HSPH Catalog

Types of Degrees Offered

Master’s Degrees

SM (Master of Science) - The School offers the SM designed for candidates with two levels of prior education. In general, the 80-credit and 60-credit degree programs are for students who hold a bachelor’s degree, and the 42.5-credit degree is for those with a master’s or doctoral degree. Individual degree programs have specific requirements, so please consult the section of this catalog devoted to your program of interest for more information.

MPH (Master of Public Health) - MPH candidates are expected to have an MD, JD, or health-related
doctoral or prior master’s degree plus experience. See the MPH section of this catalog for specific requirements and eligible degrees.

Doctoral Degrees

DPH (Doctor of Public Health)
SD (Doctor of Science)
PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) - Offered under the aegis of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts
and Sciences, these doctoral degrees focus on laboratory-based research

Additional information on all programs, including course requirements and electives, is available at http://hsph.harvard.edu/academics.

The names of the departments generally convey their educational and research specialization. Where concentrations are available within some departments, these are listed in the chart. Interdisciplinary concentrations are described separately.

Department areas of interest, described in this catalog but not listed in the chart, are less formal than concentrations, each providing a direction of study within a degree program.

Schoolwide Degree Requirements

All HSPH degree programs require the completion of some coursework intended to ensure basic competencies in public health sciences. Prospective students should consult the descriptions in this catalog for more information about particular programs and their specific admission and degree requirements.

Professional Master’s Degrees

These degrees are practice oriented, and in general they comprise the MPH and the 80-credit SM, although there are exceptions. For all professional master’s degree programs, students must:

• Fulfill core requirements in biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health sciences, health services administration, and social and behavioral sciences.
• Complete a practice experience and a culminating experience, demonstrating integration of public health knowledge.

Research-oriented Master’s Degrees

For these programs, most but not all of which are the 42.5-credit SM, students must fulfill the core requirements in biostatistics and epidemiology.

Doctoral Degrees

Students in HSPH doctoral programs must adhere to the doctoral timetable for maintaining satisfactory progress and must fulfill the following requirements:

• Completion of coursework in one major field (20 credits) and two minor fields (10 credits each).
• Completion of courses in introductory epidemiology and intermediate biostatistics.
• Completion of the schoolwide oral qualifying examination, usually by the end of the second year. (Some departments also require a written qualifying examination.)
• Completion of a program of independent and original research in one of the basic disciplines of public health.
• The presentation and submission of this research in a dissertation and the public defense of the dissertation.
• Payment of at least two years of full-time tuition and one year of full-time reduced tuition.

Resources

• Consult degree planners available at each department’s website. These online tools provide sample course schedules.
• Download the Student Handbook for detailed information about requirements, timetables, and procedures.
• Additional application and enrollment information.