Frequently Asked Questions

What qualifications are you looking for in student applicants?

We are looking for students who are passionate about using the tools of communication and marketing to help solve some of our nation's, and our world's, most pressing health problems. Previous experience in either communication (e.g., journalism, public relations, advertising, broadcasting) and marketing, or public health, is absolutely a plus, but is not required.

What do your students actually learn?

The focus of our training program is primarily strategic (i.e., learning how to assess a public health situation, develop the right objectives, and determine how best to advance those objectives through effective communication and marketing, often in conjunction with other public health approaches).

Our students also gain invaluable experience in developing communication and marketing tactics (e.g., writing press releases, web design, broadcast production, product design), but these skills are generally learned through a combination of self-teaching, peer-teaching, and learning on the job while working with experienced experts (for example, during our students' required practicum experience).

What is a typical course like?

We feel strongly that graduate students learn best by doing, rather than by reading. All of our courses are organized such that students actually apply the ideas and skills that they are learning through lectures and readings (which, by the way, are extensive). Most of our courses involve students self-assembling into small teams (3 or 4 people) to explore and apply communication and marketing methods to the challenges posed by real-world problems on behalf of real public health organizations. Even in our introductory course – Introduction to Public Health Communication & Marketing – students roll up their sleeves and work in teams to address a public health problem of their choosing. Our students respond very positively to this approach.