JD-Master of Public Health Program

Our joint JD-Master of Public Health Program allows highly motivated students to study law and public health in an integrated manner. They take courses at the law school and Drexel's Dornsife School of Public Health and earn degrees from both. In addition to acquiring basic skills in the two disciplines, students gain a unique perspective on the interrelation between them. Students take their first year of study at the law school where they complete the standard first-year curriculum. During the upper-class years, they take courses at both schools, in addition to a public health community-based master’s project. Depending on the pace of coursework that they select, students finish the two degrees in either three-and-a-half or four years. Both degrees are awarded simultaneously. Faculty at both schools excels at research and teaching. The law school faculty includes experts in health law, who teach in the school’s Health Law Program. The faculty of the Dornsife School of Public Health includes top researchers in health disparities, social justice, and health policy. The program director, Dr. Robert Field, holds appointments at both schools. Applicants to the JD-MPH Program must possess a baccalaureate degree. They must meet admission criteria at both schools. These include a satisfactory score on the LSAT (which is accepted by the Dornsife School of Public Health in lieu of the GRE), a superior undergraduate grade point average, personal recommendations, and an essay describing their background and career interests. Students concentrate their public health studies in the Department of Health Management and Policy. They may choose to complete the Health Law concentration at the law school, but it is not required.