Doctorate Degree Competencies

At the end of the program, the student will be able to:

  • Demonstrate basic skills in core public health sciences of epidemiology and biostatistics (listed in the MPH Curriculum Guide).
  • Develop comprehensive knowledge of the role of epidemiology as a basic science for public health and clinical medicine to provide a quantitative approach to addressing public health and clinical problems.
  • Interpret descriptive epidemiologic results in order to develop hypotheses of possible risk factors for a disease.
  • Critically evaluate public health and medical literature through knowledge gained of the basic principles and methods of epidemiology, including disease (outcome) measures, measures of association, study design options, bias, confounding, and effect measure modification.
  • Develop a foundation for designing valid and efficient protocols to address public health and clinical problems.
  • Apply quantitative skills to analyze and synthesize epidemiologic data related to public health issues.
  • Apply knowledge of the physiology and pathophysiology of human disease to epidemiologic studies.
  • Apply knowledge of classical and modern epidemiologic methods to study design.
  • Develop the skills to interpret the methods for disease screening.
  • Develop substantive knowledge of the epidemiology of infectious and chronic disease and apply this knowledge to public health issues.
  • Design and present an epidemiologic investigation (Dissertation) resulting in a publishable manuscript or grant application.