Office of Field Practice
What We Do
The Office of Field Practice provides resources and support to students from enrollment through completion of their academic program. We also liaise with organizations that host—or are interested in hosting—students for 8–10 weeks between May and August. This experience is the graduation-required Applied Practice Experience (APEx) for MPH, MHA, and DrPH students (Columbia Mailman’s practicum program).
Support for Students
- We can help you find an APEx site that aligns with your interests and goals, and help you complete the necessary paperwork to make it happen.
- We advise individual students and groups on these and other related issues, and offer pre-departure orientations for selected international field sites.
- Our unit supports other practice and professional opportunities such as volunteer, service-learning, and interprofessional experiences for students across all academic departments at Columbia Mailman.
Information for Hosts and Future Hosts
APEx projects address all areas of public health practice, including environmental health sciences, health policy and management, population and family health, epidemiology, sociomedical sciences, and biostatistics. As students explore their passions and practice skills in real-world settings, they can offer your organization high-quality products for use in day-to-day operations. For example, students can develop a community needs assessment, analyze existing program evaluation data, create training materials, prepare policy briefs, and explore potential funding opportunities.
We are currently looking for organizations interested in hosting students for 8-10 weeks between May-August.
If you have any questions or would like to explore the possibility of hosting one of our students, please contact msph-ofp@cumc.columbia.edu. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to hearing from you.