Public Health and General Preventive Medicine Curriculum

UNM Preventive Medicine residents can tailor their education plan to meet their own interests in Preventive Medicine. This may include content areas such as occupational medicine, addiction medicine, or infectious diseases. 

Preventive Medicine Curriculum Basics 

Master of Public Health (MPH)  

A Master of Public Health (MPH) is required and completed over two years concurrently with residency training.   

• Year 1 includes structured core MPH courses. Core courses include Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Patient Outcomes Research, Scientific Writing, Ethics and Cultural Competency.  
• Year 2 includes independent study courses in the MPH, completion of a research thesis and month-long residency rotations.  

Residency Program Rounds 

Residency Program Rounds includes journal club and didactic series in such topics as: 

• Environmental Health 
• Clinical Preventive Services 
• Behavioral Aspects of Health 
• Health Services Management and Administration 
• Risk/Hazard Control and Communication 

Longitudinal Clinical Preventive Medicine 

Longitudinal Clinical Preventive Medicine, with residents completing a minimum of ½ day of clinic per week. Residents spend time in occupational medicine clinics, addiction and substance abuse clinics, NM Department of Health (NM DOH) clinics, and other clinics focused on their own interest. 

Cornerstone Projects 

These are resident-initiated and focused in any area of preventive medicine. They are unique in the flexibility to accommodate unanticipated educational opportunities.  Residents projects have included: 

• Participating in a NM Department of Health outbreak investigation 
• Assisting in the development of the first Refugee Intake Clinic with the NMDOH Refugee Health Program 
• Implementing a hospital newborn sleep sack program 
• Developing a proposal to facilitate access to preventive services for American Indian students at a community college. 

Practicum Rotations 

• New Mexico Department of Health, where residents gain insight into public health activities at the federal, state, tribal, and local level.  
• Addiction Medicine, where residents engage in substance abuse clinics, obtain certification for prescribing buprenorphine, participate in harm reduction activities, and telehealth clinics in Integrated Addiction and Psychiatry 
• Center for Occupational and Environmental Health Promotion, with residents learning clinical occupational medicine, doing environmental exposure assessments, and experiencing a NM OSHA site visitation    
• First Choice
• Wellness
• Advancing Health Equity