Implementation Science Track

Implementation science is an emerging interdisciplinary field that focuses on improving the adoption, delivery, and sustainability of proven health interventions in routine clinical and public health practice. Using various methods from the clinical and population sciences and the social and engineering sciences, implementation science seeks to produce generalizable knowledge about how to introduce and sustain innovations to make public health programs more effective, efficient, and equitable. The implementation science curriculum outlined below will enable students pursuing the track to acquire key competencies in the four methodological areas described below. The track builds on MPH core courses in biostatistics, epidemiology, ethics, health equity, and health policy and complements each department’s course requirements. The track also capitalizes on implementation science expertise at the Center for Methods in Implementation Science (CMIPS) and in other parts of the school by integrating existing courses as electives. Graduates will be well-prepared to pursue high-impact careers in implementation research and practice, areas with rapidly growing demand in the US and globally.

Students enrolled in the Implementation Science Track must fulfill all MPH degree and departmental requirements. In addition, they must complete at least five and a half courses within the distribution requirements below, which may include courses also required by their home department. Students pursuing the Master’s Thesis are strongly encouraged to incorporate implementation science into their work.

Both courses in the Core Implementation Science Methods courses:

• EMD 533 Implementation Science - 1 unit (Fall)
• CDE 553 Implementation Science to Address Chronic Diseases: Global Health Case Studies - 0.5 unit (Spring)

At least one Quantitative Methods course:

• BIS 628 Longitudinal and Multilevel Data Analysis (Spring)
• BIS 630 Applied Survival Analysis (Spring)
• CDE 516 Principles of Epidemiology II (Spring)
• CDE 566 Causal Inference Methods in Public Health Research (Fall)
• CDE 582 Health Outcomes Research: Matching the Right Research Question to the Right Data (Fall)
• EMD 582 Political Epidemiology (Spring)
• S&DS 5630 Multivariate Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences (Spring)

At least one Qualitative & Mixed Methods course:

• SBS 574 Developing a Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Intervention (Fall)
• SBS 580 Qualitative Research Methods in Public Health (Spring)
• SBS 593 Community-Based Participatory Research in Public Health (Fall)

At least one Evidence-to-Practice Methods course:

• CDE 650 Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine and Health Care (Fall)
• EHS 544 Climate Equity and Health Policy Methods (Fall)
• EMD 580 Reforming Health Systems: Using Data to Improve Health in LMICs (Fall)
• PUBH 557 Evidence-Based Decision-Making in Global Health (Spring)
• HPM 570 Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and Decision-Making (Fall)
• HPM 575 Evaluation of Global Health Policies and Programs (Spring)
• HPM 583 Methods in Health Services Research (Spring)

• Yale Course Search

1. Define implementation science;
2. Identify proven interventions for improving disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment;
3. Determine barriers to and facilitators of the uptake, implementation, and sustainability of evidence-based interventions;
4. Explain the methodological approaches used to enhance the adoption, implementation, and sustainability of evidence-based health interventions in real-world settings;
5. Develop an implementation science proposal;
6. Critique an implementation science proposal or published article.

1. Apply and critically evaluate the use of quantitative methods to design, adapt, and assess health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies in routine practice;
2. Determine the mechanisms and contextual factors that mediate and moderate the impact of health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies in routine practice.

1. Use qualitative and mixed methods to plan or evaluate an implementation science problem or question;
   
2. Critically assess the use of qualitative and mixed methods to elicit the experiences and perspectives of shareholders participating in planning, delivering, and receiving health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies.

1. Apply policy translation methods for planning, evaluating, and disseminating health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies;
2. Critically evaluate evidence synthesis, program evaluation, and economic evaluation for planning, assessing, and disseminating health interventions, implementation strategies, and policies.