The Joint Master's Program in Applied Public Health

According to the decision MES 4 24 0000012956 of January 10, 2024, of the Council of

Accreditation of Educational Programs, the program has been accredited.

The Applied Public Health Master's program is a joint project of the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) and Petre Shotadze Tbilisi Medical Academy (TMA), within the framework of which GIPA - Public Policy and TMA - medicine offer students an appropriate and unrivalled standard of education.

The cooperation of the two universities in the academic space is the first successful example of joint efforts. The academic and guest staff implementing the program have expertise in various areas of statistics, epidemiology, health promotion, management, business administration, scientific research, and public health.

Within the framework of the program, mandatory practice in partner organizations is provided, which gives the student a future vision and experience and helps the employment process.

The educational program is conducted in English and is adapted to the international requirements that respond to the global challenges of health policy.

Upon completion of the program, a joint GIPA and TMA Diploma in Public Health is awarded.

The goal of the applied public health master's education program is to provide the student with:

• Ability to independently plan, collect, analyze and interpret data and develop relevant conclusions using the latest methods and advances in the field of applied public health research
• Research application preparation and project development, planning and management skills at the regional, national, and international levels, through the use of interdisciplinary teaching methods and involvement in scientific research activities.
• Ability to design and implement appropriate health policies to address public health challenges based on evidence-based findings.
• Skills in evaluating, communicating results, and advocating for public health/health promotion policies and programs.
• Ability to make independent decisions in the process of team work, delegating duties and principles of mutual cooperation, leadership, management and management
• Logical and critical thinking ability

Field of employment:

The graduate, as a public health specialist, will be able to work in governmental, non-governmental, international, and private organizations, academic institutions and institutions providing medical services.

Career areas include epidemiological research, public health, small- and large-scale health promotion programs and projects development, management, supervision, monitoring and evaluation, communication of results, and more.

Strengths of the program:

• Practice-oriented teaching within the program; a variety of partner organizations where students will pass internship and gain real-time experience;
•  Diversity of disciplines included in the program; teachers who are acknowledged experts in the field; to ensure the competitiveness of graduates;
•  Alignment of program objectives, results, structure, and content with labor market requirements and international practice;
•  Teaching in English, enabling the graduate to get employed in international organizations and work in a multinational environment;
•  The diversity of elective components of the program allows for a professional focus on a variety of public health issues - from the prevention and management of communicable and non-communicable diseases, maternal and child health, and planetary health to global health;
•  The inclusion of public health laboratory direction and geographic information systems, planetary health, public health marketing, and other directions within the program will contribute to responding to the existing and future public health challenges effectively and based on evidence.
  
  Program curriculum