A World Class Education You Design
Discover a Different Way to Learn
The UC Berkeley 27 month online MPH program:
Delivers a rewarding educational experience that equips you with relevant, unique skills around your schedule, from anywhere in the world.
Empowers professionals to advance their careers while earning an MPH from a world-leading university.
Provides a flexible program designed for students to increase their knowledge and impact in real-time.
Fosters learning in an established, effective online environment, with classes taught by UC Berkeley Faculty.
- Meet your Classmates during required on-campus summer sessions in your first and second years (15 days total).
- Access our dynamic network and career resources created for the needs of working professionals from wherever you are in the world.
- Learn with leading public health figures as your teachers.
- Specialize your MPH with areas of study including Health Policy and Management, Community Health Sciences, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Spatial Data Science and Global Health
Yesterday’s Student, Today’s Changemaker
“Almost every day, I remember something from the Online MPH and put it into practice.”
When Berkeley Online MPH graduate Dr. Sandra Husbands began her career as a clinical academic with a specialty in diabetes and endocrinology, the revelation that it would be more effective to work with the entire family to ensure a more sustainable change in patients’ lifestyles and health led her to the field of public health. She was also inspired to follow in the footsteps of Sir Michael Marmot, a highly accomplished public health figure, and to study at his alma mater, UC Berkeley.
Today, she is making big waves as the Director of Public Health at London Borough of Hackney and City of London Corporation, where she’s responsible for the health of both the worker and resident population in Hackney and the city of London.
Create Your Path
Interdisciplinary Concentration
Our Interdisciplinary program offers a specialized, customizable curriculum designed to meet the needs of working professionals with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds and specific public health career goals in mind. The program focuses on an interdisciplinary understanding of complex issues and the leadership challenges of successful interventions in public health.
Epidemiology & Biostatistics Concentration
Students in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics concentration study the factors that underlie health and disease in human populations, including the analysis of data to develop and evaluate strategies for disease prevention and control. In this online program, students will acquire proficiency in both epidemiology and biostatistics and will be able to immediately apply these skills to improve the effectiveness of public health programs.
Health Policy & Management Concentration
Our Health Policy & Management coursework serves a variety of professionals — from clinicians to managers to policy leaders — across a range of healthcare areas, including hospitals and health systems, pharma/biotech, medical devices, health insurers, government agencies, think tanks, consulting firms, and digital health. Whether you seek to advance in your current organization or pivot into the health policy and management space, the Health Policy & Management (HPM) concentration will support you! As Berkeley Public Health MPH students you will gain the knowledge and skills to become a high impact performer. You will develop relationships with both fellow students and key partners and foster the adaptability needed to work across the healthcare sector. You will enjoy experiences in and out of the classroom that challenge convention, set new trends, and help you grow as a healthcare leader.
Public Health Nutrition Concentration
Our Public Health Nutrition Concentration trains current and future leaders in food and nutrition research, policy, and practice to identify current and emerging public health nutrition challenges and solutions. The program is structured to provide the skills needed to contribute to scientific understanding of public health nutrition challenges, create healthy food systems, identify and advocate for effective food policies, and plan, implement, and evaluate programs to improve population nutrition and health. You will learn to lead at local, state, national, and global levels to tackle nutrition challenges and to improve population diet and health.
Graduate Certificate in Health Management
The new Graduate Certificate in Health Management from the Health Policy & Management Division supports graduate students at UC Berkeley in developing critical competencies through a comprehensive trio of toolkit courses that focus on skill-building, frameworks, and applied learning. The focus of this certificate complements a wide range of existing degree programs and once completed, the designation will appear on the official graduate transcript.
Rural Health Innovation Program:
Empowering the next generation of rural public health leaders
The Rural Health Innovation Program (RHI) offers 25 fully paid scholarships per year to eligible online MPH students. The RHI Program will produce the next generation of rural public health leaders who will both reshape healthcare policies impacting rural communities and rework/ reimagine existing healthcare systems to put these policy changes into effect, enabling rural Americans to access better care and healthy lives. Apply by August 13, 2023 for the January 2024 term.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Whether you want to advance where you currently are or pivot to a new career, you’ll gain public health skills and knowledge to create your own path.
Learn to lead efforts protecting against environmental hazards, preventing the spread of disease, encouraging healthy behaviors, helping communities recover from disaster, implementing best practices or advocating for health care quality and accessibility.
Graduates make change and break ground in pharma-biotech, leading healthcare systems (such as Kaiser Permanente), non-profits, health departments, and government agencies, and bring public health to the forefront in a variety of areas including education, veterinary medicine, law, and sports.
Questions?
We are here to answer your questions and help guide you through your application process!
Stephanie Nguyen, online.mph@berkeley.edu
Application & Requirements
Qualifications
We’re looking for dynamic mid-career professionals from a wide range of backgrounds who are interested in improving public health and are ready to address today’s complex health problems ranging from access to care, food insecurity, and policy change, to maternal health and beyond.
Admissions Cycle Dates & Deadlines
We are committed to a holistic and equitable review process and will review all applications received within the application deadline period equally. Our hope is to notify applicants on the status of their application 6-8 weeks after an application submission.
We admit students two times a year for fall and spring starts:
| Application Cycle | Priority Deadline | Final Application Deadline | Instruction Begins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2024 Opens September 13, 2023 | January 7, 2024 | March 3, 2024 | August 2024 |
| Spring 2025 Opens December 1, 2023 | TBD | August 8, 2024 | January 2025 |
Online Program Fees & Financial Aid
Visit our Online Program Fees & Financial Aid page for a breakdown of program costs, financial aid tips, current fellowship opportunities, and guidelines for requesting employer sponsorship.
Understanding Online Learning
Online learning is a great opportunity to customize your academic program around your individual life needs and connect with public health professionals globally.
- You can work at the most convenient time of day, and you are not ever required to be online at a specific time. Courses also offer optional real-time office hours and other learning opportunities.
- Be prepared for an accelerated and demanding learning experience. Online students will work closely with group members in discussion forums and on team projects.
- Online MPH courses are not self-paced. Students must adhere to structured schedules and strict deadlines.
A Message from the Dean
“I am truly proud of our online program and seeing students use the ideas and values they’re learning from some of the world’s top public health scientists, to make an impact in their own communities.”
—Dean Michael C. Lu MD, MS, MPH
Faculty
The UC Berkeley School of Public Health is highly regarded for the quality of its faculty and has a reputation for excellence in education, research and community engagement. The School’s faculty consists of more than 150 investigators and are often noted as among the leading scholars in their respective fields. Here are a few of the faculty you will be interacting with during your journey as an Online MPH student: