New program trains public health experts

The next generation of public health professionals will soon be able to receive advanced training at UW on the wide range of skills needed to prevent disease as well as protect and promote the health of populations in Canada and abroad.

A recently approved Master of Public Health (MPH) degree is being offered for the first time through the health studies and gerontology department in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. The first session of the MPH program begins this fall, with an initial offering of four of the program's core courses. More than 100 people have applied for the 30 places available in the first year.

The MPH program was conceived in response to a widely recognized need for new opportunities for current public health practitioners and aspiring health students to build on their prior academic training and expand their applied skills.

"We at the University of Waterloo are proud to be part of a national effort to build public health human resources," said Dr. Christina Mills, the MPH program leader and a public health physician formerly with the Public Health Agency of Canada.

"This program will make a major contribution to training the next generation of leaders and managers, and we believe that the health of Canadians will be the better for it," Mills said. "Several disease episodes in recent years, including outbreaks of fatal infectious diseases such as SARS and the Walkerton tainted water crisis, have highlighted the need to expand the public health system to better protect the health of Canadians."

Primarily aimed at working health professionals wishing to upgrade their training on a full-time or part-time basis, the program will help meet the needs of growing public health agencies at the local, provincial, federal and international levels – all seeking highly trained public health planners and managers.

"It is with great pleasure that I welcome the new Master of Public Health program at the University of Waterloo," said Dr. David Mowat, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, public health practice and regional operations branch, Public Health Agency of Canada.

"UW has long been a forerunner in the health field," Mowat added. "Therefore, it comes as no surprise to me that the university is stepping up to address the growing need for highly trained public health professionals in Canada. The MPH program will produce a new generation of graduates fully able to fill much-needed roles in the field of public health."

The program draws on established strengths at UW in health behaviour and population health promotion, health informatics and environmental health sciences through a course-based curriculum that enables public health professions to manage emerging issues in public health.

It builds on the successful master's and doctoral degree programs in population health, also offered by the health studies and gerontology department.

"I am delighted to be able to add MPH into UW's family of innovative programs," said Amit Chakma, the university's provost. "The MPH program will expand UW's presence in the area of health and health promotion."

The program's initial and final courses will be held on the UW campus during the summer and spring, respectively, as two-week block sessions. To accommodate working professionals, the remaining seven core courses and three elective courses will be provided using self-directed learning packages offered through UW's distance education system, with extensive two-way interaction between students and instructors provided via the Internet.

As well, students will be expected to complete a 12- to 16-week practicum working in a local public health unit, a provincial and federal governmental agency or a non-governmental organization in the health sector. The MPH degree will be completed over a period of 20 months for full-time students taking three courses each term.

Students may elect to focus their program on a specialized area of concentration in the sociobehavioural aspects of public health, which addresses health behaviour and related issues in health promotion and disease prevention. Or they can work toward a non-specialist MPH degree, which examines broader public health issues.

Core MPH courses include foundations of public health, public health and the environment, public health and society, health and risk communication, health policy, management of public health services, biostatistics and epidemiology. Elective courses will cover a variety of topics including public health surveillance, health economics, public health informatics and environmental health.

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LT3 supports innovation in e-learning

In Monday's Daily Bulletin report on the reorganization of the department of information systems and technology, the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology was inaccurately described, says Tom Carey, associate vice-president, learning resources and innovation.

The report referred to LT3 as a unit "mostly involved with research on new pedagogical techniques."

In fact, Carey said that as an academic support unit, LT3 does not have a research mandate. "It does have a mandate to support innovation, but it is not at all accurate to portray that as the majority of its activities."

Carey said the centre, instead, supports "exemplary practice and innovation in e-learning at UW."

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