Graduate Certificate in Population Health

Learn about healthcare at a systems and community level, participate in meaningful population health clinical and research experiences, and develop an innovative population health capstone project.

Students with a graduate certificate in Population Health Sciences will be equipped to address social determinants of health from a population health framework. 

Real world learning opportunities have been purposefully designed to expose students to the unique components of healthcare in Utah, at a health systems, policy, community, and individual level.

Experiential learning will reinforce concepts in social determinants of health, health policy, health systems, and health informatics from a population health lens to equip students to address healthcare needs of local communities and individuals.

Meaningful volunteer and service learning experiences with local community partners and organizations designed to create lasting and meaningful relationships centered around the health and wellbeing of local residents and communities. 

To receive this graduate certificate, enroll and successfully complete all required courses and selected elective courses listed in the curriculum. This certificate requires the completion of at least 15 credits.

Questions?

    CURRICULUM

    YEAR 1

    PHS 6710: Introduction to Population Health (0.5 credits)

    PHS 6715: Introduction to Population Health 2 (0.5 credits)

    Elective Course(s)

    YEAR 2

    PHS 6720: Introduction to Population Health 3 (0.5 credits)

    PHS 6725: Introduction to Population Health 4 (0.5 credits)

    Elective Course(s)

    YEAR 3

    PHS 6730: Introduction to Population Health 3 (0.5 credits)

    Clinical Rotations

    YEAR 4

    PHS 6940: Population Health Capstone Project (1-2 credits)

    Elective Course(s)

    Please see the list of elective courses that can count towards the credits for the graduate certificate.

    *Must complete a total of 15 credits to receive the graduate certificate. This includes participating in roughly 11.5 elective credits in addition to required coursework. These elective credits can come in the form of research credits, clinical rotation credits, or participation in pre-identified elective coursework.

    ELECTIVES

    Students are able to choose coursework within a specific track, or choose to develop a breadth of knowledge across multiple tracks by selecting affiliated coursework: 

    • Community Health – social determinants of health, health disparities, patient centered care, and patient engagement.
    • Health Economics & Health Policy   
    • Health Informatics/Data – using big data, electronic health records, and epidemiology  
    • Health Systems – health care delivery, post-acute care, care transitions long-term transfers, healthcare at home, payment models and value.
    • Population Medicine - principles of population health applied to a health system, strategies to risk stratify a population, discrepancies in access and care of underserved populations

    Please see the list of elective courses that can count towards the credits for the graduate certificate.

    LEARNING OUTCOMES
    Area Students will be able to:
    Social Determinates of Health
    • Describe social determinants of health
    • Analyze relative contribution of social determinates on a given patient’s health 
    • Evaluate appropriate resources to address social determinants of health by partnering with communities and patients 
    Health Policy
    • Evaluate how health policy affects healthcare delivery
    • Evaluate how State policy affects healthcare deliver in Utah
    • Analyze the major tenets of the Affordable Care Act with respect to healthcare delivery
    Population Medicine
    • Apply principles of population health to a health system 
    • Apply strategies to risk stratify a population
    • Discuss how disease-based registries are used within an interdisciplinary care-team model
    • Analyze causes of discrepancies in access and care of underserved populations

    Experiential Learning

    • Demonstrate population health improvement skills by participating in a population health improvement program / intervention (e.g., policy advocacy, program or policy development, or other community-based interventions, clinics or related)
    Health Systems
    • Compare differences in types of government, academic and provide health systems
    • Analyze how payment models in each system incentivize behavior, including benefits and unintended consequences
    Health Informatics
    • Assess the health status of populations using available data from electronic health records, UPDB, and other registries and data sources 
    ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

    The Graduate Certificate in Population Health Sciences is available to medical students enrolled at the School of Medicine. Medical students are welcome to enrolled in the required courses, no formal application is required. 

    QUESTIONS?

    Please email all questions to Dr. Elissa Ozanne.