Global Health - MPH
Launching Fall 2027!
The MPH in Global Health will prepare the next generation of global health leaders to design, implement, evaluate, and scale evidence-informed programs and policies to improve health outcomes and advance equity globally. Grounded in rigorous quantitative and qualitative research training, ethical public health practice, and cross-cultural competence, this program equips students to translate evidence into effective, context-responsive action. The curriculum combines foundational global health frameworks with advanced analytic and evidence synthesis skills, preparing graduates to assess needs, strengthen systems, improve program performance, and generate measurable impact. Through specialized training, students may focus their studies in one of seven tracks:
- Global Health Policy and Systems
- Humanitarian Health and Disaster Response
- Global Nutrition
- Global Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health
- Global Environmental Health
- Commercial Determinants of Health and Non-Communicable Diseases
- Customized Track (developed in consultation with an advisor)
Graduates will be prepared to work across sectors and regions, from community-based organizations to ministries of health and global institutions, applying analytic rigor, cultural humility, ethical leadership, and systems thinking to improve population health and ensure responsible stewardship of scarce resources.
Flexible Programming
To help students fit graduate school into their daily life, the Milken Institute School of Public Health provides flexible course offerings, which allows MPH in Global Health students to take up to 15 credits online. The MPH in Global Health requires the completion of 45 credits. Coursework can generally be completed in 2 years as a full-time student or 4 years as a part-time student, though we offer flexible pathways to degree completion.
Program Prerequisites
There are no specific prerequisites for entering the MPH in Global Health, other than a bachelor’s degree or higher degree. Students who are especially interested in working with diverse populations and those who wish to study broad methods and topics related to global public health are candidates for this MPH in Global Health.
Program Director: Sarah Baird
Students should remember to follow the curriculum associated with the Academic Year in which they matriculated. All Program Guides are linked in the Curriculum Tab.
Course descriptions are available through the GW Bulletin.
- MPH Core Requirements
PUBH 6002 | Biostatistical Applications for Public Health (3 credits)
PUBH 6003 | Principles & Practice of Epidemiology (3 credits)
PUBH 6007 | Social & Behavioral Approaches to Public Health (2 credits)
PUBH 6011 | Environmental & Biological Foundations of Public Health (3 credits)
PUBH 6012 | Fundamentals of Health Policy (2 credits)
PUBH 6021 | Essentials of Public Health Practice & Leadership 1 (1 credit)
PUBH 6022 | Essentials of Public Health Practice & Leadership 2 (1 credit)
PUBH 6023 | Interprofessional Education Experience (IPE) (0 credits)
PUBH 6418 | Global Health Culminating Experience I (1 credit)
PUBH 6419 | Global Health Culminating Experience II (1 credit)
PUBH 6000 | MPH Applied Practice Experience (0 credits)
and one of the following:
PUBH 6009 | Fundamentals of Program Evaluation (2 credits)
PUBH 6501 | Program Evaluation (3 credits)CORE TOTAL: 19-20 CREDITS
- Program-Specific Requirements
PUBH 6047 | Systematic Reviews to Synthesize Evidence in Public Health Practice (1 credit)
PUBH 6400 | Global Health Frameworks (2 credits)
PUBH 6411 | Global Health Qualitative Research Methods (2 credits)
PUBH 6412 | Global Health Quantitative Research Methods (3 credits)
PUBH 6435 | Global Health Program Design & Implementation (2 credits)
and one of the following:
PUBH 6416 | Ethical & Cultural Issues in Global Health Research & Programs (1 credit)
PUBH 6417 | Cross-Cultural Approaches for Global Health Practice (1 credit)
PUBH 6423 | Ethics in Public Health Practice & Policy (1 credit)PROGRAM-SPECIFIC TOTAL: 11 CREDITS
- Selectives
A minimum of 5 credits must be taken from the list below.
