FACTS:
New York State Preventive Medicine Residency Program
Jointly sponsored by the University at Albany (SUNY) School of Public Health and
the New York State Department of Health
Mission: Prepare physicians for public health leadership roles in state and local government through
a rigorous two-year program combining academic theory and practical public health
experience.

It is a two year program that leads to Master of Public Health degree – coursework in
epidemiology, health policy & management, behavioral science, and environment health

Practicum rotations provide hands-on experience in 2-6 month rotations at the New York
State Department of Health, Albany County Health Department, Schenectady County Public
Health Services, Whitney M. Young Jr. Health Center, the American Cancer Society, and
other affiliated sites
Frequently asked questions:
Q: Is the Program fully accredited?
A: The Program has been fully accredited since 1992 and in 2010 was fully re-accredited through
March 2020.
Because of recent changes in ACGME program requirements, we are in the process of discontinuing
our independent ACGME accreditation and becoming a Complementary Pathway Only program, in
collaboration with the University of Rochester’s PMR program. This transition will enable us to
continue to provide outstanding academic and practicum training for physicians in public health. Our
graduates will be eligible to take PH/GPM board exams through the American Board of Preventive
Medicine’s new Complementary Pathway.
Q: Are there weekly conferences, grand rounds, journal clubs, etc?
A: The program has a long list of seminar topics we aim to cover over a span of 2 years. The weekly
seminars are structured like this each month:
1st week - Journal Club (methodological, Evidence-Based Medicine focus)
2nd week - Clinical Preventive Medicine topic
3rd week - Legal/Ethical/Global topic
4th/5th week - all the other topics we want to include
The NYS Department of Health is a very academically-oriented health department, so there are lots of
other presentations every week that residents are welcome to attend -- lectures, workshops, satellite
broadcasts, etc. There's a weekly session called SPEED Rounds, sponsored by the Office of Science &
Public Health here at DOH and broadcast to the SPH. Also lots going on at the School of Public Health.
Q: What percentage of program graduates who have taken the Preventive Med Board exam in the past
five years passed?
A: Since December 2004 we’ve had 19 graduates, of whom 17 (89%) took the boards, and 15 (88%)
passed. In the history of the program one resident nine years ago failed one half of the boards and five
2/7/2016
years ago two failed the exam. A few residents who were boarded in other disciplines have opted not
to take preventive medicine boards, but almost all do. In the last few years we have been helping our
residents by subsidizing board exam costs (when funding permits).
Q: What is done in the first two months of the residency and would it require a resident to give up
even a part-time job for that period of time.
A: The first two months are an orientation to the various parts of the department of health (lots of
informational interviews with potential future mentors) plus three seminars each week: one introduces
residents to the week's section of the health department, one is a teaching case that helps people
make the transition from clinical medicine to population thinking, and one is a basic intro to public
health. One of our graduates developed that seminar series, and it's basically everything he wished
he'd known before starting the MPH program. The scheduling could get tricky, but the orientation
program would be compatible with continuing part-time work. You might not be able to do all of the
informational interviews that first summer, but enough to make it worthwhile.
Q: Also, if the MPH was done over 1 1/2 - 2 years, would there be course study or seminars over the
June, July, August time period with the idea of whether I could keep a 50% position or offer to practice
more during that time.
A: During your second orientation summer, you should come to 2 or 3 of the weekly seminars (the
teaching cases are on a 2-year cycle), but could probably skip informational interviews, since you
would have done them in your first summer.
Q: Would taking on-line courses even before starting the program count toward one of the core or
electives for the MPH?
A: Yes, you can take a couple of courses as a "non-matric" and have them count toward your MPH.
For further information:
2/7/2016
Dr. Mary Applegate, Program Director
(518)402-0283, mapplegate@albany.edu
University at Albany School of Public Health,
One University Pl, GEC 100,
Rensselaer, NY 12144