Integrating Evidence-Based Public Health into the MPH Curriculum

The faculty of the Master of Public Health Program at the University of Pennsylvania has developed a novel way to incorporate evidence-based public health (EBPH) across the curriculum. The EBPH curriculum initiative started by engaging the faculty in a discussion of the core EPBH principles that we deemed essential for our students. We concluded that most of these principles were already scattered throughout our MPH core courses, but they were not explicitly highlighted. To focus student attention on EBPH in an integrated way, we developed a public health teaching case that could be taught across the curriculum. We designated one week each semester when faculty would teach the EBPH case in all core courses and in as many elective courses as practical. This approach allowed students to see how the different public health disciplines were integrated into evidence-based practice. Key to this initiative was the appropriate choice of a public health teaching case. The inaugural case focused on the problem of opioid abuse and overdose in Philadelphia--a topic that was selected for its public health importance, timeliness, and interest to faculty and students. Equally important was the relevance of this topic to local policymakers, who were highly engaged in the case development process and enthusiastic about participating in culminating events during “The Week”. This presentation will highlight four aspects: engagement of faculty in curriculum changes; development of a public health case with input from local experts; lessons learned from implementation; and training of students in evidence-based public health practice.