Public Health (Non-Thesis) (M.Sc.) (60 credits)
Offered by: Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences)
Degree: Master of Science
Program credit weight: 60
Program Description
The M.Sc. in Public Health; Non-Thesis focuses on the foundations and principles of epidemiology and biostatistics as applied to public health research and practice, and to design, conduct, and analyze clinical, population-based, environmental, policy, and methodological public health-related research. The program will include a practicum during the summer term after the first year.
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Required Courses (36 Credits)
Students exempted from any of the courses listed below must replace them with additional complementary course credits.
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EPIB 601 | Fundamentals of Epidemiology. | 4 |
Fundamentals of Epidemiology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to epidemiologic concepts and corresponding terms. After an introduction to the history, definition, and purposes of epidemiology, "core" concepts that are relevant in several areas of investigation (e.g., etiologic research, health care research, and community medicine practice) will be presented. | ||
| EPIB 603 | Intermediate Epidemiology. | 4 |
Intermediate Epidemiology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Concepts and methods for epidemiology at the intermediate level, including causation, measures of disease occurrence and effect, study designs, biases in epidemiologic research, interaction, and data analysis for categorical and survival data using statistical software. | ||
| EPIB 605 | Critical Appraisal in Epidemiology. | 1 |
Critical Appraisal in Epidemiology. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course provides the opportunity to develop skills to critically evaluate evidence presented in the biomedical and health sciences literature, based on the concepts acquired in the epidemiology introductory courses. | ||
| EPIB 607 | Inferential Statistics. | 4 |
Inferential Statistics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to the basic principles of statistical inference used in clinical and epidemiologic research. Topics include variability; methods of processing and describing data; sampling and sampling distributions; inferences regarding means and proportions, non-parametric methods, regression and correlation. | ||
| EPIB 613 | Introduction to Statistical Software. | 1 |
Introduction to Statistical Software. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to statistical software and data management; including basics of entering, manipulating data and elementary statistical analysis, SAS software, with reference to other packages of potential interest to students (R, Stata, SPSS). | ||
| EPIB 621 | Data Analysis in Health Sciences. | 4 |
Data Analysis in Health Sciences. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Univariate and multivariate statistical techniques for continuous categorical and survival data. Topics include generalized linear models, multiple linear and logistic regression, introductory survival analysis, model selection. Maximum likelihood and Bayesean approaches will be presented. | ||
| PPHS 602 | Foundations of Population Health. | 3 |
Foundations of Population Health. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to population health and the conceptual basis of the population health approach to measuring disease occurrence and to prevention. Fundamentals of, and methods for, studying burden of disease in population, and how these differ across time, space, and groups. Topics include population dynamics, denominators, occurrence of events, time, person and place, health indicators, standardization, life tables, age, cohort and period effects, disease surveillance and vital statistics. Introduction to the concepts and principles of measurement including measurement error, validity, reliability, and accuracy. | ||
| PPHS 612 | Principles of Public Health Practice. | 3 |
Principles of Public Health Practice. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Principles and methods in public health practice. Topics will include investigation in public health, public health intervention, program evaluation, public health and the health care system, society and public health. | ||
| PPHS 630 | MScPH Practicum/Project. | 12 |
MScPH Practicum/Project. Terms offered: Summer 2025 The practicum provides the opportunity to integrate classroom learning and practice in a population or public health work environment. The student contributes to an organization's mandate and to addressing a population and/or public health problem while developing skills as a population and/or public health professional and/or researcher. | ||
Practicum/Project
If a stream is chosen as part of the complementary courses, the practicum must be related to the subject of the selected stream.
Complementary Courses (9 Credits)
Environmental Health Sciences
3 credits from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| GEOG 503 | Advanced Topics in Health Geography. | 3 |
Advanced Topics in Health Geography. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A critical review of current themes and trends in health geography, with emphasis on geographical perspectives in public health research. Topics include the social and environmental determinants of chronic and infectious disease, health and health-related behaviours. Seminars focus on critical appraisal of conceptual and methodological approaches in health geography research. | ||
| OCCH 602 | Occupational Health Practice. | 3 |
Occupational Health Practice. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course analyzes the functions, structure and organization of occupational health programs and services. | ||
| OCCH 604 | Monitoring Occupational Environment. | 3 |
Monitoring Occupational Environment. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Principles and practices of environmental and biological monitoring of workplace hazards are addressed. Familiarization with instrumentation and calibration procedures is undertaken. Students learn to identify workplace health hazards, develop effective sampling strategies, use industrial hygiene equipment and interpret results of exposure measurements. | ||
| PPHS 529 | Global Environmental Health and Burden of Disease. | 3 |
Global Environmental Health and Burden of Disease. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course presents the grand challenges in global health from environmental and occupational risks along with the multi-disciplinary methods used to identify, control, and prevent them. It will introduce students to knowledge and skills in core disciplines of environmental health and approaches to environmental risk recognition, control and prevention in a global context. | ||
Or other course, at the 500 level or higher, selected with the Program's Academic Advisor.
