AB / MPH Curriculum
Students take a total of 24 courses for the AB/MPH, 17 of which are in the first four years.
1 – 13.) Definitely in the first four years:
1.) PHP0310 Health Care in the US (or) PHP0070 Cost vs. Care: Dilemma for Amer. Medicine
2.) PHP0320 Introduction to Public Health
3.) PHP1320 Social Science Research in Health Care
4.) ENVS1710 Environmental Health (or) an equivalent from undergraduate guidelines
5.) PHP1910 Senior Seminar
6,7.) PHP1970 Honors Thesis preparation (2 semesters)
8.) PHP2500 Intro to Biostatistics (or) PHP2510 Principles of Biostat and Data Analysis
9,10.) Two biology courses (from undergraduate elective list)
11-13.) Three undergraduate electives, one each in: International Health, U.S. Health Care,
and Social and Behavioral Science/Prevention
14-17.) In first four years (select 4 courses from):
•PHP2120 Methods in Epidemiologic Research
•PHP1740 Principles of Health Behavior and Health Promotion Interventions (or) PHP2360 Design/Implement/Evaluate Public Health Interventions
•PHP2040 Applied Research Methods
•PHP2400 Determinants/Consequences of Changing Health Care Systems
•One to four electives from the approved MPH list can be taken instead
18-24.) In the fifth year:
18.) PHP2070 Public Health/Community Service Internship
19.) PHP2075 Analytical Internship
20.) PHP2985 MPH Masters Thesis preparation (2 semesters, ½-credit each)
21-24.) Depending upon what was taken in first four years, select four courses from:
PHP2120, PHP1740/PHP2360, PHP2040, PP2400, and the approved MPH list.
Community Health Concentration for the AB/MPH
Community Health is an interdisciplinary concentration that examines: patterns of, and explanations for, population health and disease; health policy; cross-cultural and international aspects of health; the organizational and social structures through which health services are delivered/received; and the public health system. Courses in the concentration allow students to explore the ways in which the social, political, behavioral and biological sciences contribute to the understanding of national and international health care systems, resource allocation, and patterns of population distributions of health and disease.
Concentrators in the AB/MPH track take 17 courses toward the combined degree during their first four years (15 content courses plus 2 independent studies for Thesis preparation). Students in the standard AB concentration have 12 course requirements, with 2 additional independent studies for those pursuing Honors.
There are some other differences between requirements for the AB/MPH and the AB degrees, in addition to the number of courses taken in the first four years. The AB/MPH requires a second biology course; a graduate-level statistics course (PHP2500 or PHP2510) must be taken rather than an undergraduate statistics course; and it is necessary to take two or three other 2000-level courses to meet MPH course requirements.
Application to the combined AB/MPH degree is available only to Community Health concentrators. Admission is not guaranteed, even if a student is Honors eligible when making application. However, application to the MPH degree by the standard route is available to all Brown undergraduates, regardless of concentration.
Undergraduate Honors Thesis
A Senior Honors project is required of all concentrators on the AB/MPH track. To receive Honors, students must meet the following requirements:
- Submit a prospectus to the Honors Advisor by the end of the student's sixth semester. Students must identify a primary advisor for their thesis, who signs off on the thesis prospectus.
- Have grades of A or B in all concentration courses, with A as the majority of grades. A minimum of eleven (11) graded courses are necessary on the student’s concentration plan. (NOTE: an "S with distinction" is equivalent to an A, but an "S" is not counted as a graded course. If an "S with distinction" has been received, please tell the Concentration Advisor so that this may be noted in your file. The internal transcript we get for you does not indicate “with distinction.”)
- Submit an Honors Thesis judged to be of superior quality by each of two advisors.
