PharmD - MPH Dual-degree Program

College of Health

Reduce the cost and time for an MPH

Adding an MPH will give you experience in epidemiology, public health, and evidence-based medicine, and it's particularly important for students interested in population health management, pharmacoepidemiology, and community pharmacy practice.

Pharmacy students may complete the MPH degree with credits applied towards the MPH from their PharmD coursework.

Students enrolled in the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm. D.) degree program wishing also to complete a Masters of Public Health degree may do so if successfully admitted to the Office of Graduate Education and the College of Health (COH).

The College of Health offers an MPH degree with six on-campus options: biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental and occupational health; global health; health management and policy; and health systems and policy. We also offer the MPH online with an interdisciplinary option in public health practice.

Pharmacy students should enter the dual degree option as early in their studies as possible to streamline the dual degrees.

General Guidelines

PharmD electives

3 PharmD electives (9 credits) may be selected from any course in the MPH program requirements.

PharmD APPE rotations and MPH Internship

The 4 credits of the MPH internship (H539) can count towards the 4th year PharmD students APPE rotations (Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences).

For some MPH options, there may be a requirement of coursework completion before the internship, but exceptions can be made so should be discussed with MPH advisor. The MPH advisor and MPH Internship Coordinator for the MPH degree will work with the student to ensure that the experience meets the MPH internship criteria and competencies.

The internship will include a public health project that relates to the student’s MPH option, and will be precepted by a person who has public health training and knowledge that relates to the proposed internship project.

MPH option electives

MPH option electives may be selected from any of the PharmD required courses approved by the graduate council (see list below), except for the Epidemiology MPH where particular PharmD courses are suggested:

  • Biostatistics (12 elective credits) is open with advisor approval.
  • Environmental and Occupational Health (21 elective credits) is open with advisor approval.
  • Epidemiology (12 elective credits) can be fulfilled with the following Pharm D courses, with other courses possible with advisor approval:  
    • PHAR 729: EBM I: Information Science (3)
    • PHAR 773: EBM II: Biomedical Literature Appraisal (3)
    • PHAR 774: EBM III:  Prescription Drug Policy (3)    
    • PHAR 747: Infectious Diseases & Treatments (3)
  • Global Health (17-18 elective credits) is open with advisor approval.
  • Health Promotion and Health Behavior (13 elective credits) is open with advisor approval.
  • Health Systems Policy (10-14 elective credits) is open with advisor approval.

PHAR Graduate Approved Courses:

  • PHAR 729 EMB I:  Information Science
  • PHAR 733 Pharmaceutics I
  • PHAR 734 Pharmaceutics II
  • PHAR 735 Drug Action I
  • PHAR 737 Drug Action II
  • PHAR 738 Healthcare Systems I
  • PHAR 746 Pharmacy Management
  • PHAR 747 Infectious Diseases and Treatments
  • PHAR 748 Drug Action in Immunology and Inflammation
  • PHAR 750 Pharmacokinetics
  • PHAR 752 Integrated Drug Therapy I
  • PHAR 753 Integrated Drug Therapy II
  • PHAR 754 Integrated Drug Therapy III
  • PHAR 770 Advanced Pharmacokinetics
  • PHAR 773 Evidence-based practice II: Biomedical Literature Appraisal
  • PHAR 774 Evidence-based practice III: Prescription Drug Policy

Procedures

Procedures for pursuing an MPH with a Professional PharmD Program.

Admission

  • Students must apply separately to graduate (level 02) and professional (level 05) programs.
  • Upon admission to both programs the graduate program is entered manually as secondary curriculum under level 05.
  • The student is responsible for informing the Office of Graduate Education that they are pursuing their MPH in concurrence with a professional program in order to facilitate the manual entry that is required.

Adding a concurrent PharmD degree

If you are a current PharmD student adding an MPH as a concurrent degree, please submit an "Add Concurrent Degree (for current PharmD or DVM students only)" form.

Then email College of Health Admissions for further instructions.

Curriculum

  • Courses completed toward the MPH will be posted at the graduate level.
  • The MPH curriculum (degree, college, & major) will be posted to the student’s record under the graduate level.  

Student accounts

  • Students are billed according to the tuition and fee rates of their professional program.

Financial aid

  • Financial aid is based on the courses that apply to the students program (i.e. PHAR credits count towards hours needed for professional program aid and graduate level course hours are counted separately).

Student record

  • Courses and degrees awarded appear on graduate level (02) transcript and professional level (05) transcript.
  • Courses and degrees will appear on the level of transcript to which they belong: 700-numbered courses and the DVM degree will be on a professional level (05) transcript; 500/600-numbered courses and the MPH degree will be on a graduate level (02) transcript.

Student responsibility

  • Information that explains the process, their responsibilities, and the financial implications will be provided, by the department, to students pursuing this concurrent program.
  • The student is responsible for informing the Graduate School that they are pursuing their MPH in concurrence with a professional program in order to facilitate the manual entry that is required.
  • The student is responsible for educating themselves regarding the administration of financial aid under this program and for abiding by all applicable regulations.
  • Students accept responsibility for paying tuition at the professional program level while participating in this concurrent program.

Contact

For more information about this program, please contact:   College of Health Admissions.