The Faculty of Medicine is accepting applications from now until April 30 to its new Master of Public Health (MPH) program, with classes scheduled to start in September, 2020.
The program was approved by the Ontario government in February. Applicants must have an undergraduate degree with a minimum GPA of 75% to be considered for admission.
"Current global events are showing how essential such a program is," said Dr. Monique Potvin Kent, associate professor at the School of Epidemiology and Public Health (SEPH), and interim director of the new program. "Particularly, our program has an emphasis on policy, which makes it unique. With the COVID-19 crisis, policy is being developed extremely rapidly. The more people you have trained in this field, the better off you are going to be."
Every student in the program will take at least one course in public policy. Students wishing to specialize further in that area may enrol in the dedicated public health policy stream, offered through a partnership with uOttawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs in the Faculty of Social Sciences.
The MPH program will offer three other streams: public health practice; global health; and population health risk assessment.
“We want to have people from many different backgrounds applying,” said Dr. Potvin Kent.
“There will be nurses and doctors who apply into this program, but you could also apply if you have a background in English, journalism, or art; law, psychology, or a science degree. We need people with a variety of backgrounds working in public health.”
The program at uOttawa is unique in giving students the opportunity to study another language as part of the MPH+ option. Thanks to partnerships with the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute and the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, MPH students can learn Japanese, Russian, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Arabic, English or French.
The MPH program, which will accept an initial cohort of approximately 25 students, will combine classroom learning with a 420-hour practicum in the third semester and an applied public health capstone project in the final semester. The degree will take 16 months to complete, or 20 months for students who choose to add language studies to their course load.
“I believe Dr. John Last, professor emeritus of SEPH, who was a pioneer in public health, and who died this fall, would have been thrilled to see the MPH program finally come to fruition,” said Dr. Melissa Brouwers, professor and director of SEPH.
Dr. Potvin Kent said the decision to offer an MPH degree came in response to demand by students, professors, and the community over the past ten years.
“We need people to be able to identify and survey the state of public health, prevent public health crises, and take leadership roles in managing these crises when they happen.”
For more information or to apply, visit the program website.
