Indigenous Health
Graduate Certificate
Quick Facts
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- Payscale, 2022
Indigenous communities in the United States and around the world have disproportionately worse health outcomes than the general population. Despite unique challenges, few public health training programs are specifically designed to increase the current and future public health workforce for Indigenous communities.
The Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Health helps close this loophole by equipping you with the skills and competencies necessary to engage in evidence-based public health practice at the leadership, management and supervisory levels. The certificate is developed and implemented by public health experts with extensive experience working with Indigenous Peoples and communities locally and globally.
Indigenous health examines the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples, emphasizing Indigenous models and frameworks rooted in culture, language, identity, place and community history. The primary targets for this certificate are graduate students, physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, health educators and other public health professionals.
Experienced Indigenous faculty instructors with a solid track record of teaching graduate students using web-based technologies teach all courses. You will have a faculty advisor, in addition to a graduate certificate coordinator, to ensure your success in the program.
You will have the opportunity to complete the certificate in one academic year and transfer all 13 certificate credits to future graduate programs in public health at the University of Arizona. All certificate courses will transfer to the Master of Public Health degree program if admitted to the MPH program and the courses meet degree requirements.
The program is entirely online with the exception of a one-week field-based course (HPS 597b).
*Residents of some U.S. Territories may not be eligible. Please see our Eligibility & State Authorization page for more information.
The Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Health consists of five required courses for a total of 13 units:
This course provides an overview of a broad range of public health topics through an Indigenous lens. You will engage with current Indigenous public health topics.
You will analyze the historical and legislative foundation of the Indian Health Service and evaluate the value of innovative administrative strategies to improve health within the Indian Health Service. You will also assess and interpret knowledge to develop relevant and meaningful administrative and policy options to improve indigenous health.
This course addresses access to care through the Indian Health Service, Tribal PL 93-638 contracts, Medicaid and Medicare.
This course will equip participants with practical skills to conduct an evaluation of public health programs using perspective methods influenced by indigenous ways of knowing, frameworks and cultural paradigms.
This course is a one-week, field-based course in order to provide culturally competent knowledge and skills for working with Native American and border communities in the rural Southwest.
Outcomes
Skills
Earning your Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Health will build core skills, including:
- Advocacy, Politics and Policy Management
- Critical thinking
- Effective communication
- Ethics and Empathy
- Health promotion
- Leadership
- Management
- Planning
- Research and analytical methods
Potential Career Paths
Graduates of the Indigenous Health Certificate program will be prepared to pursue careers in the following fields: