Population Health for Clinicians Concentration

What You’ll Learn

Building on two decades of collaboration between the UNC schools of medicine and public health, this concentration offers an opportunity for medical students, physicians, and other clinicians to gain mastery in public health and population science. It also offers a unique interdisciplinary focus on clinical, prevention, population and social sciences.

Developed with the needs of clinical professionals in mind, our curriculum focuses on several areas relevant to improving population health:

• Prevention
• Critical appraisal of the health literature
• Evidence-based practice
• Research translatable to clinical practice areas
• United States health system policy

With the mentorship of our distinguished faculty members, you can you tailor the curriculum to your clinical interests in order to better apply your MPH training and practicum experience to advance your career goals and clinical work.

Career Opportunities

After graduation, you will be prepared to approach health both through individual patient interactions and through the lens of population health. You will have the skill set to:

• Accelerate the development and implementation of evidence-based solutions to pressing health problems in your areas of interest.
• Advance a holistic understanding of current and emerging public health challenges with a unique focus on prevention, quality and effectiveness.
• Collaborate across disciplines and professions to improve the health of individuals, communities and populations.

Learn more about the opportunities that await you with an MPH from the Gillings School.

Required Courses

In addition to the interdisciplinary, 14-credit Gillings MPH Core, you will take:

• PUBH 706: Advanced Health Policy for Clinicians
• BIOS 641: Quantitative Methods for Health Care Professionals I
• PUBH 750: Strategies of Prevention for Clinicians
• PUBH 751: Critical Appraisal of the Health Literature, Part I
• PUBH 752:  Critical Appraisal of the Health Literature, Part II
• PUBH 760: Clinical Measurement and Evaluation
• Graduate-level “selective” course for clinicians/practitioners
• PUBH 992: Population Health for Clinicians MPH Culminating Experience

Concentration Competencies

This program will empower you with the knowledge and skills to achieve the following core competencies:

• Demonstrate the ability to think critically and analytically about the priority prevention needs of populations and appropriate prevention strategies, considering evidence about benefits, harms and costs.
• Adopt a systematic approach to critical appraisal of health literature to inform the appropriate use of evidence.
• Demonstrate a clear understanding of, and ability to contribute to the creation and use of, innovative system strategies that enable constructive dialogue and collaboration across all health stakeholders and build public health and medical systems that deliver quality, effectiveness, safety and equity.
• Apply appropriate data collection methods to measure the burden of disease in a population, and to assess potential benefits and harms of various strategies to improve health and advance health equity.
• Synthesize evidence and disseminate findings that enhance the rapid translation of knowledge into policy and practice to promote population health priorities in clinical and community contexts.

Requirements and Sample Plan of Study

Population Health for Clinicians Degree Requirements and Sample Plan of Study (PDF)

Contact

Want to learn more?

Kristen Hurdle, MEd
Admissions Coordinator
kdhurdle@email.unc.edu

Adia Ware, MS
Assistant Director of Advising
aware@unc.edu

Concentration Leaders

Anna Schenck, PhD
Professor of the Practice and Director
Public Health Leadership Program
Schenck1@email.unc.edu

Cynthia Feltner, MD, MPH
Concentration Lead
Population Health for Clinicians, Public Health Leadership Program
cindy_feltner@med.unc.edu

Sue Tolleson-Rinehart, PhD
Lead Faculty
Population Health for Clinicians, Public Health Leadership Program
suetr@unc.edu