Skip to main content

Health Policy and Management MPH

Be inspired by brilliant faculty and exceptional peers to improve health and health care.

Healthcare is a vibrant, fast-paced field that’s continually evolving. As an HPM MPH graduate student at Berkeley Public Health, you’ll gain the knowledge, skills, and partners you need to become a high-impact contributor at a health care employer of your choice. HPM at Berkeley offers experiences in and out of the classroom that challenge convention and help you grow as a healthcare leader.

Curriculum

Two-Year MPH Program Curriculum

The two-year MPH HPM program curriculum is based on our faculty’s philosophy that a strong working knowledge of both management and policy are necessary to be an effective health care leader. We also highly emphasize professional development via the full-time summer internship and other vehicles to hone key leadership and emotional intelligence skills and engage with the community.

Our two-year program offers frequent opportunities to engage in applied learning activities to gain core skills such as financial analysis, policy decision-making, and environmental scan, as well as to engage in both leadership and team-based approaches to problem-solving and innovation. Electives can be from HPM, other areas of BPH or elsewhere on the Berkeley campus (Haas, LAW, GSPP, etc.).

Two-Year MPH students are required to complete a minimum of 48 units of coursework over four academic semesters and one summer. The minimum unit enrollment per academic semester is 12 units.

11-Month MPH Program Curriculum

The HPM 11-Month MPH Program is paused and not accepting applications for 2025.

We encourage applicants who meet the requirements for the 11-Month Program to apply for the 11-Month Interdisciplinary MPH Program, which allows students to take a wide array of electives, including our health policy and management courses.

The 11-month MPH is an intensive, rigorous experience, designed to give future clinical leaders a solid background in the key health policy and management competencies, as well as exposure to a wide range of skills and knowledge areas that will complement their clinical training. While there is no full-time summer internship component, students must select an organization and complete a research or project-based practicum. Electives can be from HPM, other areas of Berkeley Public Health or elsewhere on the Berkeley campus (Haas, LAW, GSPP, etc.).

11-month MPH students are required to complete a minimum of 42 units of coursework over two academic semesters and one 6-week summer session (prior to the fall start). The program typically runs from early July to early May. The minimum unit enrollment per academic semester is 12 units.

Qualifications

  • GRE scores are optional for the fall 2023 admissions cycle. We recommend submitting a GRE if you have no other evidence of quantitative, verbal, or analytical abilities in your application.
  • Contribution to diversity of the program and the public health workforce.

Two-Year MPH Program Qualifications

  • We strongly prefer at least 2 years of full time work experience after the undergraduate degree. Can be paid or volunteer (e.g. PeaceCorp, AmeriCorp, etc.). Ideally an applicant will have had relevant experience in related health policy or management areas. The program may request a short video interview for applicants who are recent graduates and/or have less than 2 years of work experience.

11-Month MPH Program Qualifications

The HPM 11-Month MPH Program is paused and not accepting applications for 2025.

We encourage applicants who meet the requirements for the 11-Month Program to apply for the 11-Month Interdisciplinary MPH Program, which allows students to take a wide array of electives, including our health policy and management courses.

  • This accelerated MPH track is reserved in HPM for applicants who are doctoral prepared clinicians (MD, DDS, PharmD, etc.) or somewhere on that educational pathway (students, residents, fellows, etc.).
  • Prefer candidates to have some volunteer and/or paid experience in related health policy or management areas.

Employment

Our graduates are valued by domestic and global employers for their leadership skills, self-reliance, and their commitment to improving health and health care. As a Berkeley HPM graduate, you can:

  • Become a key player in a major health care organization, locally or globally
  • Join a health care-focused management consulting firm or an internal consulting group at a large integrated medical delivery system and solve strategic and operational challenges
  • Advise a major biotech or medical device manufacturer on strategic planning or market access
  • Blend technology and management knowledge to create innovative mobile health care solutions
  • Get involved in performance improvement initiatives in the safety net

Admissions

Please download and view the Health Policy & Management MPH Applicant Handbook for program application requirements and suggestions on how to strengthen your application.