Community Medicine Residency Program

MPH - Public Health Leadership

The program was developed to provide residents enrolled in the Royal College Residency Training Program in Community Medicine, University of Alberta, with the opportunity to complete a course-based Master's Degree in Community Medicine while they are enrolled in the residency program.

Residents are based in the Department of Public Health Sciences where much of the academic experience is shared with MSc and PhD graduate students in epidemiology, community health and biostatistics. The MPH in Public Health Leadership provides the knowledge and skill to manage and lead public health organizations to meet the issues and challenges of today and the future. Course work will give a broad based understanding of the disciplines that contribute to public health, communicable and chronic disease prevention and control, environmental health, health promotion and population health. It will lead to an understanding of and the ability to conduct strategic planning, needs assessments, identification of health priorities and objectives, data collection and analysis, advocacy and to influence and change policies to improve public health. The student will learn, practice, and improve their leadership, communication, and consultation skills. Prior work experience will be considered in assessing applications. The MPH in Public Health Leadership is designed to provide academic training for both physicians within the community medicine residency program and others already working, or planning to work, in community health.

Admission Requirements

To enter the course-based Master's Degree program in Public Health Sciences , one would be required to:

Applicants must have a minimum of a baccalaureate degree in health sciences, nursing or an MD, or other relevant subject, and related postgraduate training or experience.

A prerequisite for admission is a recent course in introductory statistics such as STAT 141 or 151. Admission may be granted provisionally pending successful completion of one of these courses, or equivalent. Applicants with prior statistics training may have this prerequisite waived by demonstrating satisfactory knowledge.

Objectives

Graduates from this program will:

  1. have an in-depth understanding of the disciplines and tools of public health;
  2. have managerial knowledge and skills to operate public health organizations;
  3. be able to design and perform strategic planning, budgeting, human resource management functions in a public health organization;
  4. understand and be able to apply the science and art of preventing disease, promoting health and prolonging life through organized efforts of society;
  5. understand the framework within which health policy decisions are or should be made;
  6. be able to critically evaluate the scientific literature related to public health;
  7. have the basic knowledge of the skills and qualities required to be a good leader and to continue further training to improve these.

Application Procedures

The application procedures are those required for admission to graduate programs within the Department of Public Health Sciences.


Advanced Credit


As outlined in the Faculty of Graduate Studies Calendar.


Credit for Undergraduate Courses


 Not applicable


Time Limit

All requirements for the degree must be completed within five residency years

Financial Assistance


 Limited financial assistance may be available to qualified students. For information on awards, please see the Financial Aid section of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Students applying for Graduate Scholarships must submit their applications to the Department by January 15.


Required Examinations and Other Evaluations


 The courses will be evaluated using the standard procedures outlined for each course within the Graduate Education Program of the Department of Public Health Sciences and in compliance with the requirements of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Alberta .


Courses

Required Courses (*36)
There are eleven core courses: 

HPS 501 Social and Behavioural Foundations in Promoting Health
PHS 509 Field Practicum 
PHS 510 Introduction to Environmental Health 
PHS 512 Risk Assessment and Management 
PHS 531 Statistical Methods in Health Research
PHS 580 Management and Design of Health Care Organizations
PHS 596 Epidemiology Methods I  
PHS 600 Health Policy
PHS 702 Project in Public Health
PHS 709 Basics of Public Health Leadership
PHS 719 Public Health Biology 

The basic common core public health courses (PHS 510, 531, 596, 600 and HPS 501) involve integration exercises to demonstrate the interaction of biostatistics, epidemiology, health policy, socio-behavioural sciences and environmental health sciences across public health issues. Ethics and communication are also covered as cross-cutting themes in these core courses.

Elective Courses (*9)
Students are required to complete three graduate level (*9) electives from the following list of courses approved by the Department:

PHS 520 Occupational and Environmental Diseases 
PHS 540 Population Health Research Methods - Qualitative and Participatory Approaches
PHS 550 Introduction to Health Care Finance
PHS 680 Health Care Marketing and Planning
PHS 697 Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases
PHS 709 Human Resources in Public Health
PHS 719 Emergency Preparedness, Planning and Response
PHS 749 Fundamentals of Strategic Planning
or other advanced level courses as approved by the student’s faculty advisor and Graduate Coordinator.

Practicum and Capping Exercise (Project)
An approved 15-17 week practicum (PHS 509) is designed as a practical educational and training experience and a Project in Public Health (PHS 702).

Length of Program
The minimum time to complete the program is 16 months. The maximum time permitted for completion of the program is six years.

Additional Required Activities