Master of Public Health Community Health and Behavior

Applicants to the MPH must submit an application and all required materials through SOPHAS – the Centralized Application Service for Public Health and the UD Supplemental Application.  MPH applications submitted through the University of Delaware’s graduate application management system will not be reviewed unless a full application is completed in SOPHAS first.

Requirements include:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in a related discipline with a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• Resume, statement of purpose and 2 letters of recommendation.

For International Students:  As an international student, you will complete the same application process as domestic students to be considered for admission into the MPH graduate program. You can access the online application through the Apply Now page. The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is required of all international applicants (unless your country of residency has English as an official language or you already have been issued a higher education degree earned from an institution in a country with English as an official language). Please refer to the Graduate College regarding requirements for any and all updates such as accepted test scores and accepted measures of language proficiency. The minimum requirements outlined by the Graduate College apply to the MPH Program, there are no additional language proficiency requirements.

Application deadlines:

• January 15: Priority consideration for admission
• August 1: Final deadline to apply

Sample Two-Year Plan of Study for MPH in Community Health and Behavior

Fall 1

• EPID 603: Biostatistics for Health Sciences I – 3 credits
• EPID 605: Epidemiology Methods I – 3 credits
• SPPA 620: Policy Approaches to Population Health Improvement – 3 credits

Spring 1

• SPPA 606: Environment and Public Health - 3 credits
• HBNS 605: Concepts of Chronic Disease Management - 3 credits
• HBNS 608: Nutrition Program Planning and Evaluation - 3 credits
• CHB concentration elective

Summer Y1/Y2

• EPID/SPPA 689: Applied Practice Experience - 3 credits

Fall 2

• HBNS 820: Social and Environmental Determinants of Health – 3 credits
• HBNS 809: Health Behavior Theory - 3 credits
• CHB concentration elective

Spring 2

• EPID 699: Integrative Learning Experience – 3 credits
• HBNS 804: Advanced Health Promotion Program Evaluation - 3 credits
• HBNS 819: Social Marketing OR HBNS 607: Health and the Media - 3 credits

• Bioinformatics, latent variable modeling, healthy aging, health disparities (Adam Davey, PhD)
• Health literacy, program evaluation, use of wearable technology to promote physical activity and other behaviors to improve cardiovascular health (Gregory Dominick, PhD)
• Body composition, energy metabolism and nutrition assessment in chronic and acute illness; clinical nutrition assessment; diagnosis and management of disease-associated malnutrition (Carrie Earthman, PhD, RD)
• Mood disorders, stress susceptibility/resiliency, cardiovascular and neurocognitive health, autonomic function (Jody Greaney, PhD)
• Physical activity measurement and promotion in people with disabilities, mobile health and wearable technologies, gamification for behavior change (DH Lee, PhD)
• Policy and environmental change, nutrition, and physical activity promotion in early care and education settings (Laura Lessard, PhD, MPH)
• Nutritional and chronic disease epidemiology; maternal and child nutrition; endocrine disruptors and other environmental chemicals (Melissa Melough, PhD, RD)
• Inclusive and accessible community programs, people with lived experience of intellectual and developmental disability, and adapted physical activity assessments & interventions; self-efficacy, system of supports, community-engaged participatory research (Iva Obrusnikova, PhD)
• Psychosocial determinants of physical activity, aging, and health, community-based participatory research with eating and physical activity behaviors, intergenerational research and health (Elizabeth Orsega-Smith, PhD)
• Eating disorders in emerging adults; psychological outcomes of interventions to control body weight; eating and health-related behaviors (Carly Pacanowski, PhD, RD)
• Smoking cessation, sleep health, sedentary behavior, cardiovascular health, multiple health behavior change, 24-hour epidemiology, and population health (Freda Patterson, PhD, MS)
• Social marketing and health communication, workplace stress, behavior change strategies (P. Michael Peterson, EdD)
• Behavioral weight management interventions in pediatric and adult populations; basic feeding studies manipulating diet (Shannon Robson, PhD, MPH, RD)
• Public health nutrition, vitamin D and bone mineral metabolism (Alisha Rovner, PhD)
• Developing/tailoring community and technology-based interventions to promote healthier lifestyles, especially with underserved populations, diabetes self-management/diabetes prevention, behavior change theory (Laurie Ruggiero, PhD)
• Infant and child feeding practices, cultural competency, global health/nutrition, immigrant health/nutrition (Kelebogile Setiloane, PhD)
• Phytochemicals and their role in prevention and reduction of age- and nutrition-related diseases (Sheau Ching Chai, PhD RD)
• Community-engaged research, built-environment/physical activity promotion, community-level physical activity infrastructure, physical activity measurement (Richard Suminski, PhD, MPH)
• Early childhood nutrition, diet composition and energy balance in healthy individuals and in those with chronic disease (Jillian Trabulsi, PhD, RD)