Population Health Graduate Program

Among the graduate programs offered at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison is population health.

Through the Department of Population Health Sciences, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers MS and PhD interdisciplinary degrees in population health with concentrations in epidemiology, health services research, social and behavioral health sciences and clinical research.

These research-oriented graduate degree programs prepare our students to be leaders in their professions by providing rigorous, interdisciplinary training to develop students' abilities to recognize, integrate and synthesize knowledge and skills across a broad range of disciplines important in health research and policy.

Training is grounded in fundamental methodological research skills and a synthesis of concepts and tools from the both the biological and social sciences important to the study of health and disease in populations.

For example, the program fosters skills and insights to address problems of disease causation and prevention, the multiple determinants of population health, optimal health care delivery and allocation of health-related resources. While the program is based on a sequence of core courses, students have the flexibility, in consultation with the major professor, to design a program of study and research tailored to their own area of interest.

Departmental faculty pursue a broad range of research including:

• Chronic
• Infectious and environmental disease epidemiology
• Studies of medical outcomes
• Health economics
• The determinants and measurement of population health status
• Health administration and policy

Although the graduate program is housed in and administered by the Department of Population Health Sciences, the program faculty includes members from a number of other departments and centers on campus such as:

• Sociology and demography
• Industrial engineering
• Biostatistics
• Family medicine
• Environmental studies
• Public affairs
• General medicine
• Nursing
• Pharmacy
• Educational psychology
• Pediatrics, etc

Additionally, a number of adjunct departmental faculty have been identified in state and community public health agencies (such as the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and Marshfield Clinic) and actively contribute their knowledge and skills to our degree programs and our students. The multi-disciplinary character of the faculty, coupled with the diverse backgrounds of the students, provides a rich and stimulating training environment.