Overview
The University of Miami’s Master of Arts in Global Health and Society provides a comprehensive framework of global health that underscores the sociopolitical, economic, and geographic factors that, in addition to biomedical factors, impact health conditions of various countries and populations throughout the world. Graduates of our program acquire skills in leadership and advocacy and combined with a deep understanding of policy and governance, are prepared to assist private, government, non-profit, and for-profit organizations formulate new global and community health strategies.
Miami is the crossroads of the hemisphere. We are uniquely positioned to study the underlying causes that affect the health of individuals, communities, and nations around the world. You will be able to take a range of interdisciplinary courses examining the emerging challenges to human health and security, the differential access and adoption of evidence-based health policies and practices, and how these interventions translate from international to community scales. This program will give you the social science knowledge and methodologies to integrate stakeholders and researchers in the design, implementation, interpretation of community-based participatory studies.
The interdisciplinary degree is awarded by the College of Arts and Sciences.
Admission Requirements
The Master of Arts in Global Health & Society employs a rolling admissions deadline. Students may apply for admissions in the Fall or Spring. Interested students should contact the program with any questions.
- Online Application
- Please complete the online application by clicking here.
- Application Fee
- An $85.00 non-refundable application fee is paid online upon submission of the application.
- Statement of Purpose
- The statement of purpose is the most important element of your application packet. This letter needs to reflect who you are, your goals and why you would be an asset to the Global Health & Society program. It is very important to ensure it is grammatically correct and as detailed as possible. The statement of purpose should be no more than two pages in length. Please review before your submission.
Below is a link to help you get started:
OWL Statement of Purpose Guidelines.
- Letters of Recommendation
- Three letters of recommendation must be provided.
- Official Transcripts
- You must provide official transcripts from each post-secondary institution attended. Official transcripts in languages other than English must also be submitted with a certified English translation.
- Resume
- Please provide a copy of your resume if it is available.
- Admissions Interview
- The admissions interview may be conducted in person, over the phone, or via video conference.
- Grade Point Average (GPA)
- A minimum overall undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
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Official TOEFL (or IELTS) Score
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All international students are required to take this exam in order to demonstrate sufficient English competency. This exam is offered as a paper-based test (PBT) or an internet-based test (IBT). A score of 550 is required for the PBT or 80 for the IBT.
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Students may also take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam to demonstrate sufficient competency in English. A score of 6.5 or higher is required.
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Students from countries whose primary language is English are not required to take this exam. Please visit the Graduate School's International Applicant English Proficiency webpage for more information.
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International students from countries whose primary language is English are not required to take this exam.
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Curriculum Requirements
| Code | Title | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Courses | ||
| GHS 601 | Sociocultural Foundations of Global Health | 3 |
| EPH 601 | Medical Biostatistics I | 4 |
| EPH 621 | Fundamentals of Epidemiology | 3 |
| EPH 644 | Fundamentals of Program Evaluation | 3 |
| GHS 670 | Community-Based Participatory Action Research | 3 |
| GHS 672 | Global Health Policy and Ethics | 3 |
| Electives | 9 | |
| Electives should be chosen in consultation with your advisor, and should align with your goals in global health and/or to prepare you for your capstone experience. The list below is only a selection of the courses available in crafting your plan of study. | ||
| Advanced Seminar in Cultural Anthropology | ||
| Methods of Anthropological Research | ||
| Advanced Medical Anthropology | ||
| Global Health | ||
| Emerging Challenges in Global Health Systems | ||
| Global Outbreak | ||
| Global Health and Global Justice | ||
| Disease Prevention and Health Promotion | ||
| Urban Environment and Public Health | ||
| Health Economics for Evaluation and Policy | ||
| Immigration to the United States | ||
| Urbanization in the Developing World | ||
| Sustainable Food Systems | ||
| Immigrant Refugee Health | ||
