Be the Leader Your Community Needs for a Healthier Future
Meet the demand for public health leadership with a master's degree from Nova Southeastern University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. You'll gain a deep understanding of all aspects of public health, including biological, social, environmental, demographic, and political; all with an emphasis on multicultural and underserved populations. Graduate with the tools and expertise to enter work in a setting that matters most to you.
Learn and Live Your Life
With our on-site evening classes and online course options, you have the flexibility to schedule your studies around your daily schedule and adjust when, where, and how you take courses to fit your needs. The curriculum between on-site and online is fundamentally the same and is often taught by the same faculty member.
The M.P.H. Program has been extremely valuable in advancing my career by giving me the foundational knowledge in how to research public health issues and how to solve them from a public health perspective. All the core courses are applicable and can be utilized in everyday life. The instructors are wonderful and always have an open-door policy or in my case, a call-anytime policy. I am sad to be graduating this semester, but know I have great resources at NSU to contact in my future endeavors in public health.
M.P.H. Graduate
Quick Facts
Tuition
Tuition for the 2021-2022 academic year (subject to change by the Board of Trustees without notice) is $646/semester credit hour.
Credits & Requirements
Earn your degree in as little as one year. The M.P.H. program is 42 total credits and can be taken on a full-time or part-time basis.
Application Deadlines
For Winter Admission: December 15
For Summer Admission: April 15
For Fall Admission: August 1
Delivery Options
The M.P.H. is offered on campus at the Fort Lauderdale/Davie Campus in the evenings and online so you can fit classes into your schedule.
Open Advising
Every Monday from 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm EST
Join Zoom Meeting
Potential Career Paths
Why Earn Your M.P.H. at NSU?
Flexible Course Load
Complete your classwork while maintaining commitments like career and family with on-site and online evening classes.
Hands-On Electives
Get direct exposure to research and community projects in mental health, genetics, oral health, health disparities, global health, and more.
Sought-After Skills for Health Care
Choose to master a variety of disciplines. This course of study is an ideal complement to other health profession degrees.
Comprehensive Accreditation
See Where a Master of Public Health Degree
Can Take You
Get the NSU Edge
Don’t just be another fish in the school. Be a Shark. That’s the NSU Edge. And as a student in the Master of Public Health Program, you’ll:
- Discover how public health education complements all health professions degrees.
- Become a leader of public health programs and services.
- Benefit from professional diversity of faculty members and students.
- Enjoy flexible online or on-site public health courses.
- Experience a fully accredited Master of Public Health program.
Earning Potential
M.P.H. Curriculum
Through a combination of core courses and electives, the M.P.H. curriculum includes comprehensive teachings about public health as well as unique opportunities to explore tracks like global health, communications, substance abuse, and more.
Core Competencies
The core competencies of NSU’s M.P.H. program align directly with the program’s mission to improve the health of the population through education, research, and service, with an emphasis on multicultural and underserved populations.
Profession and Science of Public Health
- Explain public health history, philosophy, and values.
- Identify the core functions of public health and the 10 Essential Services.
- Explain the role of quantitative and qualitative methods and sciences in describing and assessing a population’s health.
- List major causes and trends of morbidity and mortality in the United States or another community relevant to the school or program.
- Discuss the science of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention in population health, including health promotion, screening, etc.
- Explain the critical importance of evidence in advancing public health knowledge.
Factors Related to Human Health
- Explain effects of environmental factors on a population’s health.
- Explain biological and genetic factors that affect a population’s health.
- Explain behavioral and psychological factors that affect a population’s health.
- Explain the social, political, and economic determinants of health and how they contribute to population health and health inequities.
- Explain how globalization affects global burdens of disease.
- Explain an ecological perspective on the connections among human health, animal health, and ecosystem health (e.g., One Health).
Evidence-Based Approaches to Public Health
- Apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice.
- Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context.
- Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, and computer-based programming and software, as appropriate.
- Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy, or practice.
Public Health and Health Care Systems
- Compare the organization, structure, and function of health care, public health, and regulatory systems across national and international settings.
- Discuss the means by which structural bias, social inequities, and racism undermine health and create challenges to achieving health equity at organizational, community, and societal levels.
Planning and Management to Promote Health
- Assess population needs, assets, and capacities that affect communities’ health.
- Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design or implementation of public health policies or programs.
- Design a population-based policy, program, project, or intervention.
- Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management.
- Select methods to evaluate public health programs.
Policy in Public Health
- Discuss multiple dimensions of the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence.
- Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes.
- Advocate for political, social, or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations.
- Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity.
Leadership
- Apply principles of leadership, governance, and management, which include creating a vision, empowering others, fostering collaboration, and guiding decision-making.
- Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges.
Communication
- Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors.
- Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation.
- Describe the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content.
Interprofessional Practice
- Perform effectively on interprofessional teams.
Systems Thinking
- Apply systems thinking tools to a public health issue.
