Binghamton University to offer master of public health degree in fall of 2018

VESTAL, N.Y. — Binghamton University announced it will offer a master of public health (MPH) graduate-degree program, beginning in the fall of 2018.

Yvonne Johnston, founding director of the new MPH program, says the MPH is an “interprofessional and interdisciplinary” type of degree that will be “attractive” for nutritionists, dentists, doctors, nurses, and social workers, along with anthropologists, psychologists, statisticians, and engineers.

“You can take public health and put it with just about anything because everything can relate back to your health,” she said in a university news release.

As a result, the MPH “should appeal to a broad range” of student interests and can lead to a “variety” of careers in public health. Those could include state and local health departments, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and community-based health and human-service agencies.

The degree could also lead to careers in the private sector in industries such as insurance, pharmaceuticals, informatics and communications, the school said.

Johnston’s hope is that the program, which is expected to enroll about 25 students in its first class, will grow to become a department and, one day, perhaps a school.

“There’s a good fit with what we’re trying to start here and [with] Binghamton University’s goal of developing a college of health sciences,” said Johnston.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com