MS in Health Communication

Informing. Motivating. Empowering.

"We are interested in graduating students who will practice effective health communication and, through their skills and experience, make a difference in the world."

Susan Gallagher, Director

The Master of Science in Health Communication is offered by Tufts University School of Medicine in Collaboration with Emerson College, a close academic neighbor in downtown Boston. Founded in 1994, the program has a distinguished history preparing individuals to contribute to improving the health of people, communities, and the environment. The program attracts recent college graduates and working professionals from a wide range of disciplines.

The Health Communication Program provides the skills and knowledge necessary for its graduates to assume a range of roles in diverse settings: federal agencies, hospitals, health departments, biotech companies, publishing firms, foundations, and other nonprofits. Students learn to develop, deliver, and evaluate health promotion and disease prevention programs and campaigns; to disseminate health information to diverse audiences; and to develop, formulate and implement health policy initiatives.

Students learn about the theory and practice of communication, as well as the basic concepts that underlie medicine, epidemiology, and public health practice. The program places a heavy emphasis on "hands-on" applied learning, with each student expected to define and execute an applied learning project at a work site aligned with their interests in order to graduate.

Graduates of the program can look forward to being employed as marketing outreach consultants, prevention coordinators, medical editors, directors of health communication, training coordinators, and freelance health writers, our graduates find fulfilling work at top notch organizations such as Centers for Disease Control, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Porter Novelli, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, American Cancer Society, ABC News, Boston Scientific, and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Health communication has come a long way: new technologies and media, social marketing, health literacy, culturally competent materials, audience analysis and segmentation, theory and research-based strategies. All of these developments make for an exciting and challenging field.

Susan Gallagher, M.P.H.
Director, MS - Health Communication Program

Beyond PHPD

Joanne Barker

Joanne Barker, '98, MS-Health Communications

Director, Editorial and Publishing, Eclypsys Corporation

Even though medical research produces better treatment protocols, it can take years before physicians put those discoveries into practice. Yet with good communication these practices are not often implemented much sooner. That's why health communication is so important, says Joanne Barker, MS, '98. Since graduating, Barker has written copy for secondhand smoke campaigns and cardiac rehabilitation programs; today, she directs the editorial group at Eclypsys Coporation, which designs health information management software. barker believes that, like consumers, clinicians need accurate, accessible information in order to "provide every patient excellent care. When you talk about behavior change, you have to talk about both patients and doctors. Good communication is critical for effecting change in the complex world of health care," Barker says.