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“Public health is only visible when it falls apart – when people don’t get the immunizations they need, when water is not clean, when people get sick as a result,” says Christina Mills, founding director of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s master’s program in public health (MPH). “You don’t see it when it’s working well.”

Over the past decade, the cracks in Canada’s public health systems have become more visible. Qualified public health professionals are in short supply. The MPH, based in the faculty of applied health sciences, was launched in 2006 to connect ��ݮ��Ƶ’s resources with society’s need.

Many public health professionals are well trained in specific disciplines, Mills says, “but don’t have a wide enough grasp of other areas of the field to be able to make decisions for public health. The MPH gives grads the cross-cutting tools they’ll need to take on leadership roles in the field.”

Students explore topics such as environmental health, health policy, management of public health services, and epidemiology, with electives such as environmental toxicology. Program structure and delivery are aimed at working professionals, with students and instructors connecting through the Internet.

This format suited graduate Anita Nikolic, a public health inspector at Halton Health Protection Services in Oakville, who completed the program via part-time studies. Her workday, which includes serving as liaison officer to the Medical Officer of Health, followed by an evening of studies, was not easy — “But I loved the flexibility of being able to work and complete the course at the same time,” she says.

For Nikolic, the advanced degree is a key that will open career doors. “The MPH is helping me to better understand how the public health system works, especially at a higher level,” she says. “It’s a growing field. I look forward to what the future will bring.”