PUBH 6440 | Global Health Economics (2 credits)
PUBH 6445 | Quantitative Methods for Impact Evaluation (3 credits)
PUBH 6476 | Theory-Driven Evaluation (2 credits)
PUBH 6478 | Health System Quality Measurement in Global Health (2 credits)
PUBH 6495 | Field Trial Methods & Applications (3 credits)
PUBH 8470 | Global Health Demographic Methods (3 credits)
PUBH 8472 | Survey Research Methods (3 credits)SELECTIVES TOTAL: 5 CREDITS
- Themed Selectives
Students select a theme and choose a minimum of 6 credits of coursework from that theme. Methods courses may be added to any theme. The approved themes are listed below. Courses in each theme are in the program guide.
Theme #1 Global Health Policy & Systems
Theme #2 Humanitarian Health & Disaster Response
Theme #3 Global Nutrition
Theme #4 Global Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health
Theme #5 Global Environmental Health
Theme #6 Commercial Determinants of Health & Non-Communicable Diseases
Theme #7 Customized Track (developed in consultation with advisor)THEMED SELECTIVES TOTAL: 6 CREDITS
- Electives
A minimum of 3-4 elective credits. These credits may be any graduate-level course at SPH with advanced advisor approval (e.g., 6000-level and above; PUBH, HSML, EXNS). Pre-approved electives are on the program guide.
ELECTIVES TOTAL: 3-4 CREDITS
- Non-Academic Requirements
Professional Enhancement
Students in degree programs must participate in eight hours of Professional Enhancement. These activities may be public health-related lectures, seminars, or symposia related to your field of study.
Professional Enhancement activities supplement the rigorous academic curriculum of the SPH degree programs and help prepare students to participate actively in the professional community. You can learn more about opportunities for Professional Enhancement via the Milken Institute School of Public Health Listserv, through departmental communications, or by speaking with your advisor.
Students must submit a completed Professional Enhancement Form to the student records office at gwsphrecords
gwu [dot] edu (gwsphrecords[at]gwu[dot]edu).Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Training
All students are required to complete the Basic CITI training module in Social and Behavioral Research prior to beginning the practicum. This online training module for Social and Behavioral Researchers will help new students demonstrate and maintain sufficient knowledge of the ethical principles and regulatory requirements for protecting human subjects - key for any public health research.
Academic Integrity Quiz
All Milken Institute School of Public Health students are required to review the University’s Code of Academic Integrity and complete the GW Academic Integrity Activity. This activity must be completed within 2 weeks of matriculation. Information on GWSPH Academic Integrity requirements can be found here.
- Past Program Guides
Program Guides from prior Academic Years
Students in the MPH in Global Health program should refer to the guide from the year in which they matriculated into the program. For the current program guide, click the "PROGRAM GUIDE" button at the top of the page.
Students in GW MPH programs gain practical skills and knowledge through their practice experiences. Students in the MPH in Global Health program complete both an Applied Practice Experience (Practicum) and a Culminating Experience to practice their knowledge and skills in real-world settings.
Your Applied Practice Experience (Practicum)
In the Department of Global Health, the Practicum is designed to engage students in a Practice Activity—a planned, supervised, and evaluated experience in a public health organization. The Practice Activity can be related to either primary research or public health practice. It might include activities such as conducting literature reviews, writing proposals, designing ad campaigns, or collecting and analyzing data.
The Practice Activity for the MPH in Global Health degree must be differentiated from the student's day-to-day work (i.e., not directly related). This is to ensure that students learn and apply new skills in the context of public health. If the student does conduct the Practice Activity at his/her place of employment, it must be work for which the student is not remunerated.
In recent years, students in the Department of Global Health have worked with over 200 organizations, in more than 50 countries. The following organizations regularly host our practicum students:
- The Global Health Institute for Innovation and Leadership
- Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO)
- Project C.U.R.E.
