ASU Health is set to launch two new degree programs in Fall 2025 aimed at preparing students for the evolving landscape of modern healthcare. These programs, the Master of Science in public health technology and the Master of Public Health, will be offered through ASU’s new School of Technology for Public Health.
The new degree programs are designed to help students secure positions in the modernized healthcare system by providing them with the ability to employ technology in innovative ways. Michelle Villegas-Gold, assistant vice president of strategic initiatives at ASU Health, indicated that the programs seek to train professionals capable of addressing contemporary public health challenges through technological solutions. The MS in Public Health Technology is a one-year program, while the Master of Public Health is a two-year program.
The Master of Science in public health technology curriculum will focus on teaching students how to design and implement technological solutions to modernize the public health field. The Master of Public Health program will take a technology-focused approach to health and other related fields, blending technology, engineering, and design thinking. Dr. Susan Blumenthal, founder of the new field of public health technology and co-chair of the advisory council for ASU’s School of Technology for Public Health, emphasized the unique opportunity these programs provide, stating they will “be at the forefront of addressing major public health challenges ahead with technology solutions.”
ASU News spoke with Villegas-Gold and Marc Adams, assistant dean of education in the School of Technology for Public Health, about the new degree offerings.
Q: Let’s start with the MS in Public Health Technology. What is the intent of the degree?
Villegas-Gold: We are looking to help students who may not have been accepted right away to medical school or residency programs to have a path to success. These programs offer a unique opportunity to enhance skills and provide professionals with the knowledge they need to succeed in their field. We hope to give more Arizonans the tools they need to get into and stay in medical schools and residency programs. We think it will also benefit medical professionals, including those who want to innovate but lack the business, design, engineering, or data science skills.
Q: And what is the focus of the Master of Public Health?
Adams: The two-year degree, with a concentration in public health technology, enables students to delve deeper into the intersection of public health and technology by taking electives in technology, engineering, design, or public health.
Q: What makes these degrees unique?
Villegas-Gold: While there are other programs incorporating technology in public health, this is the first truly transdisciplinary program, incorporating technology, engineering, and design into the public health education. Students will take engineering and design and artificial intelligence courses that are focused on applying these concepts to the field of public health uniquely. ASU will be the first university in the nation to seek accreditation for a concentration in public health technology within a Master of Public Health program. The goal is to teach the students to be technofluid and bilingual in public health and technology.
Adams: Our intention is to modernize the public health system. For decades the public health sector has been underfunded and has relied on old technologies. It’s time to leverage advanced technologies.
Q: It seems as if both degrees will attract students who may not have been interested in the public health field before.
Villegas-Gold: I definitely think so. Or students who didn’t see a clear pathway for them to work at the intersection of many of these different fields.
Q: These two degrees are really an extension of the core mission of ASU Health, correct?
Villegas-Gold: Yes. They’re part of our ASU Health ecosystem. The way that we’re measuring our impact for all of these different initiatives within ASU Health is how successful we are at improving the health of Arizonans. If our students are not employable at our public health departments, or if they can’t serve our public health departments — whether that’s through jobs in industry or nonprofits — then we don’t see ourselves as succeeding. So we really want to focus on health equity and how to make accessible and equitable tech- and place-based technologies, understanding that you can’t just throw technology at a problem and expect to solve it. You really have to be intentional about how you’re doing it.
Adams: That’s such an important point because of the digital divide that exists. When you bring up technology, there are inherent biases that we know of. There are disparities in terms of access. So those are all things that we are very much mindful of in the build-out of these two degrees.
Q: Is there anything else prospective students should know about these degrees?
Villegas-Gold: We’ve talked a lot about the engineering and data piece, but there’s also a piece on entrepreneurship and innovation. Really helping students learn how to pitch an idea, how to fundraise, how to take an idea and actualize it, and then turn it into a spinoff company or sell it. I think those are really important skills. Increasingly, there’s less and less traditional funding to support public health. Students are really going to need to learn how to fund these ideas because they may be working more with venture capitalists or philanthropists to get their ideas funded and implemented.
Adams: A great deal of public health is about prevention. So learning how to monetize some of these innovations that our students are going to come up with requires them understanding the entrepreneur, the entrepreneurial methods and approaches to getting their ideas funded.
Information sessions about these new graduate degrees will be held at 5 p.m., Dec. 12; noon, Jan. 9; and 5 p.m., Jan. 27. Prospective students can register here.
