Graduate Advising
Each graduate student is assigned an academic advisor, who will help you develop a personalized plan for completing your program of study. Your advisor will be a faculty member and/or staff member at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) and is assigned based on your department and degree program, as listed below.
If you have questions about which courses or electives to take, talk to your advisor before registering for classes. You may want to consider topics including:
- Will you follow the common course progression? Check the guide for your degree to see the progression generally taken by students in your program. The common progression is a guide -- discuss with your advisor how your plan may differ due to course offerings or work or family commitments.
- How many credit hours should you take per semester? The right number of credits depends on whether you plan to work while completing your studies and whether you have other obligations outside of school or work. For each 3-credit course, expect to spend 3 hours in class per week, and an additional 6-9 hours per week preparing for class.
- Will you be working while pursuing your graduate degree? Graduate classes are regularly scheduled in the late afternoon and in the evening to accommodate working students. If you have a job, you may sometimes need to arrange with your employer to take a class in the afternoon.
- Which courses are offered in the semester for which you are registering? Have you completed the prerequisites?
- Pathways to Public Health: If you are a non-MPH, graduate student, you may be required to enroll in the zero credit, free, online course - Pathways to Public Health (PUBH 6080). Confirm with your Program Director and find FAQs here.
Advisors by Department and Program
Jump to: Biostatistics and Bioinformatics | Environmental and Occupational Health | Epidemiology | Exercise and Nutrition Sciences | Global Health | Health Policy and Management | Prevention and Community Health | Online Programs
Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics
MPH - Biostatistics
All students: Heather J. Hoffman
MS - Health Data Science
Biostatistics Concentration: Angelo Elmi
Bioinformatics Concentration: Marcos Pérez Losada
PhD - Health Data Science
Biostatistics Concentration (Co-Directors): Guoqing Diao; Toshimitsu Hamasaki
Bioinformatics Concentration: Keith Crandall
Want to learn more about career paths in Bioinformatics? Check out this site: https://www.biotech-careers.org/
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
MPH - Environmental Health Science and Policy
All students are initially assigned to: Kate Applebaum Students will later be matched with a permanent advisor in the EOH Department.
MPH - Global Environmental Health
All students: Jordan Kuiper
DrPH - Environmental and Occupational Health
All students: George Gray.
PhD - Environmental Health
All students: Kate Applebaum and Kelvin Fong
Department of Epidemiology
MPH - Epidemiology
Students with last names A-L: Scott Quinlan
Students with last names M-Z: Heather Young
MS - Public Health Microbiology & Emerging Infectious Diseases
All students: Mimi Ghosh and Irene Kuo
PhD - Epidemiology
All students: Heather Young
Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
Advising for EXNS MPH programs- Michelle Stevens
MPH - Physical Activity in Public Health
All students: Loretta DiPietro
MPH - Public Health Nutrition
All students: Karina Lora and Sameera Talegawker
MS - Strength and Conditioning
All students: Todd A. Miller
PhD, Exercise Physiology and Applied Nutrition
All students: Jennifer Sacheck
Department of Global Health
MPH - Global Environmental Health
See Department of Environmental & Occupational Health
MPH - Global Health Epidemiology and Disease Control
All students are initially assigned to: Christopher Mores. Students will later be matched with a permanent advisor based on interest area to either the program director one of the following: Jack Sandberg or James Tielsch.
MPH - Global Health Policy and Systems
All students are initially assigned to: Wolfgang Munar and Carlos Santos-Burgoa. Students will later be matched with a permanent advisor based on interest area to either one of the program directors or one of the following: Catherine Arsenault or Seble Freyhwot.
MPH - Global Health Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation
All students: Jennifer Seager
MPH - Humanitarian Health and Disaster Response
All students: Ramin Asgary
PhD - Global Public Health Sciences
All students: Emily Smith
Department of Health Policy and Management
MHA - Health Administration
All students: Robert Bonar
MPH-Health Policy
Certificate-Health Policy
For students starting the program in Summer 2021 or later:
Students w/ last name L-N: Leighton Ku
Students w/ last name O-R: Anne Markus
Students w/ last name U-Z and all PA/MPH: Lara Cartwright-Smith
Department of Prevention and Community Health
MPH - Community Oriented Primary Care
All students are assigned to Tamara Taggart
After accepting enrollment, students will be assigned to a permanent advisor based on interests. This advisor may continue to advise you for your Culminating Experience unless you request a different advisor based on evolving interests. COPC advisors include Donaldson Conserve, Tamara Taggart, Howard Straker and Yan Wang.
MPH - Health Promotion
All students are initially assigned to: Bart Bingenheimer
After arriving on campus, students are matched with a permanent advisor based on interest area. Health Promotion advisors include Bart Bingenheimer; Mark Edberg; Michael Long; Kathleen Roche; and Olga Price.
MPH - Maternal and Child Health
After a student officially commits and joins the MCH program, they will receive a letter instructing them of their MCH advisor assignment. MCH academic advisors include Amita N. Vyas; Jerry Franz; Karen McDonnell; Monica S. Ruiz; Nitasha Nagaraj; Michael Long; Tamara Henry; and Melissa A. Napolitano.
MPH - Public Health Communication and Marketing
All students are initially assigned to: Jerry Franz
Students stay with Mr. Franz as their academic adviser until they graduate. When the time comes for the Culminating Experience (CE) project, students are matched with a PHCM faculty member or another faculty member of their choice who agrees to work with them. PHCM faculty include: Lorien Abroms; W. Douglas Evans; Derek Dangerfield II; Elizabeth Andrade; or Khadidiatou Ndiaye.
PhD – Social and Behavioral Sciences
The program director, Bart Bingenheimer provides overall academic advising for all students. During the application and interview process, students will indicate interest which faculty member they feel is a good match with their interest. Prior to matriculation, the program director will match the student with a content area mentor. The content area mentor will advise the student his/her program of research and generally about coursework, and will likely serve as the dissertation chair. The program director will provide overall academic advising to all students.
Online Programs
MHA@GW
All students: Kelley Vargo and Laura Vasisko, please email them at [email protected]
MPH@GW
All students: Kelley Vargo, Christiana Ebiasah, Malika Hook Muhammad, Ann Rich, Laura Vasisko, and Stephanie Bout
For general advising inquiries, please email [email protected].
Public Health Certificate (may enroll online or residential)
All students: George Gray or email [email protected]