Program Details
To look at the most common questions about the program, Click here
For complete information about the program, please view our Resident Handbook and Resident Progress Record.
Clinical Year (PGY1)
Before admission, residents must have completed at least one year of clinical training.
The program provides academic, practicum, and clinical training spread throughout each resident's 24 months. The academic component leads to a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from the University at Albany School of Public Health, one of the program's co-sponsors.
- The MPH program is a joint venture of the University at Albany and the New York State Department of Health.
- MPH coursework is spread over the whole training period.
- Residents may major in any of the academic departments or choose an interdisciplinary major in Preventive Medicine General or Cancer Track.
- Many of the school's faculty are active public health professionals at the New York State DOH.
- An important feature of the MPH program is internship rotations through various bureaus of the DOH, which residents complete as a part of the practicum component of the program.
During both years of the residency, but concentrated in the second year, residents complete practicum rotations that allow them to apply public health principles they learn in MPH coursework to real-world challenges, gaining experience in a variety of settings. The practicum experience is tailored to meet the interests of individual residents. It involves hands-on experience at the New York State Department of Health and at either the Albany County Health Department or Schenectady County Public Health Services. Elective rotations are available at the American Cancer Society- Eastern Division and at the Eastern New York Occupational and Environmental Health Center.
Rotations in other settings- e.g. managed care organizations, voluntary health agencies, prison health- can be arranged to meet the resident's particular interests.
- Practicum Guidelines
- Each resident completes 6-8 rotations generally lasting 3-4 months each, with 12 months at the state health department and at least 3 months at one of the local health departments over the course of two years.
- The resident takes an active role in the activities of the agency to which s/he is assigned, assuming responsibility for some aspects of program functioning, and conducting at least one investigation or analysis during the year leading to a publishable report.
- Other activities may include integrative experiences outside of the current practicum rotation, for example meetings or conferences in other DOH Bureaus.
Clinical Component
During both years of the program residents will engage in direct patient care, one day a week, at a local Community Health Center. The residents will provide evidence-based health promotion and cancer prevention interventions targeting several of the Health People 2020 objectives. Specific areas of focus will include efforts to increase the rate of colorectal and breast cancer screening, reduce the prevalence of tobacco use, increase the acceptance rate of vaccinations (including cancer related HPV and Hepatitis B vaccines), and reduce the prevalence of obesity.
Specific interventions will include individual patient visits, group visits, telephone consults, behavioral counseling, community outreach and educational events. Lifestyle modification is an important component of cancer prevention so residents will be trained in evidence-based behavioral counseling techniques in order to provide smoking cessation and nutritional counseling/treatment in the clinic setting.
Throughout the program, residents participate in weekly residency seminars. Guest speakers from the Department of Health and other public and private agencies involve residents in lively discussions of key public health/preventive medicine issues. Second year residents give occasional seminar presentations about their practicum rotations. A monthly Journal Club series gives residents experience with rigorous methodological analysis of published or current research. Several times a year, residents and faculty take field trips to sites throughout the state. Recent trips have included the following:
- The United Nations, New York City
- Hudson Headwaters Health Network, an exemplary rural health syste, serving New York's Adirondack Park Region
- Coxsackie Correctional Center, a maximum security state prison, that houses a regional medical facility
- New York City Department of Health, discussion about bioterrorism
- Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 2- Residents learned about disaster response and occupational hazards for first responders (injuries, chemical exposures etc.)
For more on our trips, click here to check out "Residents on the Road"
Pay and Benefits
The salary for first-year residents (PMR-1) is $39,000 and for second-year residents (PMR-2) is $43,000. Tuition and fees for the MPH component of the program are covered in full.
Residents are allowed 15 vacation/personal days and 10 sick days per year.
Residents in the standard track are eligible for health benefits offered to SUNY employees. Cancer Track residents are eligible for health benefits offered to graduate students through SUNY Research Foundation.
