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D.P.T. / M.P.H. Joint Degree Program

As a physical therapist you will be working in a complex health care system. The D.P.T. / M.P.H. Joint Degree program helps you understand how you can navigate and influence health administration and health care policies to serve your patients and clients. This is especially true when it comes to preventative health care that uses public health policy to decrease illness, injury, and stress. Access to quality nutrition, community programs, and health care resources all have a strong impact on the health of your community and a direct effect on your patients.

The M.P.H. is designed to complement physical therapy education by providing a closer look at the concepts and principles of public health, community outreach, health systems management and program planning (depending on the concentration).

Why Should I Choose the D.P.T. / M.P.H. Joint Degree Program?

Enrolling in the D.P.T. / M.P.H. program allows you to supplement your physical therapy coursework and clinical experiences with a public health perspective. Aside from helping you become a more well-rounded health professional, this combination also brings major benefits and lets you:

  • Assume greater roles in the preventative health and wellness of members of society, even before a pathology has been detected.
  • Become involved in programs to promote health and wellness in children to prevent or reduce adolescent obesity.
  • Prepares you for worksite assessment, ergonomic evaluation and promotion of safe body mechanics, to prevent or reduce work-related injuries.

Program Format

The D.P.T. / M.P.H. program involves coursework in physical therapy and public health. The D.P.T. degree is the primary degree, completed in the usual three years and 120 credits of coursework. Some of your D.P.T. coursework counts towards the M.P.H. but you’ll need to take some additional public health courses to complete the M.P.H. degree.

Admissions

If you are a student in our D.P.T. program, in order to apply to the M.P.H. program for a joint D.P.T. / M.P.H. degree, you must:

  • Complete the first year of the D.P.T. program in good academic standing
  • Be recommended by the director of the Physical Therapy Program
  • Meet all admissions requirements of the M.P.H. program
  • Formally apply for admission to the M.P.H. program in the Spring semester of your first year of D.P.T. degree study

Tuition

Of the 42 credits required for the M.P.H. degree, students enrolled in the D.P.T. / M.P.H. can transfer 12 credits from their D.P.T. studies, leaving 30 additional M.P.H. credits to take. A tuition discount of 50% is applied to those 30 additional M.P.H. credits. See tuition on the SHSP Tuition & Aid page.