Program Requirements
MPH students must complete the prescribed coursework. In addition, they must complete a capstone intellectual product (master’s essay) under the guidance of a faculty committee and register for a practicum experience. Students will take the school-wide core courses as part of the required credits to complete their degree.
Pitt Public Health requires the completion of 45 credits to receive a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree, including 40 hours of required courses and 5 elective credits. However, joint degree participants may cross-count up to 8 hours of law school credits towards their MPH.
The School of Law requires 88 credits for the Juris Doctor. Of these, 12 credits may be cross-counted from Pitt Public Health. Overall a total of 113 credit hours is required for completing the joint degree program, which is 20 credits fewer than completing all of the coursework independently.
Requirements for the JD/MPH Degree:
For the JD/MPH degree, students enrolled in the joint-degree program receive integrated training in law and public health over a four year period. Students must apply to, and be accepted into, both the School of Law and the Graduate School of Public Health. Once admitted, the student completes the first year of law school before registering for courses in public health. During subsequent semesters students are encouraged to integrate coursework between the schools to best accommodate the students learning objectives. If obtained separately, the combined credit-hour requirements for the JD and MPH degrees is 133 credits (88 for the JD, and 45 for the MPH). Students enrolled in this joint-degree program, however, are able to apply a number of courses toward fulfillment of both degrees simultaneously thereby reducing the total required credits to 113.
JD/MPH Curriculum
