Drexel’s online Certificate in Public Health, offered through the CEPH-accredited Dornsife School of Public Health, provides the foundational knowledge of public health you need to enhance or further your career. Designed for working professionals coming from a variety of backgrounds, including physicians, nurses, public health administrators, health educators, clinical research professionals, policy experts, and more, the public health certificate focuses on the following key competencies outlined by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) in eight domains:
The diversity of the public health field provides a multitude of opportunities to enrich, protect, educate, and improve population health and reduce health disparities. This program provides the foundational knowledge and skills that those from a broad spectrum of health disciplines can apply to understand and improve the health of populations. This might include those in clinical fields who wish to better understand how community and social factors affect the health of their patients or who wish to transition to work in a public health agency, as well as those who already work in public health and wish to deepen their understanding of population health.
As an enhancement to your previous education and current career, completing Drexel's online Certificate in Public Health program will prepare you for possible careers or advancement in the public health industry, in roles such as:
Drexel's online public health certificate is a 20 quarter credit program, which is the equivalent of 13 semester credits. The program features 6 courses, including one elective that allows you to customize your learning experience to your career goals. On average, you should be able to complete the certificate in as little as 9-18 months.
Since Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health is the first CEPH-accredited school of public health in Philadelphia, the public health certificate online program will help you to become eligible to sit for the Certified Public Health (CPH) exam. The Certified in Public Health (CPH) exam is administered by the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE). More than 7,000 public health professionals in the United States have successfully passed the CPH exam to become Certified in Public Health. The CPH exam is held throughout each calendar year at specialized testing centers and will take you about four hours to complete the 200 question test.
To be eligible to sit for the exam, you must be either a:
As a student in the Drexel Dornsife public health certificate online program, you may become eligible to sit for the Certified in Public Health (CPH) exam once you have three years of public health experience and complete the necessary CEPH foundational competency coursework that is part of the certificate in public health curriculum.
Drexel Dornsife’s certificate of public health online program provides the foundational knowledge you need to complete Drexel’s online Master’s in Public Health (MPH) program. As a result, you will have the opportunity to roll all credits received from Drexel’s online public health certificate into our online MPH program.
The software used in many of our courses, including biostatistics and epidemiology, requires you to have access to a PC. Apple doesn’t currently support the software needed to complete this coursework.
State restrictions may apply to some programs.
This program is organized into four 10-week quarters per year (as opposed to the traditional two semester system) which means you can take more courses in a shorter time period.
Required Courses | ||
BST 571 | Introduction to Biostatistics | 3.0 |
EPI 570 | Introduction to Epidemiology | 3.0 |
HMP 505 | Qualitative Data and Mixed Methods Analysis | 3.0 |
PBHL 510 | Public Health Foundations and Systems I | 4.0 |
PBHL 511 | Public Health Foundations and Systems II | 4.0 |
Elective | ||
Select from the list below: | 3.0 | |
Any (BST) Biostatistics 500-999 level course
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Any (CHP) Community Health and Prevention 500-999 level course
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Any (EOH) Environmental and Occupational Health 500-999 level course
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Any (EPI) Epidemiology 500-999 level course
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Any (HMP) Health Management and Policy 500-999 level course
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Any (PBHL) Public Health 500-999 level course
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Total Credits | 20.0 |
With multiple ways to submit documents, Drexel makes it easy to complete your application. Learn more by visiting our Completing Your Application Guide.
Working knowledge of and access to a personal computer (no more than 4 years old), high-speed connection to the Internet, and Microsoft Office applications.
For the academic year 2025-2026, students enrolled in an online graduate academic program will be charged a graduate online program fee of $125 per year.
2025-2026 Academic Year
Term
Classes Begin
Classes End
Exams Begin
Exams End
Fall 2025
September 22, 2025
December 6, 2025
December 8, 2025
December 13, 2025
Winter 2026
January 5, 2026
March 14, 2026
March 16, 2026
March 21, 2026
Spring 2026
March 30, 2026
June 6, 2026
June 8, 2026
June 13, 2026
Summer 2026
June 22, 2026
August 29, 2026
August 31, 2026
September 5, 2026