PharmD-MPH Combined Degree
This program is intended to provide students special expertise in public health as related to pharmacotherapy and health promotion, disease prevention, and medication safety. There are many areas where public health and pharmacy have interests and commitments that are related. Among these are: spread and treatment of disease, community health, immunology; bioterrorism, terrorism, and preparedness; genetics; insurance; managed care; family and juvenile health; and protection of special populations.
Graduates of the PharmD/MPH program will be able to:
- Serve as a public health professional having strong preparation and competency to deal with pharmacotherapy issues
- Serve as a pharmacist specializing in health care issues in a public health setting
- Serve in management positions in a health care pharmacy
- Be a drug use review specialist in a managed care program, or
- Serve as a community pharmacist with involvement in community-based prevention programs
Graduates who possess the dual degree will have employment opportunities in:
- Public and private hospitals and clinics and health care providers
- Private practice
- Insurance and managed care organizations
- Local, county, state, or federal government
- Public health governmental agencies such as CDC, HRSA, NIH, FDA
- Colleges and universities
Prerequisite
A minimum of 120 hours of undergraduate course work toward an undergraduate degree is required. Students must be admitted to the UI PharmD degree program to be admitted to the combined degree program. The cumulative grade-point average should be a minimum of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. One semester each of college algebra and biology is required for admission to the PharmD/MPH degree program. Candidates may be reviewed for each degree concurrently but the condition of acceptance into the PharmD must be made before final acceptance into the MPH program. For information on admission to the PharmD program, please see http://grad.admissions.uiowa.edu/academics/doctor-pharmacy-pharmd.
The following is a sample plan of study based on being a full-time student. Please work with your advisor to choose a plan that works best for you.
| Semester | Course No. | Course name | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| PharmD Year 1 | 3 s.h. | ||
| Spring | HMP:4000 | Intro to the US Healthcare System | 3 s.h. |
| PharmD Year 2 | 15 s.h. | ||
| Summer | CPH:5100 | Intro to Public Health (online) | 3 s.h. |
| Summer | BIOS:4120 | Intro to Biostatistics (online or face-to-face) | 3 s.h. |
| Summer | EPID:4400 | Epidemiology I: Principles (online) | 3 s.h. |
| Fall | CBH:4105 | Intro to Health Promotion and Disease Prevention | 3 s.h. |
| Spring | OEH:4240 | Global Environmental Health (online) | 3 s.h. |
| PharmD Year 3 | 17 s.h. | ||
| Summer | OEH:6110 | Rural Health and Agricultural Medicine | 3 s.h. |
| Fall | EPID:6910 | PharmacoEpi (Pick 1: EPID:6910 or EPID:5500) | 3 s.h. |
| Fall | EPID:5500 | Intro to Clinical Epi (Pick 1: EPID:6910 or EPID:5500) | 3 s.h. |
| Fall | CPH:6700 | Public Health Emergency Preparedness | 3 s.h. |
| Spring | CPH:7500 | MPH Applied Practice Experience | 2 s.h. |
| Spring | CPH:7200 | MPH Capstone Experience | 1 s.h. |
| PharmD Year 4 | |||
| Courses as needed. Both degrees conferred together in May. | |||
| MPH degree total | 42 s.h. |
The following 12 semester hours of credit are accepted from the PharmD program:
| Course No. | Course name | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| PHAR:8250 | Applications I | 1 s.h. |
| PHAR:8263 | IP: Infectious Disease | 4 s.h. |
| PHAR:8265 | Applications II | 1 s.h. |
| PHAR:8374 | Applications III | 1 s.h. |
| PHAR:8375 | Advanced Topics in Health Services | 2 s.h. |
| PHAR:8377 | Integrated Pharmacotherapy Capstone | 1 s.h. |
| PHAR:8378 | Pharmacy Law and Ethics | 2 s.h. |
| Total | 12 s.h. |
| Area | Hours |
|---|---|
| MPH Core | 18 s.h. |
| MPH Required | 9 s.h. |
| PharmD Required | 12 s.h. |
| Applied Practice Experience | 2 s.h. |
| MPH Capstone | 1 s.h. |
| Total | 42 s.h. |