Welcome to the IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health!
Graduate
Certificate Programs
Whether you want to become a more competitive candidate for your dream job or gain additional expertise, a certificate at the Fairbanks School of Public Health will meet the needs of working professionals or pre-career students.
Graduate Certificate in Health Policy
The IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health Graduate Certificate in Health Policy is a 15-credit hour program of study designed to meet the needs of working public health professionals who wish to advance their careers by continuing their education.
Completing the certificate will provide you with an introduction to health policy that will incorporate the rapid changes occurring in health care, complex ethical issues, and complicated financing systems.
Courses are taught by faculty from the IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, as well as the IU Schools of Medicine, Law, Nursing, Public and Environmental Affairs, and Liberal Arts. Graduates who are later accepted into the Fairbanks School of Public Health Master of Health Administration (MHA) degree may be able to apply credits earned in the Graduate Certificate in Health Policy toward the MHA degree, if they do so within 24 months of completing the graduate certificate, making this a great choice for those considering pursuing a graduate degree in the future.
Certificate requirements
To earn the Graduate Certificate in Health Policy, students must complete 15 credit hours of courses, which includes nine credit hours of required courses and six credit hours of approved electives. Students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (“B” grade on a 4.0 scale). Students who are already enrolled in the MHA degree program are not eligible for admission to the graduate certificate program. All public health courses require authorization before registering. Please call (317) 274-2000 to obtain authorization.
Curriculum
Required courses
Take three courses for a total of 9 credits
- PBHL H501 U.S. Healthcare and Health Policy (3 credits)
- PBHL H611 Advanced Policy Implementation Seminar (3 credits)
- PBHL H616 Leading Public Health Organizations (3 credits)
Elective courses
Take two courses for a total of 6 credits
- PBHL H613 Emergency Preparedness for Public Health (3 credits)
- PBHL H619 Financial Management and Public Health Organizations (3 credits)
- PBHL H621 Grant Proposal Writing and Administration (3 credits)
- PBHL H624 Developing Strategic Capabilities (3 credits)
- PBHL H628 Healthcare Information Systems (3 credits)
- PBHL H641 Public Health Ethics (3 credits)
- PBHL H644 Health Impact Assessment (3 credits)
- PBHL H657 Application of Cost Effectiveness for Public Health (3 credits)
Competencies
- Develop positions on health issues, law, and policy
- Educate policy and decision makers to improve health, social injustice, and equity
- Assess positions of key stakeholders for health policies, programs, and resources
- Implement federal, state, or local regulatory programs and guidelines
Graduate Certificate in Health Systems Management
The IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health Graduate Certificate in Health Systems Management is a 15-credit hour program of study designed to meet the needs of working health care administrators and physicians who are actively engaged in managerial duties, as well as physicians and health care professionals who wish to advance their careers by continuing their education.
Completing this certificate will provide greater knowledge of the structure, processes, and goal-setting approaches of health care organizations and enhance understanding of the environment in which they currently operate.
Graduates who are later accepted into the Fairbanks School of Public Health Master of Health Administration (MHA) degree may be able to apply credits earned in the Graduate Certificate in Health Systems Management toward the MHA degree, if they do so within 24 months of completing the graduate certificate, making this a great choice for those considering pursuing a graduate degree in the future.
Certificate requirements
To earn the Graduate Certificate in Health Systems Management, students must complete 15 credit hours of approved courses, which includes nine credit hours of required courses and six credit hours of approved electives. Students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (“B” grade on a 4.0 scale). Students who are already enrolled in the MHA degree program are not eligible for admission to the graduate certificate program. All public health courses require authorization before registering. Please call (317) 274-2000 to obtain authorization.
Curriculum
Required courses
- PBHL H501 U.S. Health Care: Systems, Policies and Ethical Challenges (3 credits)
- PBHL H508 Managing Health Care Accounting Information for Decision-Making (3 credits)
- PBHL H523 Health Services Human Resources Management (3 credits)
Elective courses
Take two approved courses for a total of 6 credits
Transfer credit, course substitutions and course waivers are not permitted.
Competencies
Upon completion of the Graduate Certificate in Health Systems Management, students will demonstrate the competencies in the areas of leadership, budgeting and finance, human resources management and health services administration as outlined below:
- Develop leadership approaches that are effective for communicating a vision, motivating stakeholders, building consensus, and leading organizational change.
- Work cooperatively with others; create, contribute to, and lead teams.
- Use quantitative information for effective organizational decision-making.
- Use financial skills for effective stewardship of resources.
- Understand and appropriately use information technology to support business and clinical functions.
- Apply appropriate management approaches to management and business decisions within healthcare organizations.
