Public Health Studies > About

The Johns Hopkins Undergraduate Program in Public Health is one of the first and best-known programs of its kind, and has quickly grown into the most popular major in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. The program offers a Bachelor of Arts degree, as well as a BA/Master’s degree in collaboration with the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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What is Public Health?

Public health spans several disciplines dedicated to the improvement of the health and well-being of populations across the globe. This mission broadly focuses on the prevention of illness, disease, and health care inequalities. Core disciplines include epidemiology, environmental health sciences, health policy and management, biostatistics, and social and behavioral aspects of health. These disciplines draw on a fundamental knowledge of biology, a basic familiarity with social sciences, and an appreciation of socio-economic and cultural variance among different peoples.

A key component of the program is the applied experience requirement, which gives students the opportunity to work in the field with public health professionals. Students receive practical public health exposure and mentoring in clinical, research, or community settings.

The Public Health Studies Major

The public health studies major offers a flexible, challenging, and contemporary curriculum that may include coursework in ethics, the natural sciences, policy, economics, or environmental issues, among other areas. Through these varied options, the PHS program provides rigorous preparation for advanced study in public health, law, medicine, and related fields. The program is a beneficial undergraduate pursuit not only for students planning to enter MHS/MPH and PhD programs, but also for premedical and prelaw students.

The majority of classes are taught at the Homewood campus by faculty from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. As seniors, all PHS majors take at least a semester’s worth of graduate courses at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Many of the other students in these classes have advanced degrees and significant field experience as working public health professionals. Classes at JHSPH provide a powerful capstone experience and an authentic introduction to graduate level study.