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Handbooks

Downstate Health Sciences University (DHSU)

For more complete details regarding SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University policies, student rights and responsibilities, and names, locations, and telephone numbers of campus services, please see the resources below:

School of Public Health (SPH) Student Handbooks

The SPH handbooks are provided to assist you with the resources available to guide you in your pursuit of your educational goals. These handbooks provide additional details on the academic requirements and policies for each degree within the School of Public Health. 

Applied Practice Experience (APEx)

The MPH and DrPH Applied Practice Experience (APEx) provides students with an opportunity to apply and translate knowledge, theory and skills learned in the classroom into practice within a professional public health setting. It is a planned, supervised, and evaluated field-based experience that can take place in a variety of agencies and organizations, involving some level of community engagement. An APEx is designed to strengthen foundational and concentration-specific public health competencies, complement the student’s interests, and advance professional and career goals. The APEx must be supervised by a Preceptor and requires approval from a Faculty Advisor designated by the student’s academic department at the SPH. 

Integrative Learning Experience 

The MPH Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) is a two-credit culminating experience that requires the student to integrate and translate knowledge, theory and skills learned in the classroom into a final paper and presentation. The ILE is designed to strengthen foundational and concentration-specific public health competencies, complement the student’s interests, and advance professional and career goals. The ILE requires a student to integrate knowledge acquired throughout the Masters of Public Health Program. The ILE project consists of an analytic paper and the development and delivery of an oral presentation. After acceptance of the final paper by the Faculty Advisor, the student will make an oral ILE presentation of his or her work. The ILE presentation will provide an opportunity for the student to receive input and feedback on the ILE from faculty, staff, and students across the Downstate community. ILE Rubrics by concentration are available on the ILE webpage.

DrPH Dissertation

The dissertation serves as the culminating project for doctoral candidates and is the final requirement for the program. During dissertation development, students apply and integrate competencies attained in the doctoral curriculum and apply them to a topic of applied public health significance. The dissertation process results in a high-quality written product and oral presentation that are consistent with advanced doctoral-level study, has practical implications for public health programs, policies, or systems, and demonstrates a student’s mastery and ability to synthesize and apply doctoral-level competencies to an applied public health issue.