Einstein and Ferkauf Announce New Master of Public Health Degree Program

April 2, 2010 — (BRONX, NY) — Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, both of Yeshiva University, have announced a collaborative new Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree program. This program is the first M.P.H. program in the U.S. led jointly by a school of medicine and a school of psychology, underscoring an emphasis on the behavioral and social influences of health.

The 42-credit M.P.H. program, offered as a 13-month full-time program or a 30-month part-time program, offers an emphasis on community-based research in the areas of prevention, chronic conditions, health disparities, and global health. Its focus is on practice-based research that can lead to evidence-based approaches to inform public health policy and practice. The program’s interdisciplinary approach enables students to integrate concepts and methods from the social and behavioral sciences, epidemiology and population health, global health, and ethics. The overall training goal is to produce leaders in applied public health research who will contribute to improved population health and help promote community well-being and social justice.

“We feel that it’s really important to train people to be able to deal with contemporary public health problems,” said Cheryl Merzel, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., director for the M.P.H. program. “So many health problems are rooted in behaviors, which are influenced by social conditions. For example, to deal with the health epidemics of obesity and diabetes we also have to tackle things like community access to affordable healthy foods.”

"The program prepares graduates to conduct applied public health research in a variety of settings, including health departments, health care facilities, non-profit organizations, and academia."

-- Paul Marantz, M.D., M.P.H.“The program prepares graduates to conduct applied public health research in a variety of settings, including health departments, health care facilities, non-profit organizations, and academia,” added Paul Marantz, M.D., M.P.H., co-director of the Institute for Public Health Sciences (IPHS) of Yeshiva University, as well as associate dean for clinical research education and professor of clinical epidemiology & population health at Einstein. “The collaboration leverages a range of faculty from various disciplines to train leaders who are committed both to improving public health and to contributing to scholarship in their respective fields.”

The M.P.H. program is housed within the Institute for Public Health Sciences, headquartered at the Jack and Pearl Resnick Campus of Einstein and Ferkauf, in the Bronx. The program is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2010. The deadline for applications is  Thursday, April 15, 2010. Additional information and the application form is available at www.yu.edu/iphs