Message from Vaughn Mamlin Upshaw, Chair of Public Health Leadership and Practice
Welcome to the Department of Public Health Leadership and Practice!
Dr. Vaughn Mamlin Upshaw, Chair
The Department of Public Health Leadership and Practice (PHLP) builds on a historical foundation of innovation in graduate education and practice-based initiatives at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Our vision is to develop public health leaders with the practical knowledge, vision, and ability to anticipate and address system level challenges to health wherever they occur.
Drawing upon the school’s longstanding commitment to strengthen capacity of the public health workforce, PHLP offers graduate degrees and certificates. Our curriculum is customized to meet the demands of busy practitioners in public health and medical care — by offering courses in traditional classrooms, online and hybrid formats.
Masters of Public Health (MPH) Graduate Degrees:
- Leadership in Practice — a MPH degree offered residentially and online, designed to develop highly qualified public health leaders for a wide range of public health and health-related professions.
- Population Health for Clinicians — a flexible MPH degree in the population sciences, tailored to the needs of clinicians and clinicians-in-training such as physicians, nurses, dentists and pharmacists.
- Place-Based Health — a MPH degree offered jointly by UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Asheville that empowers working-professionals in Western NC to step into leadership roles in all systems that impact health.
- Global Health — a MPH degree co-led by faculty in the departments of Environmental Health Solutions, Health Behavior, Maternal and Child Health, and Public Health Leadership and Practice, focused on helping students step into public health roles in global health systems.
Executive Doctoral Program in Health Leadership (DrPH):
- Public Health Executive Leadership — a DrPH degree co-led by PHLP and Health Policy and Management department faculty, designed to help public health and health care executives address complex challenges in their organizations, communities and health systems in diverse settings across the world.
Graduate Certificates:
- Core Concepts in Public Health — delivers the same core content taught in PHLP’s MPH programs, but is specially designed and developed for delivery online.
- Field Epidemiology — prepares the public health workforce to deal with emerging threats using innovative approaches to education and training that encompass the latest surveillance techniques and state of the art technology.
- Global Health — provides health professionals with insights and tools to examine the complexities inherent in improving health on a global scale.
- Public Health Leadership — aligns with leadership content taught in PHLP’s MPH programs, but is specially designed and developed for delivery online.
The North Carolina Institute for Public Health (NCIPH) collaboratively leads and fosters innovative solutions to public health challenges in NC and beyond by creating systems, policies, and programs that work for all. The professionals at NCIPH bring strengths in applied academic and practice-driven environments — driving programs that bridge the gap between academic experts and public health practice partners. Training programs and advisory services delivered by NCIPH help develop professionals, workforce, and infrastructure for public health progress in governmental agencies, health care organizations, and communities.
PHLP reflects the best of Gillings. Our interdisciplinary students, faculty and staff bring experiences from across the school, university, state and globe. We are driven by our collective commitment and desire to collaborate across disciplines, sectors, and boundaries to improve health outcomes for all. We connect to creatively engage in addressing complex practice-based challenges, using knowledge of public health science, best practices, and innovative strategies. We reflect a mix of individuals who promote a culture of inclusion, welcome and belonging, and we celebrate the diversity we find at Gillings, across the state, and around the world.
We all do better when we learn and work together. As the chair of PHLP, I am excited to be learning and working with others to achieve more than what any of us could accomplish alone.
Vaughn Mamlin Upshaw, DrPH, EdD
Chair and Professor of the Practice
Department of Public Health Leadership and Practice
