course assessment of the practicum. The Practicum Coordinator will also consult with the site supervisor to assess the student’s mid-course progress. At the conclusion of the experience, students must submit a Practicum Experience Report and are evaluated by their site supervisor, in consultation with the Practicum Coordinator. Practicum Guidelines Manuals are available through the Practicum Coordinator.
Capstone Seminar
The Capstone Seminar is an organized course conducted by an assigned faculty member who serves as the Capstone Seminar Director. All students in the Capstone Seminar are required to prepare and submit a Capstone Paper in order to demonstrate mastery of the concepts of public health by applying and integrating core areas and functions in the discussion of their chosen topic. Students will explore the public health implications of their chosen topic in this comprehensive research paper prepared according to the schedule structured by the Capstone Seminar.
During the term before the one in which a student expects to participate in the Capstone Seminar, he/she is required to discuss and refine a chosen topic for the Capstone Paper with his or her assigned Faculty Advisor. This process is expected to result in a Capstone Paper proposal which is ultimately submitted to the Department’s Capstone and Practicum Committee for approval, following acceptance and appropriate revisions by the student’s Faculty Advisor.
Despite the active involvement of other faculty members, the final evaluation of the paper will be made by the Capstone Seminar Director. The written paper must conform to the style approved by the Department as outlined in the Capstone Paper Guidelines Manual. This Capstone Paper, which is also presented orally in a seminar setting, is kept in the Department.
As a general rule, students may only enroll in the Capstone Seminar during their final trimester. Students wishing to attend/sit in the class prior to their final term may do so if approved by their Faculty Advisor and the Capstone Seminar Director. However, students, permitted to do so, will not be allowed to submit paper assignments, nor will they be exempt from having to attend classes during the term in which they are formally enrolled for the Capstone Seminar.
The Practicum’s relationship to the Capstone Paper
It is possible that a field experience which served as the practicum may form the basis of the Capstone Paper; however, neither requirement should be diluted simply to allow them to be combined. A field setting could suggest a line of research or could lead to a Capstone Paper topic, but combining the practicum and Capstone Paper is neither required nor encouraged.
MSPH Thesis Requirements (9 credits)
All MSPH students, irrespective of their track, must identify the faculty member that they would like to serve as the Chair of their Thesis Supervisory Committee. This faculty member, acting as the student’s primary thesis advisor, will then work with the student to assemble a Thesis Supervisory Committee, prepare a research proposal, conduct approved research, report it in a prepared thesis document and defend it in order to earn the MSPH degree.
PUBH 894 – Public Health Research Thesis (9 credits)
The guidelines which govern the thesis preparation are contained in the Thesis Guide, prepared by the Graduate Studies Program of St. George’s University.
The MSPH Degree versus the MPH Degree
The design of the MSPH degree program follows the basic design of MPH degree program in this Department. Their fundamental difference is that one is a research degree (MSPH), while the other is a professional degree (MPH). The intention is to follow the distinction made by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
A professional degree is one that, based on its learning objectives and types of positions its graduates pursue, prepares students with a broad mastery of the subject matter and methods necessary in a field of practice; it typically requires students to develop the capacity to organize, analyze, interpret and communicate knowledge in an applied manner. A research or academic degree program is one that, based on its learning objectives and the paths its graduates follow, prepares students for scholarly careers, particularly in academia and other research settings; it typically prepares students to investigate, acquire, organize, analyze and disseminate new knowledge in a discipline or field of study (CEPH, 2005).
Special note should be taken of the intent to progressively improve the Department’s academic programs as increasing resources and capacity enable the University to do so. As these programs continue to develop, changes will be introduced to the basic design of the MPH and MSPH degree programs simultaneously. Apart from the distinction made above, these programs are conceptualized to be similar in disciplinary nature, content and rigor.
