ESU Welcomes the Third Cohort of MD/MPH Graduate Students

Posted by: admin on September 18, 2015, No Comments

The Department of Health Studies at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania recently admitted its third cohort of medical students from the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Pa. With the newest cohort of seven medical students, the dual degree program enrollment has grown to 19 medical students attending ESU. The first cohort admitted in 2013 is in the process of completing their Public Health Certificate in 2015 as a step in the completion of their M.P.H. degree.

The integration of public health training into the education of primary care physicians is beneficial in the age of health care reform. As the cost of health care services approaches 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the U.S., medical schools throughout the country are in various stages of curriculum innovation as it relates to preventing chronic disease, or reducing the recidivism rates of re-hospitalization after discharge.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 70 percent of chronic disease is caused by maladaptive health behaviors. A critical battleground in the field of public health is addressing the pandemic of obesity. Obesity results in a variety of health conditions and diseases including diabetes. Ten percent of the U.S. population has been diagnosed with Type II diabetes. Another 37 percent of the adult population in the U.S. over the age of 20 has ‘pre-diabetes,’ which will develop into Type II diabetes without behavior change.

The Master of Public Health program at ESU provides an emphasis in modifying health behavior using the social-ecological model, improving community health using population-based prevention and health policy change.

The dual degree program is funded through a five-year $1.5 million dollar Training in Primary Care Medicine-Interdisciplinary and Inter-professional Graduate Joint Degree Program grant from the Health Resources Service Administration. This program combines the strengths of both degrees to enhance preventive health care and the health-related quality of life within the public as whole.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number T85HP24464 Training in Primary Care Medicine- Interdisciplinary and Inter-professional Graduate Joint Degree Program for $1,499,592. This information or content and conclusions are those of the project staff from ESU and TCMC and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.

For more information on the MD/MPH program offered by The Commonwealth Medical College in partnership with East Stroudsburg University, please contact Erica Townsend, program coordinator, at etownsend@tcmc.edu, or Steven Godin, Ph.D., program co-director, at sgodin@esu.edu.