Eszter Hudoba, a 2008 Syracuse University graduate, just missed the opportunity to earn her master’s degree in public health.

Starting in the fall of 2009, a master’s of public health degree will be offered by SU and the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. It will be the first joint degree offered by the two universities. The Central New York Master of Public Health is a professional degree awarded for studies related to public health, including behavioral sciences, health education and policy and management.

The degree is a minimum of 42 credit hours and tuition is at the SUNY rate of $288 per credit hour for NY State residents and $455 per credit hour for non-state residents.

As a recent graduate, Hudoba earned her master’s in public administration and now works at the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health. She said the new degree would have provided her with more job and research opportunities.

‘I knew that the MPH program was in the making and was disappointed that it was not going to be available during my time at Syracuse,’ Hudoba said. ‘I think the MPA program is great for those who are training to be managers, but the MPH would make the specialization within the health care field much more thorough.’

Donna Bacchi, Upstate’s director of the new program, said the degree combines crucial elements from both schools.

‘It really blends expertise at both our universities,’ she said. ‘It takes the medical and health care aspects at Upstate and blends them with the public policy and social dimensions of health, which is Syracuse University’s expertise.’

Students who opt to enroll in the degree program will have an advantage over other people looking to make it into the public health field, Bacchi said. The degree provides broader knowledge of public health, combining classroom learning and hands-on experience.

Thomas Dennison, director of the Health Services Management and Policy program in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, serves as the program’s associate director. He said he’s already heard student interest in the new degree option.

‘Medical students in upstate New York have expressed a strong interest in pursuing a master’s in public health,’ he said. ‘Law students have expressed an interest. It became really clear from talking to students and listening to them that they really wanted this degree.’

SU and Upstate began work on the program three years ago, Dennison said.

‘Upstate didn’t feel that they had enough internal resources to launch the degree themselves,’ he said. ‘But when SU became well-positioned to start the degree, they began putting it together over the last couple years.’

Dennison visited six public health departments in western New York recently. He said of the six he visited, two of the departments had public health directors planning to retire within the year and another had a hard time finding trained and qualified public health directors. He said the closest degree program is offered in Albany or Rochester, but having a closer option could benefit the Syracuse community.

‘I think we’re going to get a lot of local people to go through the program and they will likely decide to stay local,’ he said. ‘If we can train them here, then they are likely to stay.’

‘It’s a very flexible career path,’ Dennison said. ‘If you decide you really like biostatistics, you can concentrate in that. If you’re interested in global health, if you want to chase bugs with the CDC, if you decide you want to do administration and work in a health care organization, you can do that. You can go down so many different paths. You really have many options.’

A public information session on the program will be held Nov. 17 from 4 to 6 p.m. It is free and open to the public in the Medical Alumni Auditorium of Upstate’s Weiskotten Hall.

blbump@syr.edu

Published on November 10, 2008 at 12:00 pm