Executive MPH Program Celebrates 20th Anniversary
In 1990, Columbia’s School of Public Health opened the door to a new kind of educational program--one that was tailored to fit the busy schedules and experience of working professionals who wanted the additional training and credential of a Master of Public Health.
Despite clear demand, few such programs existed, recalls Sheila Gorman, PhD, professor emeritus of the Department of Health Policy and Management, and founding director of the Executive MPH Program. Dr. Gorman consulted with administrators at the University of Michigan, which had such a program. And, she recalls, “I talked with people who were practitioners, hospital administrators and commissioners of health about what they thought of the idea and how to form this program.”
From then-dean Allan Rosenfield, came the inventive idea of holding classes once a month over intensive four-day weekends, so that busy managers could bunch up their time away from the office, earning their degree over a two-year period. And thus was born the Columbia Executive MPH (EMPH) Program, now celebrating its 20th anniversary.
The Right Kind of Student
The first class included 24 students: a diverse mix of doctors, dentists, consultants, government employees, and hospital administrators. “They had to have at least five years of experience, superb test scores and academic credentials,” explains Dr. Gorman.
Today, the program enrolls 30 to 40 students a year. The average student age is 42. Most participants come from the tri-state area but the program also attracts students from as far away as California, Wisconsin, Nicaragua, Italy, and England. Yes, people cross oceans to attend once a month! As in the first class, doctors sit next to lawyers, who sit next to nurses and healthcare executives, ensuring a rich environment of ideas and experience.
Those who conceived the EMPH Program knew that attracting a diverse and dynamic mix of students would be essential to building a strong program. Indeed, this strength is one of the things both students and faculty value most about the experience.
“The discussion they can generate in the classroom is fascinating and insightful,” observes Thomas D’Aunno, PhD, current Faculty Director of the EMPH Program and a professor of Health Policy and Management. “Key to the program’s success is that students can learn from each other because of who the participants are.”
Former EMPH program director Michael Sparer, PhD, JD, concurs: “Execs come in with years of experience in healthcare, making it a very different kind of classroom experience. Actually being in the classroom with that cadre of students – I learn a lot.”
A Different Way of Learning
David Evelyn ’05, MD, vice president for Medical Affairs at Cayuga Medical Center
Then and now the EMPH curriculum provides management fundamentals within a public health framework, reflecting the issues unique to that sector. The instruction also focuses on team and problem-based models of learning, which requires very active student participation.
“The emphasis on the cohort-based model, team-based learning, recruiting mid- and upper-level professionals working full-time--that was the heart of the program from the beginning, and it has stayed the same,” says Dr. Sparer, now chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management.
This applied approach to learning yields immediate practical returns, says EMPH alumnus David Evelyn ’05, MD, vice president for Medical Affairs at Cayuga Medical Center. “I’ve used everything from the program - everything from economics to epidemiology to learning to work with other people to being a more effective leader.”
Students’ diversity and depth of experience also makes for excellent networking. Julie Minter, EMPH ’92, entered with the first EMPH class. She was then working as an administrator of faculty affairs at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. A few years after graduating, she recalls, a classmate introduced her to the deputy commissioner of health, which led to her getting her dream job at the New York City Department of Health.
The ultimate measure of success for any educational program is the track record of its graduates, and many EMPH grads have made a notable mark in public health. Among them are Nick Macchione ‘97, director of health services for San Diego county; Linda Forese ‘95, chief operating officer and chief medical officer of New York-Presbyterian Hospital; and Arthur Gianelli ‘08, CEO and president of Nassau Health Care Corporation, a $500 million public-benefit corporation.
On December 9 and 10, 149 alumni returned to the School to hear lectures by Jack Rowe and Professor Sparer, compare notes with current students, and attend a reception honoring the 20th Anniversary of the Program.