Program Overview

Master of Public Health and Juris Doctorate

The University of Miami School of Law and the Miller School of Medicine's Department of Public Health Sciences offer a joint degree program in law and public health. Upon completion of the programs, a student earns the Juris Doctor degree from the School of Law and a Master of Public Health degree from the School of Medicine.

Admission Requirements

• Students who apply for the joint JD/MPH program must apply both to the School of Law and to the Graduate Programs in Public Health Sciences.
• For admission consideration in the UM School of Law, one must achieve a qualifying score on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).
• LSAT scores sufficient for admission at the UM School of Law may serve as an acceptable substitute for the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) required for the MPH program.
• The applicant must notify both schools that he/she is applying for the joint M.P.H./J.D. program.
• In order to remain in the joint JD/MPH program, students must meet minimum standards of both the School of Law and the Graduate Program in Public Health Sciences.

Program Details

• Average program duration: 3.5 years (seven semesters plus two summer sessions). Law students begin MPH classes after completing the first year of law school.
• Total required credits: 115 credits

MPH Curriculum

The total requirements for the MPH portion of the MPH/JD joint degree are 33 credits. The credits must be completed to complete the core, electives, and capstone requirements.

• Core Courses (19 credits)
  • EPH 600 Introduction to the Science & Practice of Public Health (3 credits)
  • EPH 601 Medical Biostatistics 1 (4 credits)
  • EPH 617 Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (3 credits) or EPH 620 Health Education and Behavior (3 credits)
  • EPH 621 Fundamentals of Epidemiology (3 credits)
  • EPH 631 Public Health Administration (3 credits) or EPH 632 U.S. Health Systems (3 credits)
  • EPH 641 Environmental Health (3 credits)
• Generalist Concentration (9 credits)
  • EPH 607 Interdisciplinary Health Communication (3 credits)
  • EPH 602 Biostatistics II (3 credits) or BST 625 Survey of Statistical Computing (3 credits)
  • EPH 644 Fundamentals of Program Evaluation (3 credits) or EPH 656 Qualitative Research Methods (3 credits) or EPH 647 Community Based Participatory Research (3 credits)
• Required Capstone Experience Courses (5 credits)
  • A public health supervised field placement is required for the MPH degree. A contract of the proposed placement must be submitted to the Graduate Programs office and approved by the Capstone Faculty Advisor prior to initiation of the work. A total of 150 contact hours are required for completion of the capstone field experience. The contact hours may be registered for during several semesters.
  • EPH 680 Practical Field Experience (3 credits)
  • EPH 682 Generalist Capstone Project (2 credits)

JD Curriculum

In addition to the general law required courses (61 credits) for the JD program, students in the joint JD/MPH program must also complete the following courses:

• Health law courses (9 credits)
  • Administrative Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Law and Medicine
• Law subject area courses (12 credits)
  • Animal Law Workshop
  • Children and Youth Law Clinic
  • Health Rights and Education/Elder Law Clinic
  • Elder Law
  • Finance and Regulation Health Care
  • Health Care Practicum
  • Insurance Law
  • International Environmental Law
  • New Directions in Lawyering
  • Sexuality and the Law Seminar/Workshop
  • State and Local Government Law
  • Therapeutic Jurisprudence Seminar

Additional Information

• Curriculum information and course descriptions can be found in the UM Academic Bulletin Course Descriptions.
• Prospective students must apply to both schools to be accepted to the joint degree program.