Center of Excellence

ABOUT THE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN MATERNAL, CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH

The mission of the Centers of Excellence in MCH in Education, Science and Practice (Centers of Excellence) is to improve the health of women, infants, children, youth, and their families. This program, administered by the Human Resources & Services Administration's Maternal & Child Health Bureau, funds accredited schools of public health to support graduate education at the masters and doctoral levels. Centers of Excellence programs prepare students for leadership in MCH through exposure to the knowledge and skills needed to build public health capacity, through practical experience, and through collaboration with communities and Title V MCH partners. The UCB Center of Excellence in Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health (T76MC00002) provides graduate-level training in maternal, child, and adolescent health research and practice. UCB MCAH has provided superior graduate training, continuing education, research and service since its founding in 1953. The program has over 1,200 alumni across the country and around the world. It is our mission to develop the next generation of leaders equipped to solve the health challenges facing women, children, adolescents and families of the 21st century. As a CoE in MCAH, the MCAH Program’s multifaceted and interdisciplinary curriculum and dynamic learning environment are designed to respond to newly emerging issues in MCAH and to the unique needs of the diverse communities and cultures of the San Francisco Bay area, State of California, and the world; and to inspire students to use their skills and expertise to achieve health equity for all.

PROGRAM GOALS

As a Center of Excellence in MCAH education, science, and practice, our three overall goals are:

  • To provide the best education possible to develop graduates who are prepared to lead Title V and other MCAH organizations and promote and protect the health status of diverse MCAH populations.
  • To prepare public health and health care professionals to be leaders in the field of MCAH with a culturally competent, multidisciplinary, community oriented, ethical, and cost-effective vision of maternal, child and adolescent health, with the skills that can help solve the health challenges of the 21st century.
  • To work closely with Title V and other MCAH programs at the state, local, national, and global levels to mobilize large scale, synergistic efforts to reduce and eliminate health disparities and barriers to health that affect MCAH populations.
As a Center of Excellence (CoE in MCAH), our objectives and activities are designed to:
  • Prepare future leaders in the service of MCAH populations across the state, nation and world;
  • Recruit, train and mentor a diverse cadre of MCAH students responsive to changing economic, political and demographic trends;
  • Train students to identify how health equity, social determinants, and risk and protective factors contribute to health outcomes for women, children, adolescents, children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN), and families; analyze data that support these observations; and design interventions to improve health outcomes;
  • Develop, foster and sustain cultural and linguistic competence in MCAH across all aspects of our academic curriculum, research, and programmatic activities;
  • Conduct cutting-edge research that addresses priority needs of MCAH populations, nationally and globally, and increases the evidence base for decision makers and practitioners; and
  • Build strong partnerships with other MCAH Training Programs and CoE, Title V stakeholders and MCAH communities to advance and share knowledge and skills, strengthen professional networks, and provide technical assistance and continuing education in MCAH.

CURRENT DEGREE PROGRAM OFFERINGS

Please visit the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health (MCAH) Program page on the Berkeley Public Health website for more information.

No online degree programs with a concentration in MCAH are available at this time.

UCB MCAH News

Undergraduate LEAP Scholar Summer Reflection

August 11, 2023

During the summer between my junior and senior years, I completed an internship with Beyond the Pill, a program of the Bixby Center at the University of California, San Francisco. It was exciting to have this opportunity to spend my summer at this esteemed research department dedicated to Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health (MCAH), with the goal of promoting access and equity in contraceptive healthcare and the mission of addressing social determinants of health for underserved populations. ...

Joel's Story: UC Berkeley student says Blue Shield Fellowship is helping turn his trauma into a career

August 2, 2023

Current MCAH graduate student, Joel Rubio (MPH, expected 2024) is one of five interns working at Blue Shield this summer as part of their Health Equity Fellowship. As a teen, Joel Rubio’s parents were deported, and he was forced to fend for himself. Now, he is turning his trauma into a career through our Health Equity Fellowship at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, a program focused on increasing the diversity of professionals in healthcare and building a pipeline of leaders with racially diverse experiences to reduce disparities in health outcomes. Visit the external link to read...

Julie Grassian Participates In Qualitative Investigation of COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy Among Neurodivergent Communities

June 14, 2023

In 2021, Julie served as a stakeholder engager for a qualitative investigation on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in neurodivergent communities, with the goal of increasing public health efforts towards increasing vaccine confidence among this population. The manuscript recently got published, which can be accessed here. In this role, she and a team of other stakeholder engagers interviewed medical professionals, those in the neurodivergent community, and their caregivers to better understand the...