Master of Public Health Program

Partners in Public Health Practice

“ The partnership between the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Brown MPH Program is exciting. We are linking students and faculty in the academic community to the rough-and-tumble world of public health policy and practice. Students participate in solving real problems, and we benefit from their research and analysis.”

As the state’s only school of medicine and home to its first and only program in public health, Brown Medical School enjoys a privileged and vital relationship with the Rhode Island Department of Health (http://www.health.state.ri.us/) . The MPH Program has been developed in partnership with the Department of Health and continues to benefit from the strong collaborative relationship. This partnership affords students an invaluable educational advantage: exceptional research opportunities and participation in community service and data analytic internships through the Department of Health and other community agencies. Students thus experience firsthand the day-to-day activities of a community public health setting, with an emphasis on understanding the availability, limitations, and application of population-based data to the development of health policy. The MPH curriculum and practice requirements are directed toward producing well-trained public health generalists with the highly developed analytical skills required to influence public policy and practice, and to forge needed change in diverse settings.

In addition to the close relationship with the Rhode Island Department of Health, faculty and students are engaged in research and evaluation programs with the Rhode Island Department of Human Services (http://www.dhs.state.ri.us/) , the agency responsible for administering the state Medicaid program and other programs critical to public health. Non-governmental agencies, such as Rhode Island Quality Partners (http://www.riqualitypartners.org/index.php) have also provided excellent training opportunities for Brown MPH Students.

Hospitals affiliated with the Brown Medical School (http://bms.brown.edu/academics/clinical_sites.html ) are also sites of important applied public health work. Examples include the Center of Excellence for Women’s Health (http://www.wihri.org/body.cfm?id=625), at Women and Infant’s Hospital, the Injury Prevention Center (http://www.lifespan.org/services/emergency/ipc/) at the Hasbro Children’s Hospital/Rhode Island Hospital (http://www.lifespan.org/), and the Department of Family Medicine (http://bms.brown.edu/familymedicine/koop_fellowship.htm) at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island (http://mhriweb.org/). Students are encouraged to explore the range of options available for research and public health practice at the Brown affiliated hospitals.