Areas of Study
Combined Degrees
DVM/MPH
A variety of forces, such as the new focus on public health preparedness including areas of zoonotic diseases, food security and food borne/vector borne diseases; environmental health; and outbreaks of rabies and West Nile virus call for preparing professionals who possess knowledge and skills in both veterinary medicine and public health. The purpose of the dual DVM/MPH is to provide formal training in public health in addition to formal training in veterinary medicine. This dual degree is a natural combination of preparation in two related and complimentary health care disciplines.
Graduate veterinarians who also possess the MPH degree will have employment opportunities in:
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Local and State health departments in epidemiology, zoonotic/vector borne diseases, food borne disease, bioterrorism, environmental health, emergency planning/response positions
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State Public Health Veterinarian positions (there are about 39 state public health veterinarians in the US)
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Scientific positions at CDC, ATSDR, EPA, USDA, and the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the FDA.
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The Public Health Service Commissioned Corp.
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Military positions in public health
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State agricultural departments
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Universities doing teaching and research in the broad field of public health
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International public health
Prerequisites
To be a candidate for this combined degree the applicant must be accepted into the DVM program as a condition of acceptance into the combined degree. This may occur concurrently but the condition of acceptance into the DVM must be made before final acceptance into the combined program. The admission committees of the two colleges will independently review the candidate for acceptance into the combined degree. For information about the DVM program at Iowa State University, please see http://vetmed.iastate.edu/.
MPH Core Courses (18 s.h.)
The following courses are required of students in the MPH program. 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 a course to achieve this standard.
| MPH:5100/170:101 | Intro to Public Health | 3 s.h. |
| BIOS:5110/171:161 | Intro to Biostatistics | 3 s.h. |
| CBH:5105/172:101 | Intro to Health Promotion and Disease Prevention | 3 s.h. |
| EPID:5400/173:140 | Epidemiology I: Principles | 3 s.h. |
| HMP:4000/174:102 | Intro to the US Healthcare System | 3 s.h. |
| OEH:4240/175:197 | Environmental Health | 3 s.h. |
Practicum Requirement (3 s.h.)
All MPH students are required to complete a 200 hours practice course (170:299) that includes a paper and an oral or poster presentation. The practicum experience must be related to skill demonstration in a setting that has components of public health and veterinary medicine.
| MPH:7000/170:299 | MPH Practicum Experience | 3 s.h. |
Pre-Requisite to MPH Practicum:
Students must complete all of their MPH core courses and the majority of other MPH coursework prior to registering for the Practicum. For additional information, regarding the practicum experience, please visit the official practicum website.
Required Courses - ISU College of Veterinary Medicine
Transfer of 12 hours from the veterinary medicine course work includes the following courses:
| VMPM 388 | Public Health and the Role of the Veterinary Profession | 3 s.h. |
| VCS 436 | Small Animal Internal Medicine | 2 s.h. |
| VMPM 437 | Infectious Diseases and Preventive Medicine | 3 s.h. |
| BMS 443 | Pharmacology and Therapeutics | 3 s.h. |
| VMPM 486 | Laboratory in Public Health | 1 s.h. |
Electives
Students must choose at least 9 s.h. from these on-campus and distance education courses.
| MPH:6700/170:175 | Public Health Preparedness* | 2 s.h. |
| EPID:5200/173:120 | Principles of Public Health Informatics* | 3 s.h. |
| EPID:5300/173:130 | Food Safety (summer institute in Ames) |
3 s.h. |
| EPID:5470/173:147 | Applied Veterinary Epidemiology/Biostats summer institute in Ames) |
3 s.h. |
| EPID:5550/173:155 | Diagnostic Microbiology for Epidemiologists* | 3 s.h. |
| EPID:5590/173:159 | Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (summer institute course in Iowa City) |
2 s.h. |
| EPID:6550/173:255 | Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases* | 3 s.h. |
| OEH:4510/175:170 | Injury Violence and Prevention* | 3 s.h. |
| OEH:5520/175:175 | Research Methods in Disaster Studies* | 3 s.h. |
| OEH:6110/175:209 | Rural Health and Agricultural Medicine* (summer institute in Iowa City) |
3 s.h. |
| OEH:6120/175:210 | Current Topics in Agricultural Health* | 1 s.h. |
| OEH:5120/175:211 | Veterinary Public Health: The Profession (summer institute in Iowa City) |
1 s.h. |
*Courses are available as distance education courses
Summary of Degree Requirements
| MPH Core | 18 s.h. |
| Practicum | 3 s.h. |
| Bioscience | 0 s.h. |
| MPH Focus Courses | 9 s.h. |
| DVM Focus Courses | 12 s.h. |
| Total | 42 s.h. |