Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Offers Six New Online Graduate Programs

Three masters in global and humanitarian health and three certificate programs give professionals more online options

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will offer six new fully online, part-time graduate programs through its Online Programs for Applied Learning (OPAL) program beginning in the fall of 2018. Offered by the No. 1 school of public health in the country, these programs are led by renowned experts who are shaping the field through research and application. The convenient online delivery gives flexibility and accessibility to students around the world.

The new programs include three masters—the Master of Applied Science in Community-Based Primary Health Care Programs in Global Health, the Master of Applied Science in Global Health Planning and Management, and the Master of Applied Science in Humanitarian Health—and three certificates, the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Global Health Practice, the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Spatial Analysis for Public Health and the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Global Tobacco Control.

The online masters’ degrees can be completed in 24 months and the certificate programs can be completed in 12 months. While the programs do not include a residency component at the Bloomberg School’s Baltimore campus, Bloomberg School faculty members are directly involved in course development, teaching and advising students. 

“At the Bloomberg School of Public Health, offering our Online Programs for Applied Learning is one way we fulfill our vision of Protecting Health, Saving Lives—Millions at a Time,” says Dean Ellen J. MacKenzie, PhD, MSc. “These degree and certificate programs provide unique opportunities for the global public health community to gain interdisciplinary skills that are relevant and forward-looking. Our programs in implementation and evaluation, global tobacco control, and humanitarian emergency and disaster response have immediate utility to professionals who are on the front lines of public health. Our students will be equipped to positively impact millions of lives, including the growing population that is living under conflict or faced with other conditions that challenge their access to health care.”

The masters’ programs in Community-Based Primary Health Care Programs in Global Health and in Global Health Planning and Management, and the Certificate in Global Health Practice are designed for public health professionals seeking additional training in the global health field. The Certificate in Global Health Practice provides a core introduction to the issues and opportunities facing global health leaders today. Both masters’ programs build upon the certificate’s curriculum, with the Master in Global Health Planning and Management geared towards students pursuing a future in administration, and the Master in Community-Based Primary Health Care focused on those who wish to work directly in the field.

The Master in Humanitarian Health, a collaboration between the Bloomberg School and the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, prepares public health leaders to assess, implement and monitor humanitarian assistance programs worldwide. “Students will have the opportunity to engage online with people who have shaped and continue to influence the field of humanitarian health,” says Paul B. Spiegel, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Humanitarian Health. “It is an incredible opportunity for our future humanitarian leaders.”

The Certificate in Spatial Analysis for Public Health joins the existing Master in Spatial Analysis. It is designed for students who already have a background in biostatistics and epidemiology. The certificate program curriculum introduces and reinforces a unifying comprehensive spatial science paradigm to include components of spatial data, GIS and spatial statistics.

The Certificate in Global Tobacco Control—a joint effort between the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Institute for Global Tobacco Control—equips students with the specialized skills and knowledge to reduce tobacco use within populations across the world. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of the history and health effects of tobacco, industry inner workings and proven control strategies and policies.

These new online programs join four existing Online Programs for Applied Learning, which include the Master of Applied Science in Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality, the Master of Applied Science in Population Health Management, the Master of Applied Science in Spatial Analysis for Public Health and the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Population Health Management.

The Bloomberg School educates public health leaders around the world through online degree programs, online courses, online certificates and other forms of online training. The Online Programs for Applied Learning give working professionals the opportunity to learn from the School’s expert faculty in a convenient online format that can accommodate busy schedules.

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has been active in online public health education since 1997, when it began offering for-credit online courses to both full- and part-time students. The Bloomberg School was among the first to offer an online graduate degree in public health, with the introduction of its part-time Master of Public Health (MPH) degree program in 1999. In 2005, the School joined the open educational resources (OER) movement by launching JHSPH OpenCourseWare, a repository of free instructional materials from more than 100 courses taught at the School.

The School was also among the first to offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). In addition to its 60 current MOOCs offered through Coursera, the School currently offers over 177 for-credit online courses and publishes teaching materials from 118 courses through OpenCourseWare, its OER portal, making the School one of the world’s largest providers of online public health education.

To learn more about these new programs, please visit the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Online Programs for Applied Learning (OPAL) page.

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Media contacts for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Barbara Benham at 410-614-6029 or bbenham1@jhu.edu and Robin Scullin at 410-955-7619 or rsculli1@jhu.edu.