Dornsife School of Public Health Graduate Program Level Outcomes
Upon degree completion, graduates of our programs will be able to...
- Apply epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice
- Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context
- Analyze quantitative and qualitative data using biostatistics, informatics, computer-based programming and software, as appropriate
- Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy or practice
- Compare the organization, structure and function of health care, public health and regulatory systems across national and international settings
- 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
- Assess population needs, assets and capacities that affect communities’ health
- Apply awareness of cultural values and practices to the design or implementation of public health policies or programs
- Design a population-based policy, program, project or intervention
- Explain basic principles and tools of budget and resource management
- Select methods to evaluate public health programs
- Discuss multiple dimensions of the policy-making process, including the roles of ethics and evidence
- Propose strategies to identify stakeholders and build coalitions and partnerships for influencing public health outcomes
- Advocate for political, social or economic policies and programs that will improve health in diverse populations
- Evaluate policies for their impact on public health and health equity
- Apply principles of leadership, governance and management, which include creating a vision, empowering others, fostering collaboration and guiding decision making
- Apply negotiation and mediation skills to address organizational or community challenges
- Select communication strategies for different audiences and sectors
- Communicate audience-appropriate public health content, both in writing and through oral presentation
- Describe the importance of cultural competence in communicating public health content
- Perform effectively on interprofessional teams
- Apply systems thinking tools to a public health issue
- Assess pathways of human exposure to hazardous agents and stressors in the environment and workplace
- Investigate and synthesize research on hazardous agents and their impacts on human health effects, including how individual and population factors affect vulnerability.
- Evaluate epidemiologic methods used in occupational and environmental research and interpret findings.
- Formulate testable hypotheses about critical knowledge and evidence gaps in environmental and occupational health.
- Apply appropriate study designs, data collection strategies, and analytical methods to test scientific hypotheses
- Communicate research findings and evidence through scientific manuscripts, presentations, and other forms to both scientific and lay audiences
- Address a research question by identifying appropriate study designs based on knowledge of biological basis of disease and calculating appropriate measures of disease frequency and risk
- Review and critically evaluate the validity of the design, analysis and interpretation of findings from published research studies
- Create and manage datasets appropriate for epidemiologic analyses from sources such as surveillance or other health-related investigations
- Conduct descriptive and hypothesis testing analyses of an epidemiologic data set using a standard statistical software package
- Create effective written and visual summaries of analysis results
- Critically evaluate the design of research studies, data collection methods, analysis methods, and results of published research
- Formulate appropriate research questions that are informed by underlying conceptual models
- Identify and apply appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical and epidemiologic methodologies to answer research questions in population health
- Effectively communicate statistical methods and research results orally and in writing across the spectrum of population health professionals
- Demonstrate an understanding of the ethics of scientific research on human subjects
- Master fundamental concepts in probability and statistical theory
- Construct an analysis plan to evaluate a scientific question of interest
- Critically appraise statistical methods literature
- Communicate statistical findings effectively and succinctly using data visualization tools and appropriate summaries
- Direct quantitative methods of collaborative investigations with researchers in public health, medicine, and other health science disciplines
- Analyze the social and behavioral determinants of health and illness, at the individual, community and societal levels, and the mechanisms required to design and evaluate interventions at all levels to improve health and address health inequity
- Develop and apply theoretical frameworks to formulate research questions relevant to the above areas of scholarship
- Use a broad range of methodological approaches to design and conduct research addressing these research questions, with the highest ethical standards
- Disseminate findings to a wide range of stakeholders, and engage in both scientifically rigorous and socially responsible processes to translate findings to improve the health of the public
- Develop a strong professional identity, and prepare to contribute meaningfully in a career as a scientist, administrator, and/or educator, to ensure the continued impact of the social and behavioral sciences in public health
- Evaluate basic principles related to environmental and occupational exposure assessment – including sources and characteristics of exposures, mechanisms, and methods for measuring and examining physical, chemical, biological, psychosocial and/or other exposures potentially related to human health
- Analyze relationships between exposures and human health, including variation in impacts by social, behavioral, psychosocial, and other susceptibility factors
- Critically evaluate and interpret published research in environmental and occupational health, from academic journals and other sources
- Formulate testable hypotheses about critical knowledge and evidence gaps in environmental and occupational health
- Develop and implement valid and reproducible study designs, including data collection strategies to test hypotheses using novel or current methods
- Apply appropriate and rigorous methods to analyze and interpret original data
- Communicate research results through scientific manuscripts, presentations, and other forms to both scientific and lay audiences
- Assess risks associated with physical, chemical, psychosocial or other exposures in environmental or occupational settings, and identify appropriate policies and other interventions for preventing or reducing these risks
- Demonstrate a basic understanding of human physiology, pathophysiology, genetics, and genomics with special competence in areas needed for dissertation
- Search and evaluate literature to synthesize information, identify major gaps in knowledge, and formulate statements of research problems and hypotheses
- Design an epidemiologic study with consideration of internal and external validity
- Analyze data using appropriate statistical approaches and standard statistical software
- Apply epidemiologic causal inference theory to the design, implementation and interpretation of analyses
- Communicate results orally and in writing to scientists and non-scientists and place findings in appropriate public health and health policy context
- Weigh the social, political, behavioral, and economic contexts of health and health services
- Develop and use theoretical frameworks to formulate testable research questions in health services research
- Apply quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods to answer health services research questions
- Translate and disseminate research findings to inform health services practice and policy
