Kent State University

The Master of Public Health degree in Public Health is designed to help students develop real-world knowledge and skills needed to pursue success in the public health industry.

The Public Health major comprises the following concentrations:

• The Biostatistics concentration prepares students in the quantitative science of health data collection, storage, retrieval, analysis and interpretation. Graduates are equipped to use statistical methods to design and analyze health-related surveys and experiments for improving health. The college’s faculty research interests include applying biostatistical analysis to understand critical health problems. Graduates in biostatistics are in demand at hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, state and local health departments, federal health agencies and biotechnology companies to analyze the effectiveness of new drugs and interventions, identify risk factors for disease and develop effective prevention strategies.
• The Epidemiology concentration prepares students to analyze the distribution and determinants of disease, disabilities and death in populations. Graduates are able to apply quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate disease outbreaks, determine causal relationships between environmental and biological factors, and conduct studies to project health trends in populations. Students benefit from public health faculty research agendas in bio-preparedness, public health surveillance systems, chronic disease, cancer and infectious disease epidemiology. Career opportunities for graduates include research positions in universities, medical schools and pharmaceutical companies; disease prevention specialists in hospitals; and surveillance managers in state and local health departments.
• The Health Policy and Management concentration prepares students to address public health risks and develop effective health services delivery models. This concentration incorporates health services research, health policy analysis and health care planning and management. Given the active research of the college’s faculty in identifying service gaps and in developing evidence-based practices and policy analysis, students emerge with strong skills in health services management, alternative models of service financing and strategies for improving services. Career opportunities for graduates include administrative and management positions in hospitals, clinics, state and local health departments, nursing homes and mental health facilities; policy analyst positions in health planning organizations and governmental agencies; and planning and management positions in health maintenance organizations and health insurance companies.
• The Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration provides students with an interdisciplinary approach to improve health in populations across the life course. Students learn to apply theoretical principles to design, implement and evaluate effective programs that include behavioral and environmental approaches. Graduates are able to design and evaluate public health interventions intended to improve health for families, workplaces, communities and other settings. The active research of the college’s faculty—particularly in the areas of childhood obesity, violence and injury prevention, substance abuse prevention and chronic disease prevention—provides students the opportunity to work on large-scale externally funded prevention research. Students are prepared for careers in health promotion; program design and evaluation; and prevention program development for state and local health departments, workplace health promotion programs, hospitals, international health agencies, mental health centers and non-profit organizations.