What is Public Health?
- Public Health is defined as “the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts of society” (Acheson, 1988; WHO).
What is the role of a Public Health Professional?
As a public health professional, you will be trained to perform one or more of the following tasks:
- Monitor, diagnose and investigate the health status of a community to identify potential problems.
- Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues.
- Mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems.
- Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts.
- Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
- Promote equitable access to health services.
- Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services.
- Research new insights and innovative solutions to health problems.
Where you can work with a MPH Degree?
As a broad field, public health opens the door to a number of career opportunities and settings such as:
- State and local health departments or agencies,
- Nonprofits and community organizations,
- Health care organizations and hospitals,
- Private sector companies, such as health insurances and pharmaceutical companies,
- Colleges and universitie
- The vision of the program is to transform in a positive way the health and education of Puerto Rico communities.
- The mission is to provide a high-quality education with a multidisciplinary curriculum focused on service, and research to prepare future public health professionals with the necessary competencies to address public health issues in Puerto Rico.
- The program's goals to accomplish the mission are: (1) Education: Provide a multidisciplinary education to develop professionals with the competencies to address public health issues; (2) Research: Conduct research to contribute to advance knowledge in the public health field; and (3) Service: Promote underserved communities’ health through public health initiatives.
SJBSM MPH Program Highlights:
- Licensed by the Puerto Rico Board of Post-Secondary Institutions.
- Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).
- Evening program that offers distance education and face to face teaching methodologies.
- Guided by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) competencies and the introductory public health learning objectives.
- Highlights the Epidemiology and Biostatistics disciplines through the curriculum.
- Facilities with computers focused on statistical software and data management solutions.
- Approved, planned, and supervised practice experience in a community-based setting.
- Team-based research project to produce a scientific manuscript for publication in a peer review journal.
- Engage students, faculty and staff in activities that promotes the wellbeing of underserved populations.
- Community partnership to support students' learning experiences.
- Diverse and highly qualified faculty from different health fields, such as medicine, public health, law, education, administration, psychology, and natural sciences.
The mission of the SJBSM-MPH Program is to provide the highest quality education with a multidisciplinary curriculum focused on education, service, and research to prepare future public health professionals with the necessary competencies to address public health issues in Puerto Rico underserved populations.
The vision of the SJBSM-MPH Program is to positively transform the health and wellbeing of local and international communities.
Program Goals
- Education: To ensure the highest quality education to prepare professionals to address public health issues.
- Research: To conduct evidence-based research to identify and address issues in order to advance knowledge and community practice in the public health field.
- Service: To advance the health of underserved communities through collaborative public health approaches.
Values
The following core values enlighten the institutional environment and guide us in the fulfillment of our mission and goals:
- Professionalism: we foster the development of public health professionals with the necessary competencies to serve the community with enthusiasm, respect, integrity, responsibility, and a commitment.
- Diversity: we foster to develop health professionals ready to serve diverse populations.
- Educational Quality: we are committed to offer an outstanding education with a multidisciplinary integrative learning experience.
- Evidence-based Approach: we are committed to scientific rigor, critical analysis, and sound reasoning in public health and practice.
- Community Engagement: we are committed in participating and developing healthy communities.