- World Bank
- World Health Organization (WHO)
Your Culminating Experience
The Culminating Experience (CE) integrates the knowledge and skills students acquire through their academic work and the Practice Activity. The CE requires students to identify and define a specific public health issue and formulate hypotheses to address that issue. Students work with data obtained through either primary research or from an existing dataset. The process of proposal development, data analysis, interpretation, and extrapolation of the results culminates in a written report or manuscript and an oral presentation.
A degree in global health opens doors to a wide range of careers addressing complex health challenges around the world. Graduates of the MPH in Global Health are prepared to work across sectors—from government agencies and ministries of health to nonprofit organizations, foundations, research institutions, universities, and private-sector organizations. Our graduates pursue careers in program design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, policy, epidemiology, research, consulting, health systems, and global health leadership. Whether working at the community level or with national and global institutions, GW graduates are equipped to turn evidence into action and make a meaningful impact on population health.
- Jobs You Will Be Prepared For
- Health Policy or Health Program Analyst
- (Policy) Research Assistant
- Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer
- Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Learning (MERL) Officer
- Strategic Information and Evaluation (SI&E) Officer
- Program or Country Officer/Director
- Program Manager
- Program or Project Coordinator
- Program Associate
- Head of Mission
- Chief of Service
- Emergency Coordinator
- Health Advisor
- Technical Advisor
- Medical or Healthcare Coordinator
- Policy Advisor
- Logistical Coordinator
- Operational Director/Officer
- Resident Advisor
- Consultant
- Organizations You Are Prepared to Help
Government Agencies
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH)
- Peace Corps
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- U.S. Department of State
- Canadian International Development
- DANIDA (Denmark)
- Swedish International Development (SIDA)
- Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
- U.K. Department for International Development (DFID)
Multilateral Organizations
- North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)
- Oxfam
- Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- United Nations Foundation
- United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
- United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
- WHO - Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO)
- World Bank
- World Health Organization (WHO)
Non-Governmental Organizations
- ActionAID
- Action Against Hunger (AAH)
- ALIMA
- American Red Cross
- American Refugee Committee
- Care International
- Catholic Relief Services
- Center for Global Development
- Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- CONCERN Worldwide
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Doctors of the World (DOW, MDM)
- Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
- Elizabeth Glaser Pediatrics AIDS Foundation (EGPAF)
- Engender Health
- European Federation of Periodontology (EFP)
- FHI 360
- Gates Foundation
- Global Communities
- Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
- Global Health Council
- Habitat for Humanity
- Helen Keller International
- International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)
- International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)
- International Food Policy Research Institution (IFPRI)
- International Justice Mission (IJM)
- International Medical Corps (IMC)
- International Rescue Committee (IRC)
- Jhpiego
- JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc. (JSI; formerly John Snow, Inc)
- Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
- Management Services for Health (MSH)
- MEASURE Evaluation
- Mercy Corps
- Mother to Mother
- ODI Global
- Pact
- PATH
- Pathfinder International
- People in Need
- Population Council
- Population Services International (PSI)
- Olan International
- Relief International
- Results for Development (R4D)
- RTI International
- Sabin Vaccine Institute
- Save the Children
- Women for Women International
- Women's Refugee Commission
- World Connect
- World Vision International
- Worldwide Orphan Foundation
Private Sector – For Profit
- Abt Associates
- Camris International
- Chemonics International Inc.
- DAI
- Deloitte Consulting LLP
- ICF International
- Mathematica Policy Research
- The Palladium Group
- University Research Co., LLC. (URC)
Students pursuing an MPH in Global Health have access to a world-class faculty with relevant expertise and diverse experience in research, governmental, clinical, and multinational foundation settings. The many areas of interest and research experience for professors and lecturers in the MPH include program design and evaluation, maternal, child and adolescent health, one health, nutrition, equity, chronic disease, health systems, policy advocacy, humanitarian health and disaster response, among others.
We are pleased to introduce you to these MPH in Global Health faculty members:
Dr. Sarah Baird, Program Director
Explore all global health faculty through our department directory.