The MPH concentration in environmental health offers a program of study that gives students both a firm foundation and the flexibility to pursue their own interests, supported by a faculty with deep experience in teaching and research.
MPH graduates with the environmental health concentration work today as directors of public health or environmental health for cities and towns, as program managers in state and federal health agencies, and in many roles in non-profit agencies. Other alumni hold research positions in public and private health research organizations, work as consultants in private risk assessment companies, or are physicians in occupational and environmental clinics. Each year, BUSPH alumni enter a wide range of jobs aimed at preventing environmental exposures and protecting public health.
MPH education in the department emphasizes sound science, the social values that are the foundation of public health, and training in the concepts and skills that will be the tools of the environmental health professional. These emphases are reflected in the requirements for the concentration in environmental health.
Basic program requirements
MPH students concentrating in environmental health must take the 4-credit core course
EH765
Survey of Environmental Health, the 4-credit
EH768
Introduction to Toxicology, and at least 8 additional credits in environmental health from the courses listed below.
Students concentrating in environmental health must also take five required core courses in other departments, rounding out the general MPH curriculum. We strongly recommend that our concentrators take the 4-credit core courses in epidemiology and biostatistics (that is,
EP712
Epidemiologic Methods and
BS703
Biostatistics). With the other required core courses in health services, social and behavioral sciences, and health law, this makes up 16 credits in core requirements in areas other than environmental health.
Thus, to meet the graduation requirement of 48 credits, most environmental health concentrators take 16 credits in electives. In most cases, students choose their electives from the same list of environmental health courses or closely related courses in other departments. We encourage each student to develop a deeper understanding-and a set of marketable job skills-focused in one of five tracks within the environmental health concentration.
All MPH students fulfill a practicum, in keeping with a School-wide requirement. This field placement in a work setting combines academic learning with hands-on experience in public health. Late in the program, students concentrating in environmental health meet a departmental requirement for a capstone project as the culmination of their MPH studies.
Areas of Focus in the environmental health concentration
Although students are not asked to formally declare a track within the environmental health concentration, most students chose to focus in one of these tracks.
Global ecology, environmental sustainability, and health. Students pursuing this track study the environmental health impacts of industrial development in the world's poorer nations, sustainable methods of sanitation, and infectious diseases. Classroom instruction prepares students for work in international settings and for non-governmental organization (NGO), governmental, and advocacy work.
Environmental epidemiology. This track focuses on the design and conduct of studies of specific environmental exposures and of diseases with environmental causes, tracking diseases and hazards (surveillance), and the methodology used to assess patterns of environmentally related diseases. Classes are taught in close collaboration with the Department of Epidemiology and include specialized instruction in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) methods and mathematical modeling. This track prepares students for research and public health department positions.
Environmental exposures and risk assessment. The courses in this track provide hands-on teaching of the tools for assessing exposure to, and associated health risks of, environmental hazards found in air, water, soil and other parts of the environment. Public health department practice, work with agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, research, consulting, and exposure assessment positions are all compatible with the training offered in this track.
Community-based environmental health and justice.
This track equips graduates with the knowledge and skills
necessary to develop strategies for current and emerging issues in
environmental health at the local level. Topic areas include air quality,
disaster preparedness, drinking water, food protection, hazardous materials, land
uses, solid and hazardous wastes and wastewater. The intersections of race,
class, and health inequalities are explored, and models of community-based participatory
research and interventions are studied. Information on related legal and policy
issues are also addressed. Students from this area typically go on to work for
public health agencies and non-governmental organizations.
Courses that count for concentration credit in environmental health
The following courses may be taken for concentration credit in environmental health. For brief descriptions of these courses, click here.
Culminating experience (capstone) requirement in environmental health
The environmental health curriculum includes a culminating educational experience-also known as a "capstone" project-as students near the end of their time at the School. The capstone project is twofold: students take one of a set of designated courses, each of which involves writing a substantial paper, and then present the paper in a capstone seminar. The designated capstone courses, which span the areas of study within the concentration, all require students to synthesize and apply knowledge. The courses are: Environmental Epidemiology (
EH757
), Exposure Assessment (
EH804
), Intermediate Toxicology (
EH840
), and Risk Assessment Methods (
EH866
). In addition, a 4-credit directed studies course in environmental health may be developed to meet the capstone requirement, allowing students to pursue other subject areas.
At the end of each semester, the department holds a seminar session in which students completing a capstone course present their papers to one another and to the faculty involved in their papers. In this final seminar, students explain their work and its significance to people with different perspective perspectives, and see their own work within the broader framework of environmental health.
Boston University School of Public Health 
