摘要：Because public health challenges are changing rapidly, over the past 3 years, we have turned a critical eye to the master of public health program at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Under a process dubbed “curriculum renewal,” we engaged more than 170 faculty, staff, and students (and hundreds of alumni and employers of our graduates) in an initiative to develop a completely new design for master of public health education that launched in fall 2012. We have described its design and structure and presented some preliminary evaluation data. Current and emerging challenges to the public’s health in the 21st century are vastly different from those in previous centuries. As we articulated in a companion article, 1 the changes in the challenges demand corresponding changes in public health education. Key elements of a reenvisioned educational program include knowledge of the role of public health in a successful society, familiarity with evolving global and local health challenges and methods for research and practice, facility with a life course approach to prevention, disciplinary strength, interdisciplinary strategies for solving complex problems, the ability to think critically, and the capacity for leadership, innovation, and teamwork. 1–12 The Association of Schools of Public Health recognized these challenges several years ago. Under its auspices, faculty working groups were assembled to take a fresh look at master of public health (MPH) competencies; they deliberately distanced themselves from tradition and from current practices to develop curricula that promote interdisciplinary thinking, recognize the value of community partnerships to promote health, and incorporate broad definitions of health that span its physical, mental, and social dimensions. 13 The working groups developed a new set of core public health competencies; these are presented on the Association of Schools of Public Health Web site. 14 The Association of Schools of Public Health concluded its initiative by determining to continue its support of the development of competencies in the 5 traditional areas of public health specialization (biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, health policy and management, and social and behavioral health), but it extended these domains with interdisciplinary or crosscutting competencies, for example those in the areas of communication, leadership, and systems thinking. With the 2006 Association of Schools of Public Health recommendations, an extensive and growing literature, and our own responsibility for ensuring cutting-edge public health education for 21st-century leaders as motivating factors, the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University undertook a major school-wide initiative to revise and renew its MPH curriculum. We have described the content and structure for the new Columbia MPH curriculum (which launched in the fall 2012 term) and presented some early evaluation data on its initial implementation. We described the overall curricular goals in the companion article. 1
