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MPH Degree Course Requirements

There are 6 required core and breadth courses for all students earning an MPH degree. These courses, taken primarily in the first year of the program, provide students with a foundation in the concepts and competencies relevant to addressing determinants of health, using both qualitative and data-driven approaches.

  • PHW200G: Health and Social Behavior (3 units)
  • PHW200F: Intro to Environmental Health Science (3 units)
  • PHW200E: Health Policy and Management (3 units)
  • PHW142: Introduction to Probability and Statistics (4 units)
  • PHW250: Epidemiologic Methods (3 units)
  • PHW289: Interdisciplinary Seminar (3 units)

The UC Berkeley Food, Nutrition and Population Health Program trains future leaders in food and nutrition practice, policy and research to identify emerging nutrition and food-systems challenges and solutions and evaluate their impact. We aim to address historical and current inequities in nutrition and food systems, with an emphasis on systems-level change. Acknowledging the climate crisis, we look for ways to enhance resiliency in food systems and move towards greater food sovereignty.

The program is structured to provide students with the skills needed to: contribute to the scientific understanding of public health nutrition challenges; create healthy and equitable food systems; identify and advocate for effective food and nutrition policies; plan, implement, and evaluate programs; and conduct implementation research to improve nutrition and health for communities and populations. We seek to train people who want to lead at the local, state, national, and global levels in improving food systems, nutrition and health.

Upon satisfactory completion of the MPH concentration in Food, Nutrition and Population Health, graduates will be able to demonstrate the following competencies:

  • Describe the magnitude, distribution and trends of nutrition problems in populations.
  • Explain dietary influences, including social determinants, on health outcomes and identify population-based strategies to improve nutritional health.
  • Assess the nutritional status of individuals using anthropometric, diet and biochemical methods.
  • Evaluate nutrition research and interpret the implications for public health policies and programs, identifying key issues that address social inequities.
  • Apply interdisciplinary approaches to integrate social, political, economic, and ecological dimensions to contextualize nutrition, food systems and health problems and opportunities.

Food, Nutrition and Population Health (FNPH) Course Requirements

There are 5 required courses in order to fulfill the FNPH concentration. All required courses must be taken for a letter grade and passed with a B- or better.

FNPH Core Course

  • PHW206A: Nutrition Assessment, 3 Units (Spring 1)

Policy Course:

  • PHW206B: Food and Nutrition Policies and Programs, 3 Units (Fall 2)

Human Nutrition (choose one):

  • PHW207A: Maternal and Child Nutrition, 3 Units (Fall 1)
  • PHW290A: Diet and Chronic Disease, 3 Units (Spring 2)

Nutrition & Community Health Sciences, and Global Health Courses (choose two):

  • PHW204: Mass Communication in Public Health, 3 units (Summer 2)
  • PHW205: Program Planning and Development, 3 units (Summer 2)
  • PHW218: Evaluation of Health & Social Programs, 3 units (Spring 2)
  • PHW219: Social and Behavioral Health Research: Introduction to Survey Methods, 3 units (Summer 2)
  • PHW209: Comparative Health Systems, 3 units (Spring 1)
  • PHW212: Foundations of Global Health, 3 units  (Fall 1)
  • PHW213: Global Health Ethics, 3 units  (Fall 2)

Elective Courses

To complete the 42 units required for the MPH degree, students in the FNPH Concentration select 3 elective courses.

Some suggested courses are below. Other courses can be taken in areas such as global health, spatial data science, policy, and regulatory science.

  • PHW204 Mass Communication in Public Health (3 units, Summer 2)
  • PHW219 Social and Behavioral Health Research: Introduction to Survey Methods (3 units, Spring 1)
  • PHW220M: Health Policy Methods(3 units, Fall 1)
  • PHW241: Statistical Analysis of Categorical Data (4 units, Spring)
  • PHW277: GIS for Public Health (3 units, Spring 2)

Other degree requirements

FNPH students must meet all other graduation requirements, including the field practicum and comprehensive exam as approved for existing OOMPH program options (Interdisciplinary, HPM, Epidemiology & Biostatistics and Food, Nutrition and Population Health concentrations).

Course Planning

Food, Nutrition and Population Health Sample Schedules
Course Planning
Advising Meetings
  • Darshani Johnson, Senior Program Manager, is available to meet with students to plan out their course maps.  Feel free to book a 1:1 Zoom meeting with her here to review your course plan.
Completion of Course Requirements
  • OOMPH staff and advisors are here to help students every step of the way during their program.  Program Managers assess student progress toward degree requirements by running reports and communicating with students as needed. That said, it is ultimately up to each student to ensure that they are enrolling in and satisfactorily completing their required courses.  Students should reach out to their Program Manager with any questions related to degree requirements.