Occupational and Environmental Health Subtrack (42 s.h.)

Objective

The MPH in occupational and environmental health program aims to prepare graduate level students for professional careers in environmental and occupational health. It targets students who already have a graduate level professional degree or have public health experience. In addition, they must have had a college algebra course and a college biology course. The graduates of the program will have a broad overview of the public health perspective on occupational and environmental health and will be ready to take a wide variety of jobs in that area. The program requires a minimum of 42 semester hours.

Graduates of the MPH in Occupational and Environmental Health will be able to:

1. Understand the use of statistical analyses including: graphs and tables, descriptive statistics, probability, binomial and normal distributions, sampling distributions, tests of significance, confidence intervals, frequency data analysis, linear regression and correlation and nonparametric tests.
2. Understand epidemiological principles including: design and analysis of case-control and cohort studies, historical and current examples of descriptive and analytic epidemiologic studies, etiologic factors in human disease and the determinants of disease in man.
3. Understand the organizational arrangements of medical services in the United States; determine the utilization, amount and type of health resources available; government regulations concerning the financing of health care; social, political and economic factors that determine the future of public health services.
4. Understand the principles of the practice of occupational medicine, industrial hygiene and safety, occupational health nursing, ergonomics and occupational health management.
5. Assess contemporary human health issues associated with the biological, chemical and physical factors of the environment and perform a critical review of the environmental factors that affect health.
6. Discuss and identify the sources, routes of entry, and effects of environmental toxicants; pathophysiology of toxicant actions, including those of air and water pollutants, metals, pesticides, solvents, mycotoxins, food toxicants and other chemicals.
7. Understand the relationship between behavioral sciences and social epidemiology and their relationship to occupational health.

Prerequisite

An undergraduate degree is required. The cumulative grade point average should be a minimum of a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Although no specific major is required, prerequisite coursework includes one semester each of college algebra and biology.

MPH Core Courses (18 s.h.)

The following course work is required for all MPH students. Students are expected to earn ≥ B- (2.67) on each core course and must earn a ≥ B (3.0) cumulative grade point average on all core courses. When necessary, a student may repeat courses to achieve this standard.

Practicum Requirement (3 s.h)

The experience from this course, including a final written report and an oral presentation, constitutes the final examination for the MPH.

Pre-Requisite:

Students should complete all Core Courses prior to registering for the Practicum. In special circumstances, students may request to take a Core Course concurrently with the Practicum.

For additional information, regarding the practicum experience, please visit the official practicum website.

Bioscience Requirement* (3 or 4 s.h.)

Or elective if previous course taken in bioscience

Any of the following courses may be used to meet this requirement:

* If a student has had such coursework in the past, a bioscience course does not need to be taken, but the hours are replaced with three more hours of electives.

Required Courses (17-21 s.h.)

*MPH students take the OEH seminar three times: twice for 0 s.h. and once for 1 s.h.. If completing the MPH in a one-year course of study, the seminar will be taken two times: once for 0 s.h. and once for 1 s.h..

The remaining courses must include at least 15 hours of Occupational & Environmental Health (175:xxx) courses not already listed above and any other courses approved by the advisor.