Beginning fall 2026, in-person master’s students in the School of Public Health will matriculate under a newly designed curriculum that has been structured to provide greater flexibility.
The goal is for students to graduate equipped with more hands-on skills and greater knowledge of how to apply their education to their chosen professions, said Associate Director of the Accelerated Master of Public Health Program and Associate Dean for Education in the SPH Scott Rivkees, who spearheaded the curriculum’s restructure.
“Very importantly … they are going to have the skills that potential employers are looking for,” Rivkees said.
These changes will not impact current MPH candidates nor students pursuing their master’s degree through the online MPH program. The Accelerated MPH for Clinicians program will also continue to use the current curriculum.
According to a Feb. 18 announcement posted to the SPH website, the new curriculum will be organized into “four foundational elements,” including a core curriculum, methods-based concentrations, electives and applied practice.
The first three elements total to 12 courses, and students can fulfill their applied practice credit by working with a local organization through the MPH Practicum Program or by developing a thesis or capstone project.
In accordance with Council on Education for Public Health accreditation guidelines, the curriculum will continue to include all competencies required for MPH programs, Rivkees said.
The new core curriculum will still require six courses, four of which will remain the same from the previous course of study. The two new required courses will cover the intersection of law and public health, as well as leadership and communication, Rivkees told The Herald.
“One of the things we learned during the pandemic is that we got the science right,” Rivkees said. “But one of the areas that we struggled on was with communication.”
The SPH has also restructured concentrations within the program, now offering five potential tracks. Each track will require three core courses — a decrease from the previous requirements — according to Karen Andes, director of the Master of Public Health Program and professor of behavioral and social sciences.
According to the SPH announcement, students can choose three or more additional elective courses that align with their interests and career goals. Previously, some students rarely had time in their schedules to take more than one elective, Rivkees said.
“One of the reasons students come to Brown … is because of the flexible curriculum where you can really design things to your own liking,” he said. “It’s something that’s really unique among colleges.”
Andes said that although curriculums vary across schools with regards to course flexibility, “it is a little bit unusual to have fully a quarter of the curriculum open as electives.” She added that other programs typically require students to pick their concentration immediately, while Brown’s does not.
Students can also decide to use their elective course slots to pursue a dual concentration, according to the website.
“We’ve been moving towards opening up the curriculum for a couple of years,” Andes said. “What’s changed a lot this year is the new methodological focus for the concentrations.”
Ateev Mehrotra, chair of the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice, anticipates that the biggest challenge in implementing the program will be adapting the new program as students respond to it.
The Feb. 18 announcement came in the middle of the admissions season, which means the changes have to be communicated to prospective students, Andes said.
“We’re doing a lot of work right now to get the word out and to make sure that students who are considering coming to Brown in the fall are fully aware” of the new curriculum, Andes added.
Rivkees said that current students were the “impetus” behind the changes, as students and professors worked together to identify areas in the current program that needed improvement.
“Public health is changing, he said. “The workforce is changing, and students going into public health … need different types of skills now than they would have needed five years ago.”
Noa Saviano is a senior staff writer covering Graduate Schools and Students. She is a freshman from New York City and plans on concentrating in Comparative Literature and Cognitive Science.