- Evaluate how health information technology provides a deeper investigation and understanding of relevant public health issues.
- Analyze health planning processes at the national and local levels.
- Apply ethical theories to public health practice and research with vulnerable populations.
- Critically review the scientific evidence behind a specific environmental or occupational health practices or intervention.
- Develop a grant proposal appropriate for submission to a local funding opportunity.
Get Core Knowledge with a Graduate Certificate
If you’re interested in learning fundamental principles of public health without pursuing an entire graduate degree, a certificate might be right for you. Both options allow you to enhance your job credentials and follow the same structure:
- 15-credit graduate certificate program
- Online only with synchronous classes and asynchronous work
- Each course must be successfully completed with a grade B or better to be eligible for a certificate
- Previous coursework does not guarantee acceptance into the M.P.H. degree-seeking program but it may be transferable. If after taking three courses in the certificate program a certificate-seeking student decides to pursue the M.P.H. program, the student must submit a new and complete application to become an M.P.H. student and must meet all requirements for admission to the M.P.H. program.
Explore Public Health as a Non-Degree Seeking Student
If you’d like to take a few courses for exploration, professional development, or prep for another track, you can enroll as a non-degree seeking student and take up to four courses (12 credits). You must still apply, send in your transcripts, and pay the application fee.
If you decide later to pursue the M.P.H. degree, you will need to submit a new application. Your previous application does not guarantee acceptance into the M.P.H. degree-seeking program.
Graduate students from other NSU programs who elect to take public health courses may do so with written approval of the public health program director.
Admission Requirements
Ready for the Next Step?
Let’s get started! You can apply for entry in any one of the three semesters—fall, winter, or summer.
Go to Application
Complete the online application form
If you’re a first-time user, be sure to create a Graduate Account to begin.
Pay the nonrefundable application fee of $50 (USD)
You can pay this online through the application portal or send a check to the address below.
Request your transcripts
Request transcripts from all schools attended and/or agency evaluation of foreign degree be mailed to the address below or sent electronically to electronictranscript@nova.edu.
Request two letters of recommendation
One from a health professional and one from an individual (not a relative) who can speak to your character and work ethic. Send to the email address below.
Submitting Your Materials
Please email all documents to: admitdocs@nova.edu
Mailing Address (Domestic)
Nova Southeastern University
Enrollment Processing Services (EPS)
College of Osteopathic Medicine
Master of Public Health
3301 College Avenue
P.O. Box 299000
Fort Lauderdale, Fl 33314-9905
Applicants or matriculated students of the M.P.H. program may petition for transfer of a maximum of four courses (12 credits) of elective or core courses toward their M.P.H. degrees from a regionally accredited graduate program.
Please note:
- Any core courses to be transferred must have been taken at a program, school, or college accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
- While the student is enrolled in NSU’s M.P.H. program, any courses taken at another academic program or institution that the student desires to transfer as credit to the M.P.H. program must have prior approval by the NSU program director.
- All courses considered for transfer into the program must have been successfully completed with a grade of B or better and must not have been applied to another awarded degree.
- Transfer course grades are not calculated toward the student’s grade point average.
- The applicant must submit a written request to the Curriculum Committee (e.g., official transcripts, syllabi, and catalogs). The Curriculum Committee will review the documents and will submit recommendations to the program director.
- The program does not give course credits for prior work experience.
Foreign nationals who reside outside the United States at the time of application and whose native language is not English must present evidence of proficiency in English by satisfactorily completing the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Score requirements are as follows: minimum paper score = 550; minimum computerized score = 213; minimum Internet score = 79. A score of 6.0 on the International English Language Testing System (ILETS) exam is accepted in lieu of the TOEFL.
For a full list of English proficiency tests that are accepted by the university, please visit International Students. Test scores must be submitted to the admissions office. For a TOEFL application information, visit the website at TOEFL or write to:
TOEFL
Educational Testing Services
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
(609)771-7100
Applicants who have attended foreign universities or colleges are required to have their academic credentials evaluated for U.S. institutional equivalence. While there are several credential evaluators, the most widely used companies are listed below, or visit NACES.
World Education Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 745
Old Chelsea Station
New York, New York
10113-0745
(212) 966-6311
www.wes.org
Josef Silny & Associates
7101 SW 102nd Avenue
Miami, Florida 33173
(305) 273-1616
www.jsilny.org
Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc.
P.O. Box 514070
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53203-3470
(414) 289-3400
www.ece.org
International students are encouraged to contact the Office of International Student Services at (954) 262-7240 or 800-541-6682, ext. 27240, or by emailing International Students or visiting the International Students web page.
Questions About
the Program?
Contact Ashleigh Bennett
at abennet1@nova.edu or call
954-262-0530.
After Applying, What Happens Next?
Depending on the time of year, the review process may take a few weeks. You can check your application status at any time via the online application portal. Once a decision has been made, notification is sent via email to the address on file.