Public health master’s program ranks 19th in country

UNMC’s College of Public Health was ranked 19th in the College Choice 2017 ranking of the 35 best master’s in public health degrees. College Choice is a leading authority in college and university rankings and resources.

The ranking finds Harvard University in the top spot, Johns Hopkins University in second, and Columbia University rounds out the top three. The University of Iowa came in 22nd.

Ali S. Khan, M.D., M.P.H., dean of the College of Public Health, said it is “always heartening to see the great work of our faculty, staff and students being recognized in national rankings. As public health practitioners, our real measure will always remain our college’s impact and that of our graduates in improving the health of the communities we serve worldwide.”

The college offers a master of public health degree on-campus in eight concentration areas: biostatistics, community oriented primary care, environmental and occupational health, epidemiology, health promotion, maternal and child health, public health administration and policy and public health practice.

In an effort to make the college’s programs more accessible and responsive to students who live and work outside of Omaha, it also offers online master of public health options in biostatistics, environmental and occupational health and public health practice.

College Choice developed its list by looking at traditional metrics of institutional excellence such as student-to-faculty ratio, incoming student test scores, and regional accreditation according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. News & World Report. College Choice also incorporated data on return on investment, or the difference between tuition costs and expected early career salary, found on Payscale.