Health Services Research Policy and Management
3 credits from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| PPHS 525 | Health Care Systems in Comparative Perspective. | 3 |
Health Care Systems in Comparative Perspective. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Comparative perspective to illustrate processes involved in the development and evolution of health care systems around the world. Countries examined will represent different welfare state regimes, health care system typologies, levels of development and wealth. | ||
| PPHS 527 | Economics for Health Services Research and Policy. | 3 |
Economics for Health Services Research and Policy. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Key health policy topics in developed economies using analytic frameworks and tools from economics. Major topics include health insurance, health care financing, and the roles of individuals and public and private institutions in the health care system. | ||
| PPHS 528 | Economic Evaluation of Health Programs. | 3 |
Economic Evaluation of Health Programs. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Concepts and methods used to carry out economic evaluations of health programs and interventions, including public health interventions, pharmaceuticals, and other health care interventions. Includes topics such as calculation of unit costs, measurement of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and assessment of uncertainty in cost-effectiveness analysis. | ||
| PPHS 617 | Impact Evaluation. | 3 |
Impact Evaluation. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course will cover methods for estimating the effects of social interventions on health outcomes. We will provide the intuition for conducting impact evaluation studies in population health and discuss recent developments. We will define causal policy effects within the potential outcomes framework and introduce and formally define policy-relevant research questions based on specific causal contrasts. We will cover the use of randomized and cluster randomized trials for impact evaluation, including cost-effectiveness. We will additionally cover quasi-experimental designs such as interrupted time series, difference-in-differences, instrumental variables, and regression discontinuity. | ||
Or other course, at the 500 level or higher, selected with the Program's Academic Advisor.
Population and Public Health Interventions (social and behavioural science)
3 credits from:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| EPIB 632 | Mental Disorders: Population Perspectives and Methods. | 3 |
Mental Disorders: Population Perspectives and Methods. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Semester-long seminar on key issues and concepts integral to the epidemiological study of mental disorders, through the lens of a population perspective. Review of the origins of the field, classical studies, and recent major studies. Survey of where the field is now. Discussion of national and global burden of mental disorders. Defining and diagnosing mental disorders. Methods to identify psychopathology in community versus clinical settings. Reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnoses and measurement tools. Research designs including approaches to study etiology, health services delivery, prevention, role functioning, and policy. | ||
| PPHS 614 | Knowledge Translation and Public Health Leadership . | 3 |
Knowledge Translation and Public Health Leadership . Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. An examination of knowledge translation in public health, including synthesis, dissemination, exchange, and ethically-sound application of knowledge to policy and programming. Overview of knowledge translation processes for effective evidence-informed public health leadership. | ||
| PPHS 616 | Principles and Practice of Public Health Surveillance. | 3 |
Principles and Practice of Public Health Surveillance. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The objectives of this course are to familiarize students with the theory and methods of surveillance, a core public health function. The seminars will define surveillance and explore surveillance applications and methods through case studies and in-class exercises. Topics will include: measurement, indicators, analytical methods, and the future of surveillance. Computer-based modules will complement seminars. Topics will include: estimating the burden of a disease, detecting disease outbreaks, and identifying cases of chronic disease. | ||
| PPHS 618 | Program Planning and Evaluation in Public Health . | 3 |
Program Planning and Evaluation in Public Health . Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Major activities in planning and evaluating an evidence-based public health intervention using a structured approach to intervention planning and different evaluation methodologies and techniques. Emphasis on evidence-based program planning, logic model development, participatory approaches, and program evaluation in applied public health settings. | ||
Or other course, at the 500 level or higher, selected with the Program's Academic Advisor.
Elective Courses (15 Credits)
15 credits of coursework, at the 500 level or higher. Students may choose to focus on more advanced methods in epidemiology, biostatistics, geography, or substantive areas such as environmental or occupational health, or to select a variety of courses that will deepen their general knowledge of the disciplines that influence population and public health.
Courses will be selected with and approved by the Program's Academic Advisor.
Courses may not satisfy more than one program requirement.