- Describe reimbursement methods and payer types.
- Understand the fundamental principles of human resources management and appropriately apply these principles to support business and clinical functions.
- Understand and describe the history & evolution of various health care organizations in the United States.
- Understand and describe the functions of operational components within health care organizations in the United States.
Graduate Certificate in Infection Control and Prevention Epidemiology
The IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health Graduate Certificate in Infection Control and Prevention Epidemiology is a 100 percent online, 15-credit hour program of study designed for working professionals who are interested in epidemiologic principles related to infectious diseases and practices used to improve population and patient health.
As a student in this program, you learn to recognize public health problems and collaborate with others to address them. You learn how to conduct an epidemiological investigation, from creating hypotheses to working with data and software. You master the basic and advanced analytical techniques necessary in the field of epidemiology.
This program may be of interest if you plan on working in public health, becoming an epidemiologist, joining an infection control and prevention team at a hospital or health care setting, or pursuing graduate or professional education. All credits earned in this certificate program are transferable to the Master of Public Health.
Competencies
By completing the Graduate Certificate in Infection Control and Prevention Epidemiology, you will learn how to:
- Recognize the existence of a public health problem
- Collaborate with others inside and outside the agency to identify the problem
- Identify surveillance data needs
- Assist in design of investigation, including creating hypothesis
- Demonstrate mastery of the basic and advanced analytical techniques in epidemiology
- Demonstrate basic data management and analysis skills using statistical software such as SAS by translating raw epidemiologic data into actionable public health information
- Use a data set to examine disease testing patterns as well as prevalence of disease. Students must query the data from a database and then conduct an analysis
- Exhibit knowledge of applied epidemiology in relation to infectious diseases
Certificate requirements
To earn the Graduate Certificate in Infection Control and Prevention Epidemiology, students must complete coursework in the five core areas of public health and maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (“B” grade on a 4.0 scale). All public health courses require authorization before registering. Please call (317) 274-2000 to obtain authorization.
Curriculum
Required introductory course (choose ONE course)
- E517 Fundamentals of Epidemiology (3 credits) or
- P511 Comprehensive Methods and Applications in Biostatistics and Epidemiology or
- B552 Fundamentals of Data Management (3 credits)
Required core courses (both must be completed)
- E635 Foundations in Public Health Informatics (3 credits) and
- E609 Infectious Disease Epidemiology (3 credits)
Electives (choose TWO courses)
- E601 Advanced Epidemiology (3 credits)
- E618 Cancer Epidemiology (3 credits)
- E629 Introduction to Genetic Epidemiology (3 credits)
- E645 Information Exchange for Population Health (3 credits)
- E651 Public Health Surveillance (3 credits)
Graduate Certificate in Public Health
The IU Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health Graduate Certificate in Public Health is a 15-credit hour program of study designed to meet the needs of working public health professionals who wish to advance their careers by continuing their education.
Completing the certificate will provide you with a strong foundation in public health theory and concepts. Graduates who are later accepted into the Fairbanks School of Public Health Master of Public Health (MPH) degree may be able to apply credits earned in the Graduate Certificate in Public Health toward the MPH degree, if they do so within 24 months of completing the graduate certificate, making this a great choice for those considering pursuing a graduate degree in the future.
Competencies
By completing the Graduate Certificate in Public Health, you will learn how to:
- Use biostatistical methods to analyze and report public health data
- Specify approaches to assess, prevent, and control environmental and occupational hazards to human health and safety
- Use epidemiologic methods to collect, study, analyze and report the patterns of disease in human populations for diverse audiences
- Apply policy process, development, and analysis methods to address current national, state, and local public health issues
- Identify social and behavioral science factors, theories and models and develop, implement, and evaluate interventions designed to positively affect health behaviors in populations
- Exhibit high standards of personal and organizational integrity, compassion, honesty, and respect for all people
- Identify the impact of diversity and culture on public health across discipline areas
- Identify the basic ethical and legal principles pertaining to the collection, maintenance, use and dissemination of public health data
Certificate requirements
To earn the Graduate Certificate in Public Health, students must complete coursework in the core areas of public health and maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 (“B” grade on a 4.0 scale). All public health courses require authorization before registering. Please call 317-278-0337 to obtain authorization.
Curriculum
- PBHL-P 510 Introduction to Public Health (3 credits)
- PBHL-P 511 Comprehensive Methods and Applications in Biostatistics and Epidemiology (3 credits)
- PBHL-P 512 Communication & Leadership (3 credits)
- PBHL-P 513 Planning, Evaluation & Management (3 credits)
- One public health elective (3 credits)
Updated: April 2023
