Degree Programs 

Master of Public Health (M.P.H.)

Curriculum Requirements  Course Descriptions   MPH Handbook (pdf)   Field Practicum   Capstone Guidelines 

The M.P.H. degree is designed to meet the needs of recent baccalaureate graduates planning careers in public health and related professions and current public health and clinical practitioners seeking to increase their knowledge of population-based health issues. Because of the breadth of the public health profession, an applicant with a bachelor’s degree in any major field will be considered for admission to the program.  However, an educational background that includes a conceptual knowledge of anatomy and physiology will offer the student more flexibility in the selection of an area of concentration.

Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.)

Curriculum Requirements  Course Descriptions   Dr.P.H. Handbook (pdf)   Field Practicum Capstone Guidelines 

The Dr.P.H. is a terminal professional degree preparing graduates for public health senior leadership positions.  It is designed as a school-wide advanced degree and will require a minimum of 63 semester hours of course work beyond the Master's degree. The Dr.P.H. candidate must have a Master of Public Health, a Master of Science in Public Health, or an equivalent degree.  Examples of equivalent degrees are programs related to public health, such as the Master of Arts in Communications, or the Master of Science in Nursing along with course work equivalent to the five basic core courses in the M.P.H. Curriculum. Students who have not met the requirement of completing masters degree introductory level courses in each of the five core areas must do so on a non credit basis, with a minimum grade of "B", prior to enrolling in the first doctoral course in each discipline. Students will complete a curriculum spanning the five core areas of concentration offered by the College of Public Health. Typically, a full-time student will require three years beyond the Master's degree working, part-time, and distance education students. The Dr.P.H. curriculum has been developed to accommodate both part-time and full-time students. The curriculum specifies prerequisite introductory courses in each of the five core areas of public health (Biostatistics, Environmental Health, Epidemiology, Health Behavior, and Health Services Management). All Dr.P.H. Course work begins at a higher level and assumes introductory level knowledge of this content.[ The chair of the Biostatistics Department has established a policy that students completing an acceptable (equivalent to STA 580) introductory statistics course (with a laboratory) in the past five years meet this expectation. Students completing an introductory graduate statistics course more than five years ago must repeat the introductory course or may take a diagnostic examination to demonstrate that they are prepared to move to the first statistics course in the Dr.P.H. Program.]

 Doctor of Philosophy in Gerontology (Ph.D.)

The Graduate Center for Gerontology has a University-wide mission and currently supports over 40 doctoral students and works closely with the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and numerous university departments and research units by virtue of its interdisciplinary focus.  Additional information is available on the Center at
www.mc.uky.edu/gerontology . Gerontology is naturally diverse, and embraces a wide array of disciplines and scholarly perspectives within at least the social sciences and humanities, the bench sciences of biology and chemistry, medicine, and the health sciences and public health. 

Ph.D. Curriculum Requirements

The curriculum of the Gerontology Ph.D. degree consists of 38 hours of course work and 18 hours of residency credit within a program of study that involves five interlocking elements:

• a required core in gerontology,
• specialized training in a substantive domain selected from clusters of related disciplines,
•  training in gerontology and geriatrics-related research methodologies,
• a qualifying examination, and
• a dissertation.

Emphasis on interaction of the social sciences, biomedical sciences, and the humanities, permeates the entire curriculum, and core seminars are team-lead by representative faculty from diverse disciplinary backgrounds.  It is worth noting that most, if not all students take more than the minimum required number of courses. At the doctorate level, the goal should be to develop the best possible foundations of knowledge and skills in preparation for an academic or research career.

Joint Degree Programs

Students who have been accepted to the UK College of Medicine may apply for a combined MD/MPH degree  Also, under consideration is a proposal for a PharmD/MPH beginning in the 2008-2009 academic year.  Combined degree programs with several other professional and graduate degrees are anticipated in the near future.