Global Health Online (Capstone)
Capstone certificate
The UW–Madison Capstone Certificate in Global Health Online provides students with the knowledge and skills to address health challenges and disparities around the world.
Is this program right for you?
Complex problems challenge today’s world – emerging infectious diseases and pandemics, food insecurity and starvation, climate change impacts on health, antimicrobial resistance and fundamental inequities in access to nutrition and healthcare. These transcend national boundaries and require multidisciplinary expertise from across the biomedical, social and physical sciences to achieve creative outcomes.
If you’re interested in being a part of the solutions, working either in international communities or with underserved communities in the United States, the UW–Madison Capstone Certificate in Global Health Online is for you. The program is open to recent graduates or working professionals who have a desire to expand their current understanding of global health issues through a flexible online curriculum.
Many students work in health sciences and wish to broaden their skills, while some come from fields such as environmental planning or engineering, international development or policy studies, social work, agriculture or nutrition. Others simply want to enhance their knowledge and strengthen their ability to effectively work on health issues around the world.
The certificate includes either a credit-based field experience or a culminating analysis of a major global health issue. Faculty-led field courses are available (generally in early summer). Advanced students may choose to design an independent field project (with a minimum of one week on site/one credit required). Field experiences must take place in a setting relevant to global health, either internationally or with an underserved population in the U.S. You may also seek to work with an international agency, such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or a nongovernmental organization related to global health issues.
Alternatively, an in-depth global health issue analysis project is available in place of a field experience to students for whom field work is not possible.
Is this program right for you?
Complex problems challenge today’s world – emerging infectious diseases and pandemics, food insecurity and starvation, climate change impacts on health, antimicrobial resistance and fundamental inequities in access to nutrition and healthcare. These transcend national boundaries and require multidisciplinary expertise from across the biomedical, social and physical sciences to achieve creative outcomes.
If you’re interested in being a part of the solutions, working either in international communities or with underserved communities in the United States, the UW–Madison Capstone Certificate in Global Health Online is for you. The program is open to recent graduates or working professionals who have a desire to expand their current understanding of global health issues through a flexible online curriculum.
Many students work in health sciences and wish to broaden their skills, while some come from fields such as environmental planning or engineering, international development or policy studies, social work, agriculture or nutrition. Others simply want to enhance their knowledge and strengthen their ability to effectively work on health issues around the world.
The certificate includes either a credit-based field experience or a culminating analysis of a major global health issue. Faculty-led field courses are available (generally in early summer). Advanced students may choose to design an independent field project (with a minimum of one week on site/one credit required). Field experiences must take place in a setting relevant to global health, either internationally or with an underserved population in the U.S. You may also seek to work with an international agency, such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or a nongovernmental organization related to global health issues.
Alternatively, an in-depth global health issue analysis project is available in place of a field experience to students for whom field work is not possible.
Admissions requirements
All applicants must:
- Have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
- Have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0.
- Submit evidence of English language proficiency, if applicable. The required proficiency scores are: TOEFL IBT 92, PBT 580; or IELTS 7.0.
Application materials:
- Online application
- Supplemental online application (submitted to the School of Medicine and Public Health Office of Global Health)
- Resume/CV
- Transcripts
Program highlights
- Newly designed courses that provide global health knowledge across a wide breadth of topics and potential areas of personal interest
- Instructors who are health professionals with decades of global health experience and connections all around the world
- Opportunities for mentored field experiences or in-depth global health issue analyses
How you'll learn
- Complete 11 graduate-level credits.
- Take flexible, largely asynchronous online courses that utilize cutting-edge multimedia pedagogies.
- Work with mentors to complete a field experience (locally or globally) or to analyze an important global health issue.
Sample curriculum
- Introduction to Global Health: History, Current Issues, and Health Statistics
- Global Public Health and Healthcare Systems: Organizations, Governance, Financing, and Workforce
- Global Health: Infectious Diseases, One Health, and Prevention Strategies
- Global Health: Non-communicable Diseases, Poverty, Environmental Health, and Food Security
- Global Health Field Work Fundamentals: Engagement, Ethics, Policy, and Methods
- Global Health Field Course
Want to sample an online course?
Test drive Canvas, our online learning platform, with modules from an actual UW–Madison master’s program.
Job outlook
- Healthcare and social assistance
- Public administration
- Educational services
- Professional, scientific, and technical services
- Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services
- California
- New York
- Texas
- Florida
- Illinois
Source: Lightcast™ 2022
Ready to learn more about Global Health Online (Capstone)?
View the UW-Madison Guide
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Connect with our enrollment coaches
Our friendly, knowledgeable enrollment coaches are here to answer your questions. Contact an enrollment coach to:
- Learn how to make this program work with your life/schedule
- Get help with your application
- Determine if financial aid is available
Visit with our coaches on campus or at an upcoming student fair in your area. Search student fairs & events.
