Over the past decade, New Hampshire has consistently been rated as one of the five healthiest states in the U.S. with some of the lowest percentages of violent crime, infant mortality, and obesity according to data gathered from the CDC and surveys published in Health magazine. This is partly due to the fact that New Hampshire residents are known for being physically active, enjoying access to outdoor activities year round. Climbing in the Appalachian Mountains, biking along hundreds of miles of trails, or kayaking through the state’s rivers, all provide ample opportunity to stay active and healthy.
However, health is about more than just exercise. Public health professionals are responsible for organizing and maintaining programs meant to educate and inform the public about health risks and to provide affordable care options for the sick and injured in at-risk communities. The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) redoubled its efforts recently around a handful of initiatives that address the greatest health risks residents of the Granite State face.
These efforts include new programs aimed at reducing smoking in children and adults, obesity education intended to combat heart disease and diabetes, and emergency preparedness meant to improve disaster response time. New programs developed in the years to come will be put into the hands of public health professionals working towards making New Hampshire the healthiest state in the country.
Earning a Master’s Degrees in Public Health in New Hampshire
The Master of Public Health (MPH) is designed to expose students to the multifaceted world of public health and prepare them for leadership roles in policy development and program administration. Professionals from varied backgrounds pursue the MPH, building upon their existing expertise in such fields as public administration, health administration, nursing, business, behavioral science, teaching and much more.
Academic Overview of an MPH
The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) has established the standards for accredited MPH programs based on the MPH Core Competency Model developed by the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH). The five core competencies of all accredited MPH programs are:
- Biostatistics
- Environmental Health Sciences
- Epidemiology
- Health Policy Management
- Social and Behavioral Sciences
While these five core competencies form the basis of the Master of Public Health, the ASPH also identified seven interdisciplinary areas of focus that they believe are necessary for success in public health policy development and program administration:
- Communication and Informatics
- Diversity and Culture
- Leadership
- Professionalism
- Program Planning
- Public Health Biology
- Systems Thinking
Admission Requirements
Standard requirements for being admitted into a master’s program in public health include:
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited program/university
- Submission of GRE, LSAT, GMAT, or MCAT
- Submission of official transcripts from all other undergraduate and graduate institutions
- Submission of a 500-1000 word purpose essay
- Resume
- Two letters of recommendation
Specialization
MPH programs will regularly offer unique areas of specialization that prepare students to excel in key areas of public health policy and administration. Focus areas differ by program and can cover a vast array of subjects outside of the core competencies. Most of these specializations will constitute between 10 and 15 additional credits alongside their core courses. Specialty tracks most relevant to public health policy development and program administration are:
Health Communication: In 2013, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services announced a new partnership with Medscape that would change the way urgent health messages are delivered to New Hampshire’s response teams. This partnership worked alongside the Communicator!NXT alert system to enhance health alerts through text, phone, fax, e-mail, and pager.
This allowed emergency responders and physicians to better communicate with each other while also providing new means of communication for public health administrators trying to oversee the process. Tools like these are designed and integrated by health communication specialists whose education is focused towards finding new ways to communicate complex and stressful health related issues between patients, physicians, and public health professionals.
Courses within this specialization may include:
- Leadership Seminar
- Global Health Communication Interventions
- Preventing Health Disparities
- Social Marketing
- Marketing and Research for Public Health
Health Policy: Health related expenses and policy make up 24 percent of expenditures out of the New Hampshire state budget according to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI). While many New Hampshire citizens are reasonably interested and concerned by the amount of money being spent on health, not all of them are able to easily understand the intricacies of health policy.
Health policy experts from FPI do their best to make the conversation easier by investigating health policy at the state and federal levels and working to explain those policies in a way that allows citizens and legislators alike to make informed decisions about developing health policy. Students in a health policy program will find themselves buried in legal texts as often as medical, learning to decipher the complex language of both fields.
Courses within this specialization may include:
- Monitoring and Evaluation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
- Qualitative Research Methods in Public Health
- Public Health and Law
- Global Health Diplomacy
- Leadership Seminar
- Law, Medicine and Ethics
Program Planning and Evaluation: Using science as a basis for decision making is absolutely crucial when it comes to healthcare. However, administrative costs and politics can heavily influence the development of health policy and whether crucial programs do or do not receive funding.
