Overview: Degrees, Programs, and Requirements

Types of Degrees Offered

Master’s Degrees

SM (Master of Science) - The 80-credit and 60-credit degrees require a prior bachelor’s degree; the 42.5-credit degree requires a prior master’s or doctoral degree.

MPH (Master of Public Health) - MPH candidates are expected to have an MD, JD, or health-related doctoral or prior master’s degree plus experience.

Doctoral Degrees

DrPH (Doctor of Public Health) – Available summer 2014. Requires a prior bachelor’s degree. No prior public health degree is required.
SD (Doctor of Science) – Requires a prior bachelor’s degree minimum.
PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)  – Offered under the aegis of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, these doctoral degrees focus on laboratory-based research.

Individual degree programs have specific requirements. For more information, please consult the section of this catalog devoted to your program of interest.

Master’s Degree Programs, 2012-13
SM (80 credits)	SM (42.5 credits)	MPH
BiostatisticsEnvironmental Health Exposure, Epidemiology & Risk Occupational Health Epidemiology Global Health & Population Health Policy & Management Social and Behavioral Sciences	Biostatistics Environmental Health Exposure, Epidemiology & Risk Occupational Health Epidemiology Health Care Management Health Policy & Management Social and Behavioral Sciences Dual Degree SM/MSN (Master of Science in Nursing), a maternal and child health program offered with Simmons College	Schoolwide, interdisciplinary program with concentrations in: Clinical Effectiveness Global Health Health & Social Behavior Health Care Management & Policy Law & Public Health Occupational & Environmental Health Quantitative Methods Dual Degrees MD (Doctor of Medicine)/MPH JD (Doctor of Law)/MPH; for Harvard Law School students only Because of the interdisciplinary nature of these degrees, the diploma does not include a department name.
SM (60 credits)
Biostatistics

 

Doctoral Degree Programs, 2012-13
SD	DrPH	PhD
Environmental Health Exposure, Epidemiology & Risk Occupational Health Molecular & Integrative Physiological Sciences Epidemiology Global Health & Population Nutrition Social and Behavioral Sciences	New program available summer 2014. For more information see here.	BiostatisticsBiological Sciences in Public HealthOffered in: Genetics & Complex Diseases Immunology & Infectious Diseases Molecular & Integrative Physiological Sciences Nutrition Health Policy

Additional information on all programs, including course requirements and electives, is available at http://hsph.harvard.edu/academics.

The names of the departments generally convey their educational and research specialization. Where concentrations are available within some departments, these are listed in the chart. Interdisciplinary concentrations are described separately.

Department areas of interest, described in this catalog but not listed in the chart, are less formal than concentrations, each providing a direction of study within a degree program.

Schoolwide Degree Requirements

All HSPH degree programs require the completion of some coursework intended to ensure basic competencies in public health sciences. Prospective students should consult the descriptions in this catalog for more information about particular programs and their specific admission and degree requirements.

Professional Master’s Degrees
These degrees are practice oriented, and in general they comprise the MPH and the 80-credit SM, although there are exceptions. For all professional master’s degree programs, students must:

• Fulfill core requirements in biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health sciences, health services administration, and social and behavioral sciences.
• Complete a practice experience and a culminating experience, demonstrating integration of public health knowledge.

Research-oriented Master’s Degrees
For these programs, most but not all of which are the 42.5-credit SM, students must fulfill the core requirements in biostatistics and epidemiology.

Doctoral Degrees
Students in HSPH doctoral programs must adhere to the doctoral timetable for maintaining satisfactory progress and must fulfill the following requirements:

• Completion of coursework in one major field (20 credits) and two minor fields (10 credits each).
• Completion of courses in introductory epidemiology and intermediate biostatistics.
• Completion of the schoolwide oral qualifying examination, usually by the end of the second year. (Some departments also require a written qualifying examination.)
• Completion of a program of independent and original research in one of the basic disciplines of public health.
• The presentation and submission of this research in a dissertation and the public defense of the dissertation.
• Payment of at least two years of full-time tuition and one year of full-time reduced tuition.

Resources

• Consult degree planners available at each department’s website. These online tools provide sample course schedules.
• Download the Student Handbook for detailed information about requirements, timetables, and procedures.
• Additional application and enrollment information.