The Harvard Chan DrPH curriculum is developed and approved by the DrPH Steering Committee and in accordance with the guidelines established by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
As of 2018-2019, the Harvard Chan School has aligned the DrPH Curriculum with the 2016 CEPH criteria, which provides students with a baseline in foundational public health knowledge and DrPH Foundational Competencies. The 2o DrPH Foundational Competencies are designed to produce transformative academic and practice leaders with expertise in evidence-based public health practice and research.
Public Health Foundational Knowledge Learning Objectives
PROFESSION & SCIENCE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
1. Explain public health history, philosophy and values
2. Identify the core functions of public health and the 10 Essential Services
3. Explain the role of quantitative and qualitative methods and sciences in describing and assessing a population’s health
4. List major causes and trends of morbidity and mortality in the US or other community relevant to the school or program
5. Discuss the science of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention in population health, including health promotion, screening, etc.
6. Explain the critical importance of evidence in advancing public health knowledge
FACTORS RELATED TO HUMAN HEALTH
7. Explain effects of environmental factors on a population’s health
8. Explain biological and genetic factors that affect a population’s health
9. Explain behavioral and psychological factor that affect a population’s health
10. Explain the social, political, and economic determinants of health and how they contribute to population health and health inequities
11. Explain how globalization affects global burdens of disease
12. Explain an ecological perspective on the connections among human health, animal health and ecosystem health (eg, One Health)
DrPH Foundational Competencies
Data & Analysis
1. Explain qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods and policy analysis research and evaluation methods to address health issues at multiple (individual, group, organization, community and population) levels.
2. Design a qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, policy analysis or evaluation project to address a public health issue.
3. Explain the use and limitations of surveillance systems and national surveys in assessing, monitoring and evaluating policies and programs and to address a population’s health.
Leadership, Management & Governance
4. Propose strategies for health improvement and elimination of health inequities by organizing stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, community leaders and other partners.
5. Communicate public health science to diverse stakeholders, including individuals at all levels of health literacy, for purposes of influencing behavior and policies.
6. Integrate knowledge, approaches, methods, values and potential contributions from multiple professions and systems in addressing public health problems.
7. Create a strategic plan.
8. Facilitate shared decision making through negotiation and consensus-building methods.
9. Create organizational change strategies.
10. Propose strategies to promote inclusion and equity within public health programs, policies and systems.
11. Assess one’s own strengths and weaknesses in leadership capacities, including cultural proficiency.
12. Propose human, fiscal and other resources to achieve a strategic goal.
13. Cultivate new resources and revenue streams to achieve a strategic goal.
Policy & Programs
14. Design a system-level intervention to address a public health issue.
15. Integrate knowledge of cultural values and practices in the design of public health policies and programs.
16. Integrate scientific information, legal and regulatory approaches, ethical frameworks and varied stakeholder interests in policy development and analysis.
17. Propose interprofessional team approaches to improving public health.
Education & Workforce Development
18. Assess an audience’s knowledge and learning needs.
19. Deliver training or educational experiences that promote learning in academic, organizational or community settings.
20. Use best practice modalities in pedagogical practices
DrPH Program Specific Competencies
1. Self-Awareness
Integrate awareness of self as a leader and learner including knowledge of strengths, areas of growth, and impact on others in the analysis of interpersonal relationships, intragroup dynamics, organizational structures, and systemic forces.
2. Leadership Consultative Process
Analyze the efficacy of work environments with respect to authority, collaboration, communication and governance and design evidence-based pathways to enhance performance.
3. Leveraging Teams
Devise capacity-building strategies to improve team effectiveness within organizations and across organizations and sectors.
4. Financial Literacy
Analyze the external financial statements and internal cost and management control information to discern the financial health of a unit, organization, or system.
5. Public Engagement and the Influence Eco-system
Analyze the impact of legislation, legal rulings, regulation and public opinion on the delivery of healthcare and on population health.
6. Intrapreneurship and Entrepreneurship
Design an approach to a public health issue that would involve the creation of a new independent venture (entrepreneurship) or a major new initiative in an existing organization (intrapreneurship) to innovatively address that issue.
7. Public Health Translational Science
Translate public health research and evidence-based best practices into achievable, sustainable and culturally sensitive change plans for an organization.
