JD/Master of Public Health with Tufts University School of Medicine

Public health threats such as HIV, tobacco, domestic violence, contaminated drinking water and bioterrorism require complex interdisciplinary solutions. A public health expert with a law degree or a lawyer with an MPH degree is especially well-equipped to meet these challenges.

Tufts University School of Medicine and Northeastern University School of Law offer a JD/MPH dual degree track. Both schools have long traditions of emphasizing the relationship between pubic policy and public health, responding to the needs of their urban communities and offering students exposure to faculty members who have extensive experience.

Northeastern offers the nation’s premier Cooperative Legal Education Program. All law students must complete four co-ops in different legal settings to graduate; students in the JD/MPH dual-degree track must complete at least one co-op related to public health.

JD/MPH Reflective Paper

In order to receive both degrees, all students in the JD/MPH program must complete a reflective paper. In the paper, the student should reflect upon his or her experiences in the program, especially in the ALE and co-ops, paying particular attention to the distinctions and similarities that the student has experienced between being a lawyer and being a public health professional. Among the questions to be addressed are the following:

• Do the two professions analyze, understand, and resolve problems in a compatible or distinct manner?
• What differences and tensions have you experienced between the two roles?
• Are there ways in which your training and/or experiences in one profession has enhanced or interfered with your ability to practice the other profession?
• How do you expect to reconcile and integrate your two professional roles?

Responses to these questions should be based largely upon personal experiences in the program, although students may also draw from experiences prior to the start of graduate study as well as course work. This is not, however, meant to be a research assignment, but rather a personal reflection.

Copies of the paper should be submitted simultaneously to the program directors at both the law school and school of medicine.

* only available to students matriculating for their JD

Examples of Co-ops in Public Health

• Breakstone, White, Leif, Boston
• Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services Elder Law, Cambridge
• Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Cetrulo & Capone, Boston
• Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Indian Child Welfare Program, Eagle Butte, S.D.
• Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Legal Department, Eagle Butte, S.D.
• Citizens For Juvenile Justice, Boston
• Community Catalyst, Boston
• Community Legal Services, Inc., Philadelphia
• Greater Boston Legal Services, Boston
• Greater Boston Legal Services, Asian Battered Women's Project, Boston
• Harvard School of Public Health, Boston
• Health Care For All, Boston
• Higgins, Cavanaugh, Providence, R.I.
• Justice Now Network on Women, Oakland, Calif.
• Juvenile Rights Project, Portland, Ore.
• Mass. Department of Industrial Accidents, Boston
• Mass. Department of Public Health, Boston
• New York State Office of Attorney General, New York
• Public Advocates, Inc., San Francisco
• Public Health Advocacy Institute, Boston
• Ropes & Gray, Boston
• Rosenfeld & Rafik, Boston
• San Francisco County Public Defender, Behavioral Health Court Unit, San Francisco
• Thornton & Naumes, Boston
• US Attorney's Office, Domestic Violence Unit, Washington, DC
• US Dept. of Health & Human Services, Civil Rights Branch, Boston
• Washington State Nurse's Association, Seattle
• Winchester Hospital, Winchester, Mass.
• Women's Law Project, Philadelphia

Admission

To be admitted to the dual-degree program, students must be admitted to both Northeastern University School of Law and Tufts University School of Medicine. Students should apply online to Northeastern through LSAC or by downloading a paper application from the school’s website. The application for the MPH program at Tufts University is available at www.tufts.edu/med/admissions/phpd/apply.html.

The JD/MPH dual-degree program also accepts applications during a student’s first or second year of law school at Northeastern or from students transferring to Northeastern. Admission to Northeastern University School of Law does not guarantee admission to the Tufts MPH program. Both applications must be at each institution by March 15 for those applying to the dual-degree prior to entering Northeastern.

Admission to Northeastern University School of Law does not guarantee admission to the Tufts MPH program. Both applications must be at each institution by March 1 for those applying to the dual-degree prior to entering Northeastern. Additional information is available on the Tufts website at www.tufts.edu/med/phpd/mphdual/jdmph/admission.html.

The following schedule represents a typical progression through the JD/MPH dual-degree program: