Degree: Master of Arts (MA)
Field of Study: Bioethics and Medical Humanities
Bioethics and Medical Humanities (MA) Program Information

Degree: Master of Public Health (MPH)
Public Health (MPH) Program Information

Program Overview

This program combines the Master of Arts in Bioethics and Medical Humanities with the Master of Public Health degree. The Master of Public Health Program prepares students to address the broad mission of public health, defined as "enhancing health in human populations, through organized community effort," utilizing education, research, and community service. Public health practitioners must be prepared to identify and assess health needs of different populations, and able to plan, implement and evaluate programs to respond to those needs.

It is the task of the public health practitioner to prevent illness, and to protect and promote the wellness of humankind. A Master of Public Health degree provides education in public health basics, including biostatistics, epidemiology, environmental health sciences, health policy, and social and behavioral sciences.

The Department of Bioethics offers a graduate program leading to the degree of Master of Arts in Bioethics and Medical Humanities. Advances in health sciences have created new and difficult moral choices for individuals, their families, and the health professionals who work with them. The Department of Bioethics is dedicated to responding to the challenge of health care choices faced in today's society. Professionals from many arenas, including public health, prevention sciences, health sciences, the life sciences, and the social sciences have contributed to and drawn from the field of bioethics.

Because of the breadth and scope of the field of public health and the discipline of bioethics, the CWRU MPH and Bioethics Programs are ideally suited to combine in a joint effort. The MPH/Bioethics and Medical Humanities shared degree will enable students to obtain graduate preparation in both fields, contributing to the application of ethics in public health practice and thereby increasing the availability of leadership and scholarship relating to Bioethics in the public health community.

It is anticipated that this collaboration will improve the ethics component of the public health educational experience for all students through closer collaboration between departments, and through peer interactions of dual degree students and their colleagues.

The MPH Degree is a "terminal" degree and persons with the degree may pursue a variety of career paths. The MA in Bioethics and Medical Humanities is considered a supplementary degree in that it enhances careers in other fields, e.g. law, medicine, nursing, or in this case, public health.

Program Requirements

The joint MA/MPH program can be completed in three years of full-time study to complete a minimum of 63 credit hours.

Options will be available for part-time pursuit of the degree within five years, or for an accelerated plan completed in five semesters. Students will develop individual education plans (IEP) with their advisors and may customize their approach and pace through the program.

Students will complete 24 credit hours from the MA in Bioethics and Medical Humanities program. Students will complete 39 credit hours from the MPH program. The 9 credit hour culminating experience is required of all public health students. The capstone must embody both degrees - public health and bioethics. Students must have preceptors from both program areas. Both programs will use MPHP 652 and BETH 417 to reach the total number of required credit hours for both degrees.