Maternal and Child Public Health Leadership Training (MCH) Program

This interdisciplinary program prepares students for careers in maternal and child public health practice, including applied research, program planning and management, policy development, and advocacy. Our goals are to:

  • train leaders in public health
  • enhance their analytic and management skills
  • develop effective advocates for women and children

Mission Statement

Learning Objectives

Our program is interdepartmental: students apply either to the Department of Epidemiology or the Department of Health Services, both in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine (SPHCM).

We offer graduate degree training through several pathways: Master of Public Health, Concurrent Degree Program, Extended Degree Program, Graduate Certificate Program, and Doctor of Philosophy.

All pathways combine academic and community experiences to give students:

  • an in-depth understanding of the behavioral, biological, social, and environmental factors that influence health and illness in maternal and child populations
  • knowledge of the ecological determinants of maternal and child health and disease
  • competency in the planning, management, and evaluation of public health programs and policies
  • competency in public health research, including designing questionnaires, interviewing, data collection and analysis, and statistical methods
  • opportunities to apply research and management tools to the planning, development, and evaluation of public health programs and policies

In recognition of our success in training public health professionals, our program is one of only 12 maternal and child public health leadership training programs nation-wide to receive financial support from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), Health Resources and Services Administration, of the US Department of Health and Human Services. In fact, our program has earned this distinction continuously since 1984. For more information about our long-term training grant, go to MCHB's MCH Training Program.

For more information about this program, contact Carmen Velasquez, Administrator.