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Cornell University

Public Health

Sustainability. Equity. Engagement.

Working Together to Change the World

Cornell University offers a campus-wide Master of Public Health (MPH) Program to help build public health leaders who are inspired and trained to ensure the health of people, animals, and the world in which we live.

Our program is founded on three pillars—Sustainability, Equity, and Engagement—that inform our approach to teaching, research, service, and practice. Our small class sizes and engaged-learning approach give our students uncommon flexibility in developing the skills they need to make an impact in their desired careers. And, by working with community partners, our students turn theory into practice while preparing to become future leaders of the public health workforce.

Our Curriculum

Our core curriculum provides students with the skills, tools, and foundational knowledge to become general public health practitioners, while our concentration courses allow our students to become specialists in their chosen field.

News & Impacts

Fishers work on Lake Victoria in Africa

Kenyan fishers face increased drowning risk from climate change

Fatal drownings are a big risk for small-scale fishers on Africa’s largest lake, with many of those deaths attributed to bad weather – conditions that are likely to worsen with climate change, according to a new study.

Lake Victoria – bordering Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda – is heavily fished by some 200,000 fishers, in spite of frequent severe thunderstorms and its reputation as one of the most dangerous bodies of water in the world.

These findings are especially concern…

Panorama aerial wildfire is burning trees dry grass in the forest in California

As Canadian wildfire smoke reaches U.S., Dr. Alistair Hayden calls for updates to national disaster policy

Dr. Alistair Hayden, assistant professor of practice in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, and a former division chief at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, has authored a policy memo on incorporating smoke waves into disaster policy. He says many more people die from wildfire smoke than from the fire itself.

“As wildfire season gets underway, it is important to remember wildfire smoke…

Fishing boats on Lake Victoria

Global fisheries and food security

Dr. Kathryn Fiorella, Assistant Professor in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, researches how changes in the environment affect the well-being, economic stability, and food security of communities. One area where all those concerns intersect are global fisheries. “Sometimes it’s the overharvest of resources,” she explains. “Other times it’s climate impacts, and harmful algal blooms.” Fishing makes up a large part of many populations’ dietary needs and Fiorella studies how the “ecological system and the social system are interwoven.” At this intersection, she sees how community-level decisions…