Maternal and Child Health focuses on promoting and preserving the health of families. That includes mothers, children, and adolescents. Mothers and children have been among the most vulnerable populations, and addressing their needs requires expertise in theories of human growth and development, as well as social disparities.

This expert knowledge, combined with the skill areas of public health epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, management, and behavioral sciences, results in a Masters of Public Health degree that can be earned with a minimum of 47 semester credits. Resident and distance-learning options are available.

Student may also obtain joint degrees with law, social work, and journalism.

MCH MPH Student Masters Projects. MCH MPH students give a brief public presentation of their final master's papers. Abstracts of master's projects submitted since September 2007 can be found here.

On-line MCH Degree Program| MCH Degree Program | MCH Faculty | MCH Curriculum |SPH Health Disparities Work Group

Students admitted into the program also have the option of completing their M.P.H. in maternal and child health with an epidemiology emphasis. This emphasis was created to meet the increasing local, state, and national demands for MCH epidemiologists to allow students to develop quantitative expertise in MCH content areas. The MCH epidemiology emphasis at the University of Minnesota is found within the nationally renowned Division of Epidemiology and Community Health and thus has both the faculty and the courses to provide a superior program.

Read epidemiology course list

Major Chairperson

Wendy Hellerstedt PhD, MPH

Dr. Hellerstedt is the Director of the Center for Leadership Education in Maternal and Child Public Health. In 2003 she won the Leonard Schumann Award for Excellence in Teaching, in 2004 she earned the national Loretta P. Lacey Academic Leadership Award from the Association of Teachers of Maternal and Child Health, and in 2006 she received the University of Minnesota's highest teaching honor, the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education.  Her areas of expertise are methods to assess pregnancy intention, adolescent sexual risk-taking, and reproductive/sexual health.  For the past five years she has co-chaired the Women's Health Committee, MCH Section, American Public Health Association.