| Climate Change and Public Health | ||
| Hospital Ethnography | ||
| People, Plagues, and Pandemics | ||
| Globalization and Health | ||
| Global Health Response to Disasters: From Management to Recovery and Reconstruction | ||
| Modern and Traditional Health Systems | ||
| Global Cultures: Religion, Communication, and Security | ||
| World Affairs and Diplomacy | ||
| International Political Economy | ||
| Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability | ||
| Human Security: Prevention Mitigation | ||
| Civil Security Preparedness and Management | ||
| Disasters and Humanitarian Assistance | ||
| Politics, Societies, and Cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean | ||
| Interdisciplinary Topics in Latin American and Caribbean Studies - Travel Course. | ||
| Civic Engagement in Latin America | ||
| Graduate Seminar on Public Health: Latin America and the Caribbean | ||
| Global Public Health: Harnessing Theoretical Prep with Health Diplomacy and Practical Exper | ||
| Survey of Medical Humanities | ||
| Advanced Research Methods | ||
| Qualitative Research Methods | ||
| Evaluation Research | ||
| Class Structure and Social Stratification | ||
| Social Epidemiology | ||
| Social Psychology of Health and Illness | ||
| Medical Sociology: Issues in Research and Theory. | ||
| Health Diversity Across the Life Course | ||
| Race Relations: Social Psychological Perspectives | ||
| Capstone | 3 | |
| Global Health Internship | ||
or GHS 810 | Graduate Thesis in Global Health | |
or EPH 678 | CAPSTONE PRACTICUM EXPERIENCE AND PROJECT PREPARATION | |
| Total Credit Hours | 31 | |
Language Requirement
Students are required to demonstrate foreign language competency. Students may meet this requirement by using one of the options below:
- Fulfilling the language requirement in their undergraduate career.
- Passing two courses taught in the target language at the 600-level or above (these courses will not count towards the required credits for the Master of Arts Degree)
- Completing a Directed Independent Language Study (DILS) program, or
- Passing a language competency exam with a qualified speaker.
Students may petition for a waiver of examination if they have gained target language competency in another manner (i.e., native speaker, upper division coursework in target language, Peace Corps service, IB credits, or Defense Language Proficiency Test).”
Plan of Study
| Year One | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credit Hours | |
| GHS 601 | Sociocultural Foundations of Global Health | 3 |
| EPH 621 | Fundamentals of Epidemiology | 3 |
| GHS 672 | Global Health Policy and Ethics | 3 |
| Credit Hours | 9 | |
| Spring | ||
| EPH 601 | Medical Biostatistics I | 4 |
| GHS 670 | Community-Based Participatory Action Research | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | |
| Credit Hours | 10 | |
| Year Two | ||
| Fall | ||
| EPH 644 | Fundamentals of Program Evaluation | 3 |
| Elective | 3 | |
| Elective | 3 | |
| Credit Hours | 9 | |
| Spring | ||
| GHS Capstone | 3 | |
| Credit Hours | 3 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 31 | |
Mission
The MA in Global Health and Society (GHS) provides students with an interdisciplinary social scientific perspective for understanding how global health outcomes relate to society, culture, and the environment. Whereas medicine itself addresses the proximate causes of health, social science perspectives address the underlying causes that affect individuals, communities, and nations. A range of interdisciplinary courses examine emerging challenges to human health and security, differential access and adoption of evidence-based health policies, practices, and interventions, community-based participatory research, and evaluation, and how these translate from international to community scales.
Goals
The goals of this degree are to enable students to help build partnerships around critical health issues in communities throughout the world; develop the capacity to address and/or prevent health risks in increasingly dynamic environments; and mitigate health issues associated with global challenges such as climate change, violence, population movements, and natural disasters.
Student Learning Outcomes
- Students will analyze through a social science perspective how to understand and intervene in complex and varied social and cultural settings across local, regional, national, and international landscapes.
- Students will apply social justice, human rights, and global politics principles to discuss Health Rights and Policy Advocacy strategies to address disparities across culturally and geographically defined populations.
- Students will learn how to apply social science strategies to integrate stakeholders and researchers in participatory ethnographic research, monitoring, and evaluations on global health issues in socio-cultural and politically diverse communities throughout the world.
- Students will identify the complexity and ethical dilemmas of global health projects in diverse economic, political, and cultural context, and promote accountability for the impact of policy decisions upon public health practice at local, national, and international levels.
