A degree from the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education offers guidance in becoming a highly effective analytical practitioner or the next generation of faculty members and researchers.  We offer a Master of Public Health (MPH), a dual master's degree with the Department of City and Regional Planning, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

• Master of Public Health (MPH)
• Joint master's degree (MPH/MRP)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
• Certificate in Interdisciplinary Health Communication
• For more information
  

Master of Public Health (MPH)

• plan, develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate public health programs,
• design interventions to prevent illness and injury, manage chronic disease and improve the community and environmental conditions that affect health,
• apply theory and scientific evidence in a way that maintains values of social justice and respect, and
• collaborate in diverse cross-cultural, community and organizational settings.

A hallmark of the program is intensive field training. MPH students expand their professional skills and competencies learned in the classroom to the realities of working with organizations and the communities they intend to serve by completing an individual 200- to 400-hour practicum in the summer after their first year in the program, and by completing a year-long capstone course that engages organizations or communities during students’ second year in the program. Students further synthesize and apply this learning by completing a written comprehensive examination, additional coursework tailored to their interests and a capstone deliverable (i.e., a product that individual students produce, as negotiated between the student and the organization they are working with).

Master’s Program Director - Laura A. Linnan, ScD, CHES

Joint master's degree(MPH/MRP)

Dual Master's Degree in Regional Planning. This dual degree program is offered jointly by our Department and the Department of City and Regional Planning. MPH/MRP graduates apply behavioral and social science methods to problems of public health and government and to the interdisciplinary union of engineering and design with behavioral and social sciences. Students complete both degree programs in three years by applying some courses toward the requirements of both degrees and not completing the 400-hour HBHE practicum. Students must apply to each degree program separately.

Masters Program Director - Laura A. Linnan, ScD, CHES

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Doctor of Philosophy  (PhD)

Our doctoral program addresses critical domestic and global public health issues. Doctoral students acquire skills needed to better understand public health problems and to develop, evaluate, and disseminate effective interventions.

The program emphasizes:

• understanding social and behavioral science theories as they apply to health,
• applying theory to public health research,
• mastery of research methods,
• understanding the principles and practices of health behavior and health education,
• conceptualizing public health problems at multiple levels and within diverse cultural and other contextsm,
• devising intensively interdisciplinary solutions and intervening where possible to address health disparities.

Training is accomplished through mentoring, coursework, practica and research for the dissertation. Students entering the program are matched with academic advisors who share their general area of interest. They complete two years of coursework and practica designed to enhance professional skills. Doctoral students have myriad opportunities to collaborate in cutting-edge research with faculty and through nationally recognized centers affiliated with the School (such as the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Injury Prevention Research Center, Sheps Center for Health Services Research). There are ample opportunities for doctoral students to teach in the Department's master's program.

Doctoral Program Director - Susan Ennett, PhD

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Please contact the Department's Student Services Manager for more information

lwcook@email.unc.edu

To enhance your UNC experience, the Department offers numerous ways for students to finance their education, get involved in volunteer service activities and participate in various student organizations. 

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