The first class of students from the College of Health Sciences Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology program have graduated - and they are already making an impact in Delaware. 

Three of the five graduates work in the Delaware Division of Public Health Office of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, handling outbreak investigations and assisting with the state’s surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases. Another graduate works for New Castle County as part of its COVID-19 response program.

Jennifer Horney, founding director and professor in the Epidemiology program, said part of the impetus behind the program’s creation was to strengthen the public health workforce in Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic region. When the Epidemiology program was founded in 2018, Delaware was one of only two states in the nation without a university offering graduate level training in public health. 

Today, the MPH degree with a concentration in epidemiology is the only one of its kind in the region. 

Since its founding, the Epidemiology program has helped prepare students for a career in public health by providing a foundation of population health principles, epidemiological methods and biostatistics. Students also have had the chance to tackle issues using an interdisciplinary approach, working with other departments and agencies to look at disparities, health risks and their impact on the state’s residents. 

The COVID-19 pandemic also has provided opportunities for the MPH students to learn about public health challenges as they were happening. 

“I am so proud to send these students out into the public health workforce,” said Horney, who also serves as affiliated faculty with the UD Disaster Research Center. “In light of the massive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic response on the public health workforce, newly trained, graduate-level staff are in high demand across the U.S.”

Emily Marshall, a 2021 graduate and epidemiologist with the Delaware Division of Public Health, credits the MPH program with giving her fundamental skills that allow her to perform better at work.  

“It has been so rewarding to apply what I've learned in classes to my public health duties in real time as I assisted with the COVID19 response," Marshall said.