PharmD/MPH | Graduate

Purpose

We are excited to announce that the new PharmD/MPH joint degree program is a collaboration between the College of Pharmacy and the Graduate School’s Master of Public Health Program. The PharmD/MPH program will equip graduates with the necessary knowledge and skills to practice as pharmacists in patient-centered care settings and contribute to broader public health efforts. The program is highly interdisciplinary, providing unique opportunities to work across disciplines and allowing students to excel by applying their learned skills and knowledge through fieldwork and the Capstone experience. A graduate of the PharmD/MPH program will possess the ideal skill set to understand the nuances involved in patient-centered care and apply that knowledge to translate it into best practices for public health efforts. 

Program Overview and How to Apply 

The PharmD/MPH program at Howard University is a five-year program that allows selected individuals to graduate with both degrees. Students would matriculate into the PharmD program, apply for the MPH program in their third year of pharmacy school, and, if accepted, would matriculate into the MPH program for their fourth year of school before completing their final year of pharmacy school. This allows students to complete all didactic knowledge from both programs before completing the advanced experiential rotations in the PharmD program. Collaborative efforts between faculty in the PharmD and MPH programs also allow further emphasis on learned public health concepts during PharmD education through enrollment in public health electives and a public health-oriented advanced pharmacy experiential rotation. 

The ultimate goal of the dual degree program is to prepare professional students to function as leaders and influencers of health policies and issues surrounding healthcare including health care inequalities. They will be ready for executive leadership positions in healthcare organizations by acquiring valuable skills to plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services, and learn how to create and implement policy and procedures, hire and supervise staff, control finances, and collaborate with other healthcare managers. Thus, graduates of the dual PharmD/MPH program will be equipped to promote and protect the health and well-being of the diverse communities throughout the states, the nation, and the world through interdisciplinary education, research, practice, leadership, and public policy.