- Ensure the ethical and responsible conduct of health services and policy research
- Explain qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods and policy analysis research and evaluation methods to address health issues at multiple (individual, group, organization, community and population) levels
- Design a qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, policy analysis or evaluation project to address a public health issue
- Explain the use and limitations of surveillance systems and national surveys in assessing, monitoring and evaluating policies and programs and to address a population’s health
- Propose strategies for health improvement and elimination of health inequities by organizing stakeholders, including researchers, practitioners, community leaders and other partners
- Communicate public health science to diverse stakeholders, including individuals at all levels of health literacy, for purposes of influencing behavior and policies
- Integrate knowledge, approaches, methods, values and potential contributions from multiple professions and systems in addressing public health problems
- Create a strategic plan
- Facilitate shared decision making through negotiation and consensus-building methods
- Create organizational change strategies
- Propose strategies to promote inclusion and equity within public health programs, policies and systems
- Assess one’s own strengths and weaknesses in leadership capacities including cultural proficiency
- Propose human, fiscal and other resources to achieve a strategic goal
- Cultivate new resources and revenue streams to achieve a strategic goal
- Design a system-level intervention to address a public health issue
- Integrate knowledge of cultural values and practices in the design of public health policies and programs
- Integrate scientific information, legal and regulatory approaches, ethical frameworks and varied stakeholder interests in policy development and analysis
- Propose interprofessional team approaches to improving public health
- Assess an audience’s knowledge and learning needs
- Deliver training or educational experiences that promote learning in academic, organizational or community settings
- Use best practice modalities in pedagogical practices
- Demonstrate a commitment to public health professional values through the integration of ethical principles and an evaluation of personal values
- Assess the feasibility and implications of health systems policies as related to the organizing, delivering and financing of health services
- Propose solutions to address a challenge in the US Health system using Economic models.
- Interpret legal, ethical and policy principles as they apply to public health practice.
- Conduct econometric analyses to analyze the nature of relationships between health care expenditures, costs, and use and their determinants.
- Use appropriate qualitative and quantitative mixed-methods for community-oriented research design
- Conduct community-engaged public health research and practice that recognizes intersectional perspectives from theory in response to multi-dimensional processes
- Create a community health program implementation and evaluation plan that is ethical, socially just, and culturally-responsive
- Partner with communities to contextually assess health problems and propose solutions to public health issues and inequities that recognize the role of power
- Advocate for human rights-based values in public health research, practice, and policy
- Apply appropriate quantitative methods to evaluate the determinants and epidemiology of health and disease
- Manage and maintain analytic datasets
- Execute a data analysis plan
- Communicate statistical findings effectively and succinctly using data visualization tools and appropriate summaries
- Work collaboratively with researchers in public health, medicine, and other health science disciplines
- Review and critically evaluate the validity of the design, analysis and interpretation of findings from published research studies
- Define a problem and formulate a testable hypothesis.
- Create and manage datasets appropriate for epidemiologic analyses from sources such as surveillance, large-scale data (i.e, Big Data, such as electronic medical records, administrative claims data) or other health-related research
- Conduct univariable and multivariable regression and other semi- and non-parametric analytic techniques of an epidemiologic data set using a standard statistical software package
- Create effective peer-review quality written and visual summaries of analysis results
- Assess pathways of human exposure to hazardous agents and stressors in the environment and workplace
- Investigate and synthesize research on hazardous agents and their impacts on human health effects, including how individual and population factors affect vulnerability
- Evaluate epidemiologic methods used in occupational and environmental research and interpret findings
- Select and apply appropriate quantitative risk assessment methods
- Recommend strategies for preventing, controlling, and managing risks from environmental and occupational hazards
- Analyze environmental and occupational health policies in relation to environmental justice, equity, and efficacy
- Describe the importance of social capital and natural helpers when designing community-engaged public health strategies
- Analyze organizational challenges facing public health practice organizations
- Demonstrate critical, reflective thinking and writing skills that are needed to advance value-based public policies
- Weigh the roles of policymakers, citizens, and interest groups in shaping public health policy
- Translate public health science into public health practice
- Analyze the roles, relationships, and resources of the entities influencing global health
- Apply ethical approaches in global health research and practice
- Apply monitoring and evaluation techniques to global health programs, policies, and outcomes
- Propose sustainable and evidence-based multi-sectoral interventions, considering the social determinants of health specific to the local area
- Design sustainable workforce development strategies for resource-limited settings
- Display critical self-reflection, cultural humility, and ongoing learning in global health
- Analyze the government powers and restraints that underlie the development and implementation of a public health program or policy
- Apply financial tools and measures to assure effective resource use in achieving population health improvement objectives
- Assess how public policy and programs can counteract the roles of history, power, privilege and structural racism in producing health inequities
- Apply population health principles in assessing value-based healthcare delivery and financing strategies
- Contribute to the development of an evidence-informed program or policy proposal that addresses an important urban public health problem
- Apply theories and frameworks from urban social sciences to identifying social and other determinants of health and developing solutions to major urban health problems
- Collaborate to develop a presentation that explores the policies and programs that contribute to promoting the health of urban populations and reducing urban health inequalities
- Engage various constituencies including policymakers, community residents and leaders, civil society organizations, social movements, and public agencies in identifying and reducing health problems facing cities
- Apply an ecological model to an urban health program evaluation to identify appropriate solutions to the health problems of cities at the individual, family, community, municipal, regional, national, and global levels.
- Assess population data to to characterize patterns of health and disease and inequalities in health in urban populations and subpopulations