Competencies

Competencies are the skills and knowledge that you will gain from graduating from our MPH Program.  Our MPH Program covers 27 competencies: competencies 1-22 reflect the core areas of public health and competencies 23-27 reflect our Program's concentration.

Core:

  1. Apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice.
  2. Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context.
  3. Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming and software, as appropriate.
  4. Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy or practice.
  5. Compare the organization, structure and function of health care, public health and regulatory systems across national and international settings.
  6. Discuss the means by which structural bias, social inequities and racism undermine health and create challenges to achieving health equity at organizational, community and societal levels.
  7. Assess population needs, assets and capacities that affect communities’ health.
  8. Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design or implementation of public health policies or programs.
  9. Design a population-based policy, program, project or intervention.
  10. Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management.
  11. Select methods to evaluate public health programs.
  12. Discuss the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence.
  13. Propose strategies to identify relevant communities and individuals and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes.
  14. Advocate for political, social or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations.
  15. Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity.
  16. Apply leadership and/or management principles to address a relevant issue.
  17. Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges.
  18. Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors.
  19. Communicate audience-appropriate (i.e., non-academic, non-peer audience) public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation to a non-academic, non-peer audience with attention to factors such as literacy and health literacy.
  20. Describe the importance of cultural humility in communicating public health content.
  21. Integrate perspectives from other sectors and/or professions to promote and advance population health.
  22. Apply a systems thinking tool to visually represent a public health issue in a format other than a standard narrative.

Concentration:

  1. Describe community driven and culturally appropriate strategies for working with Indigenous communities facing specific challenges to improve population health.
  2. Establish observable relationships between the present level of environmental stresses and human health.
  3. Apply public health economics to advance evidence-based decision making in public health policy & practice.
  4. Design and appraise information systems that support the practice of public health using established software and database design principles.
  5. Make evidence-based decisions to improve population health under time pressure with incomplete and imperfect information.