The New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits is an organization dedicated to helping nonprofits navigate the dangerous waters of planning and evaluating programs and health policy. They provide data and online tools designed by program planning specialists to help fledgeling nonprofits spread their wings safely. A program planning and evaluation program helps to teach students how to appropriately evaluate the success of their programs and how to make impactful changes to their health plans and policy.
Courses within this specialization may include:
- Monitoring and Evaluation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
- Researching Violence Against Women and Girls
- Qualitative Research Methods in Public Health
- Social Marketing
- Marketing Research for Public Health
Global Health: Around the world, there are a variety of complex issues faced by large multicultural populations that present health issues that local government workers are not equipped to handle. Epidemics of disease, injuries related to war, and sudden influxes of refugee populations can all pose unique problems that require specialized training to face. This coupled with longstanding issues like global poverty and hunger leaves a place for global health specialists to make a major impact.
Courses within this specialization may include:
- Monitoring and Evaluation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
- Researching Violence Against Women and Girls
- Global Health Communication Interventions
- Preventing Health Disparities
- Global Health Diplomacy
- Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology
- Climate Change and Social Change
Accelerated One-Year and Part-Time Options
Some MPH programs allow students to finish the degree in one year while maintaining a higher course load and a more rigorous schedule. To be accepted, applicants are typically expected to have a minimum 3.25 GPA, 60-90 hours of undergraduate coursework, and minimum GRE scores quantitative in the 40th percentile.
Part-time programs allow students to take as many as four years to complete graduate studies, which often better fits the schedule of working professionals.
Job Growth Projections for Master’s Educated Public Health Professionals in New Hampshire
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a wide variety of careers associated with the core competencies of accredited MPH programs are slated for significant job growth during the ten-year period leading up to 2022:
- Social and Community Service Managers- 20%
- Statisticians-17%
- Biological Scientists-1%
- Rehabilitation Counselors-36%
Salaries for Public Health Professions in New Hampshire that Require a Graduate Level Education
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics furnished the following salary figures for public health occupations in New Hampshire (2014). The salaries shown below range from the tenth percentile average (entry-level professionals) to the 90th percentile average (experienced professionals):
- Rehabilitation Counselors: $23,390 to $53,110
- Social Scientists: $44,210 to $89,210
- Biological Scientists: $34,580 to $145,310
- Social and Community Service Managers: $39,420 to $92,630
- Statisticians: $44,280 to $99,660
Career Opportunities for Public Health Professions in New Hampshire that Require a Graduate Level Education
The Master of Public Health prepares graduates for career opportunities in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. A survey of job vacancy announcements performed in December 2015 offered some insight into the types of jobs available in New Hampshire to master’s-prepared public health professionals (The following job descriptions are shown only as illustrative examples and don’t represent job offers or the assurance of employment.)
Research Project Manager, Dartmouth
Responsibilities:
- Plan, manage, and execute complex multi-component research projects related to health care, health policy, or clinical practice
- Serve as a member of the research team to develop and achieve project objectives
- Facilitate execution of project plans
- Communicate project status to leadership
- Resolve problems
Requirements:
- 5 years of experience in research project management or health care
- Prior experience with research and/or management
- Proven ability to effectively collaborate and interact with all levels of staff, management, and executive leadership
- Comprehensive understanding of rigorous research design, implementation, and analysis
QC Microbiologist, Novo Nordisk US Bio Production Inc.
Responsibilities:
- Conducts routine and specialized microbiological research using SOPs
- Collects Environmental Monitoring samples including high quality water systems, cleanroom environments and gases in the field
- Reviews microbiological trending data
- Assists with investigations and deviations to resolve issues related to failures and system deficiencies
- Assist with analyst training
Requirements:
- Excellent analytical and writing skills
- Understands microbiology concepts and objectives
- Familiar with QC GMP work environment
- Knowledge and application of a limited, core set of techniques and follows lab protocols for all work
Care Manager, WestBridge Community Services
Responsibilities:
- Work with individuals and families who experience severe and persistent mental illness and substance abuse disorders
- Participate in a wide-range of holistic activities like yoga, meditation, kayaking, and hiking
- Provide IDDT based on modified Assertive Community Treatment team model
Requirements:
- Willingness to participate in rotating on-call schedule.
- Hold clinical licensing
- Strong substance abuse treatment knowledge
- Experience with Assertive Community Treatment Model
- Group Therapy Experience
- Vocational Counseling experience
