Environmental quality clearly affects human health. Increasingly, climate change complicates our attempts to predict the effects of the environment on human morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, public perceptions of the connections between health and the environment have been key drivers of environmental policy and legislation worldwide.

To train students to understand these complex issues, Yale offers a joint-degree program that pairs a master’s degree from its School of Forestry & Environmental Studies with a master’s from its School of Public Health.

Degrees

Students earn one of two environment degrees–the Master of Environmental Management (MEM) or the Master of Environmental Science (MESc) – and the Master of Public Health (MPH).

Within public health, students choose among seven divisions: biostatistics; chronic disease epidemiology; environmental health sciences; epidemiology of microbial diseases; health management; health policy and administration; and social and behavioral sciences.

The joint program reduces the time of study by one year.

Course of study

At the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (FES) students take eight core courses and four electives that together are designed to develop a broad multidisciplinary foundation for problem solving. Students will be required to complete courses in the natural and social sciences and in quantitative methods. They also choose advanced coursework from among nine study areas, which include: ecology, ecosystems and biodiversity; environment, health and policy; forestry, forest science and management; global change science and policy; industrial environmental management; policy, economics and law; the social ecology of conservation and development; urban ecology and environmental design; and water science, policy and management.

For details, see http://environment.yale.edu/prospective/Degrees-Offered/

At the School of Public Health (EPH), students take core courses that include statistics, epidemiology and research ethics, along with electives. They must also complete divisional requirements.

For details, see http://www.med.yale.edu/eph/academic/index.html.

Each program requires a summer internship and a thesis or, at FES, a capstone project. In addition, all joint-degree students are required to attend three weeks of technical skills training before beginning their studies at FES. These are hands-on workshops, offered every August, that teach plant identification, ecosystems management, land measurement, and urban ecosystem analysis.

Tuition

Students pay tuition for three semesters at each school.

Contact info

School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

Sage Hall
205 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
800.825.0330
fesinfo@yale.edu
http://environment.yale.edu

School of Public Health

47 College Street
Suite 108
New Haven, CT 06510
203-785-2844
eph.admissions@yale.edu
http://publichealth.yale.edu

• EPH - Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Anne Pistell
• F&ES- Professor Michelle Bell