Peace Corps/Master’s International Program

The Master’s International (MI) Program combines the MPH program with 27 months of field experience in the U.S. Peace Corps. To be accepted into the MI Program, applicants must apply to and meet the criteria of both BUSPH and U.S. Peace Corps, as each institution makes its acceptance decisions independently. Once admitted by both institutions, an applicant may pursue the MI Program.

MI students may concentrate in any department in the school. In addition to the MPH requirements, MI students must take IH 703 Global Public Health: History, Approaches & Practices, 2 credits; and IH 704 International Public Health and Medical Care, 4 credits. Program participants are highly encouraged to take IH 808 Research Proposal Development, 4 credits; and IH 811 Applied Research Methods in International Health, 4 credits. These specially selected international health courses provide knowledge specific to the developing country environment.

MI program participants can declare an HIV/AIDS Specialty course of study, designed to develop skills and knowledge vital to addressing the pandemic and learning about programs used to address it. To gain this specialty, program participants must also take EP 764 The Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in the Developed and Developing World, 2 credits; and IH 795 Global AIDS Epidemic: Social & Economic Determinants, Impact & Responses, 4 credits. (If unable to take any of the above, a relevant available course can be substituted with permission of the program’s MI Coordinator.)

MI students can meet their MPH Practicum requirement after completion of Peace Corps training by submitting a reflection piece on that experience to the Practice Office.

As Peace Corps volunteers, MI students can earn up to 5 credits via directed study, as long as those credits are needed to satisfy the 48-credit MPH requirement. In recognition of the commitment made by the MI student to serve, BUSPH provides a tuition waiver for those credits.

BUSPH established the first Public Health MI Program with the Peace Corps in 1987. Nearly 60 MI students have served in the Peace Corps since. Current MI students serve, or are about to serve, in the Peace Corps in Benin, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Vanuatu, and Rwanda. MI students should contact MI Program Coordinator Joseph Anzalone, based in the Department of International Health, to be notified of MI activities and resources.