Our Immersion Program in Health Policy Studies provides an opportunity to learn health policy while building practical skills in applied research, writing, and communication. This program is designed for students who are looking for an alternative to a conventional Master of Public Health (MPH) or Master of Public Policy (MPP) program. We're proud to offer students a different path to a career in healthcare as researchers, analysts, advocates, and consultants.

This is a full-time, in-person program that runs from September to June. Class sessions are held four days a week (Tuesday through Friday), with both a morning and afternoon session each day. Enrollment is capped at 12 students. Prospective students are invited to Apply Now for a spot in the inaugural cohort, which begins September 2025.

Our interdisciplinary curriculum examines core ideas and principles in contemporary health policy and research methods. In addition to reading health policy books and papers in depth, students also explore and integrate material from fields including political economy, the history of medicine, the medical humanities, and bioethics.

Class sessions include traditional lectures, guided discussions, and practicum work to develop specific skills. The curriculum is reading-intensive and balances "Great Books" type material which raise the big and important questions in health policy with contemporary sources that show the current state of the field. There are frequent opportunities for students to check their understanding.

The Center for Modern Health is a place with a definite perspective—one that is grounded in a secular, classical liberal conception of individual rights. In all health policy issues we ask, "How can this value be achieved—or how can this challenge be addressed—in a way that respects individual rights?" However, curriculum features a broad range of writers and thinkers, including works that are aligned with that philosophy and works that oppose it.

To give a preview, in the history of medicine you will study Hippocrates, Galen, Vesalius, Harvey, and others. In health policy you will read Arrow, Fuchs, Pauly, Goodman, Skocpol, Berwick, Friedman, Gawande, Baicker, Finkelstein, and others. In political economy you will read Locke, Smith, Say, Malthus, Bastiat, Hayek, Mises, Rand, Buchanan, Nozick, Rawls, and others. In the medical humanities you will read Tolstoy, Bulgakov, Ibsen, Lewis, Wharton, Maupassant, Camus, and others. In research methods, you will study everything from risk ratios, odds ratios, sensitivity, and specificity, to study designs, statistical tests, correlation, regression, and more.

Every student works on a research project, either individually or in a small team, under the guidance of a principal investigator. Research project start after students return from winter break. They put into practice the research methods that are taught in the fall part of the program.

The projects that students work on are not done merely as deliverables for the program. The goal of every project is to produce a high-quality product. These are intended to be published by CMH, published by the real-world project sponsor, or submitted to academic journals.

Most applicants to our program will have an undergraduate degree, however we welcome applications from individuals from a variety of backgrounds, including non-traditional ones. This includes high school graduates who are looking for an alternative to college or a stimulating gap year experience, as well as older professionals (with or without a degree) who are looking to accelerate their career or make a career change.

Although our immersion program is full-time and reading-intensive, it is possible to hold a part-time job while enrolled in this program. This is possible if your job is, for instance, a local job in Hanover, New Hampshire, or a virtual job that you can do outside of daytime class hours.

Individuals from outside the United States are also welcome to consider our program. Because the program is a short-term course of study and not designed for degree credit, it may be possible for non-residents to do our program without needing to obtain a student visa, particularly if students are able to return to their home country during our breaks. However, please note that it is the responsibility of prospective students to seek official guidance regarding eligibility. We cannot give legal advice about visas, visa waivers, or other options regarding entry into the United States.

We are located in Hanover, New Hampshire, a college town that is about a two-hour drive northwest of Boston, Massachusetts. Our learning space is located in downtown Hanover, steps away from the Dartmouth College campus. Our program is not formally affiliated with Dartmouth, but there are many excellent public Dartmouth talks and events over the course of the year that students can attend.

Housing is not included in the program, but housing is available in Hanover and in the nearby towns of Lebanon, Lyme, Hartford, and Norwich. For students who need help with finding housing, we can suggest options for apartments or extended-stay hotel spaces in the area. Having access to a car is helpful but there is also public transportation in the area. In good weather, downtown Hanover is walkable and bikeable.

Most conventional university-based MPH and MPP degrees cost between $20,000 and $75,000. Tuition for our program is $16,500. We offer several Tuition Payment Plans to choose from which allow students to finance their experience while they are enrolled in the program. We are also actively seeking donors who would like to create or contribute to scholarships for students.

The cohort for our inaugural program starting September 2025 is now forming. The application deadline is March 31, 2025. Enrollment is capped, so we encourage prospective students to apply early. There is no fee to apply. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Individuals accepted into the program will be asked to secure their spot with a $500 deposit before the program starts.

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Is this program accredited? No. It is important to us to maintain total academic independence so that we can offer exactly the curriculum that we want to offer. For that reason, we do not seek accreditation from any of today's accreditation agencies. That said, if you are a college student looking to do our program during a gap year, it may be possible for you to receive university credit. We are willing to provide you with information and documentation that may assist you in your effort to obtain credit from your university.

Is this program a professional experience or a liberal arts experience? It is a balance of both. Many sessions in our curriculum are devoted to learning about contemporary policy issues, research methods, and practicum skills, all of which are in the service of professional development. However, we also spend a great deal of time contemplating the experiences, problems, and classical questions about being human. For instance, note the many sessions devoted to medical humanities (e.g., Bulgakov, Tolstoy, Maugham, Lewis, Camus, Solzhenitsyn), as well as the sessions on bioethics. These materials provide an important liberal arts component to the program.

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